My sister-in-law represents district 28b un the state legislature...an exerpt of her weekly report....
One bill she has drafted for filing....
*HB 1005: Any purchase of more than twenty acres of land, for whatever purpose, by whatever funding source, shall only be contracted for by the Department of Game, Fish and Parks subject to subsequent legislative approval by specific statutory enactment. Within sixteen months from the date of any contract to purchase twenty or more acres of land, the secretary of the department shall have legislation introduced in the Legislature providing for specific legislative approval of the purchase. Failure of the Legislature to enact specific statutory approval for any such purchase within twenty-one months of the date of the contract renders the contract void.
At one time the buying and selling of land by the state was decided by the legislature, but that is no longer true and the legislature has abdicated that authority to GF&P. All wildlife is owned by the public, which means it belongs to every citizen of the state. The license money collected by GF&P for the harvest of the public’s wildlife also belongs to every citizen of the state, not just those who hunt and fish.
The citizens of South Dakota elected the legislature to represent their interests in Pierre and it is our responsibility to see that all the public’s money is spent in accordance with their wishes. GF&P’s sole responsibility is to manage the public’s wildlife and they seem to be doing a pretty good job, however, as representatives of the people of South Dakota, it is our job as elected officials to look out for the interests of the folks who sent us to Pierre. If you tell us you want GF&P to buy land, we’ll say yes. If you tell us you don’t like the idea, we’ll say no, but the decision to spend wildlife license money that belongs to you should be yours to make.
ALSO
Based on the latest budget forecast, if we do nothing our shortfall for FY2009 will be $52,198,524 and $81,604,858 in FY2010, which means that if we continue to conduct business as usual South Dakota will be buried under a debt reaching almost $134 million by the end of next year. Most legislators feel this is unacceptable and since the South Dakota Constitution mandates a balanced budget, we’re sharpening our fiscal carving knives.
The way I see it, our only hope of getting out of this fiscal morass is to cut the size and scope of state government. Draining our reserve funds is not only fiscally irresponsible, but unlawful. This mess needs to be fixed the same way business owners, farmers and ranchers handle decreasing income. We cut expenses, make do with what we have, and say no to anything that would increase our debt. We should expect no less from state government. Now is not the time to raise expenses for businesses and agriculture already suffering from the economic downturn.
One bill she has drafted for filing....
*HB 1005: Any purchase of more than twenty acres of land, for whatever purpose, by whatever funding source, shall only be contracted for by the Department of Game, Fish and Parks subject to subsequent legislative approval by specific statutory enactment. Within sixteen months from the date of any contract to purchase twenty or more acres of land, the secretary of the department shall have legislation introduced in the Legislature providing for specific legislative approval of the purchase. Failure of the Legislature to enact specific statutory approval for any such purchase within twenty-one months of the date of the contract renders the contract void.
At one time the buying and selling of land by the state was decided by the legislature, but that is no longer true and the legislature has abdicated that authority to GF&P. All wildlife is owned by the public, which means it belongs to every citizen of the state. The license money collected by GF&P for the harvest of the public’s wildlife also belongs to every citizen of the state, not just those who hunt and fish.
The citizens of South Dakota elected the legislature to represent their interests in Pierre and it is our responsibility to see that all the public’s money is spent in accordance with their wishes. GF&P’s sole responsibility is to manage the public’s wildlife and they seem to be doing a pretty good job, however, as representatives of the people of South Dakota, it is our job as elected officials to look out for the interests of the folks who sent us to Pierre. If you tell us you want GF&P to buy land, we’ll say yes. If you tell us you don’t like the idea, we’ll say no, but the decision to spend wildlife license money that belongs to you should be yours to make.
ALSO
Based on the latest budget forecast, if we do nothing our shortfall for FY2009 will be $52,198,524 and $81,604,858 in FY2010, which means that if we continue to conduct business as usual South Dakota will be buried under a debt reaching almost $134 million by the end of next year. Most legislators feel this is unacceptable and since the South Dakota Constitution mandates a balanced budget, we’re sharpening our fiscal carving knives.
The way I see it, our only hope of getting out of this fiscal morass is to cut the size and scope of state government. Draining our reserve funds is not only fiscally irresponsible, but unlawful. This mess needs to be fixed the same way business owners, farmers and ranchers handle decreasing income. We cut expenses, make do with what we have, and say no to anything that would increase our debt. We should expect no less from state government. Now is not the time to raise expenses for businesses and agriculture already suffering from the economic downturn.
