Greetings from Pierre. This week, I will provide an update on a few of the bills that I am bringing this session as well as an update on the Appropriation budget hearings.
Last week, I talked about HB 1089, which repeals the SD Certified Beef Fund. Some members of the agricultural community reached out this week and wanted to salvage this underutilized program. In the spirit of cooperation, I recommended to the committee we hold of action on this program for 1 year. During the summer, we will look at ways to improve the current program and sources of funding. Last year, the legislature voted (which I opposed) to sweep $100,000 from this fund to balance the state budget. The fund sweep left the current balance in this fund at $564.05.
On Thursday, HB 1076 passed out of House Taxation by a vote of 13 to 1. This bill will give townships the ability to use their current tax levy for fire protection to include emergency medical services. Many of our local townships had been supporting ambulance services until a judge ruled that it violated state law. I was approached by the President of the Minnehaha Towns and Township Board to sponsor this bill to fix the problem. This bill does not raise taxes, but it allows more flexibility and control at the local level.
In Appropriations, we continued state agency budget hearings. We reviewed budgets for the Department of Corrections, Military and Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services and the Attorney General’s Office.
Despite the Governor’s criminal justice reform initiative, prison populations continue to grow. We are near or at capacity in all of our prison facilities. In order to help address some of the challenges facing our corrections system, the Appropriations Committee will recommend the department go through the LEAN process. The LEAN approach is aimed at waste minimization. The goal is to improve the process used to release and integrate non-violent offenders back into the population and reduce the recidivism rate. The Appropriations Committee has recommended that other departments like BIT and the Department of Revenue complete this process. The results have been encouraging. Each of these departments has improved its customer service and shown an increase in productivity without increasing costs.
Humans Services provided their annual report on provider reimbursement rates for community-based service providers. This year’s appropriation was intended to get providers to 100% of cost. Unfortunately, it appears this reimbursement rate scale is flawed. Providers, like nursing homes, still struggle to pay competitive wages and keep up with rising health care costs. Many nursing homes are contracting with temp-labor agencies to fill vacant positions. Due to low Medicaid reimbursement rates, many nursing homes are turning away high risk patients. Many of these patients end up in facilities out-of-state and away from their families.
The Attorney General’s Office gave a positive report. Last year, the AG forecasted increased costs and the need for additional staff due to reporting requirements from Marsy’s Law. In this year’s budget, Jackley recommended a reduction in spending authority and staff because Marsy’s Law did not have the anticipated increased expenses. Jackley also recommended that we reinstate the Governor’s proposed cuts to Elder Abuse Task Force. The Governor’s cuts include one prosecutor and one investigator. These positions are needed due to an increase in elder fraud cases. This program has been highly effective and in 2017 resulted in restitution of $232,476 from convictions.
It will be important to hear from you during session. I would appreciate your input on any issue or concerns. You may email me at dan.ahlers@sdlegislature.gov.