For those who may have an interest in the goings on around the country...From ny sister-in-law state rep.
The first week of the 2010 session of the South Dakota legislature is over. Less than 200 bills have been filed so far and some of the committees haven’t even met yet. The hot issue this session is the budget deficit and how we go about fixing it without raising taxes, dipping into the reserves, or passing the bill on to local property taxpayers.
The governor gave his State of the State address on Tuesday, our first legislative day, and it was not exactly cheerful. South Dakota is looking at a budget deficit of just under $40 million this year, over $100 million for next year, and by 2014 the deficit will rise to $251 million unless we make some serious cuts. Gov. Rounds proposes to dip into the reserves to cover $32 million of the deficit this year, but I have yet to find a legislator in either body willing to go along with that. Instead of draining the reserves, most of the legislators plan to sharply cut spending. Legislators have a choice, we can either cut spending or raise your taxes, and no one I’ve heard from wants higher taxes.
Since this is the beginning of an election year when we will be voting for a new governor, the campaign rhetoric is heating up and to hear them tell it, every one of the gubernatorial candidates is a fiscal conservative whose sole interest is balancing the budget without raising taxes or dipping into the reserves! That sounds wonderful, but it would be much more convincing if some of their voting records would reflect what they’re saying.
There doesn’t seem to be much interest in raising the gas tax either. Roads definitely need money for maintenance, but this is not the year to add to the financial woes of the taxpayers who are already hurting from the recession. A proposal to cut highway funds to GF&P by $2 million has a lot of support. If GF&P wants the park roads, hunting trails, snowmobile trails, and boat docks fixed they need to use the money they get from selling licenses to harvest the public’s wildlife instead of wasting tens of millions on “outdoor learning centers” and buying up more private property for hunters.
While we’re on the subject of roads: As our last order of business Friday afternoon, we tried to act on Rep. Mike Verchio’s HCR 1002 requesting federal natural resource agencies to refrain from designating wilderness or roadless areas in South Dakota without Legislative approval, but the left side of the House rose to protest allowing the state to have some input on federal government policies involving land within our borders. This week the Rapid City Journal reported that the Fourth of July fireworks over Mount Rushmore have been canceled this year because of the extreme fire hazard the federal government has created in the Black Elk Wilderness Area. If South Dakota had been allowed to introduce some sanity into federal policy, the wilderness area wouldn’t be a catastrophe waiting to happen. Leadership decided to postpone what promises to be a lively debate on the issue until we come back on Tuesday.
The economy is in a mess at every level of government. South Dakota is much better off financially than most other states, but if the federal government isn’t reined in soon we’re sunk. If the liberals in Congress pass the health care bill, there is no way South Dakota taxpayers will be able to pay the additional cost to the state on top of the budget deficit we are already facing. Some South Dakota legislators are looking into ways we can stop the federal government from forcing these unfunded mandates down our throats. Stay tuned!
The first week of the 2010 session of the South Dakota legislature is over. Less than 200 bills have been filed so far and some of the committees haven’t even met yet. The hot issue this session is the budget deficit and how we go about fixing it without raising taxes, dipping into the reserves, or passing the bill on to local property taxpayers.
The governor gave his State of the State address on Tuesday, our first legislative day, and it was not exactly cheerful. South Dakota is looking at a budget deficit of just under $40 million this year, over $100 million for next year, and by 2014 the deficit will rise to $251 million unless we make some serious cuts. Gov. Rounds proposes to dip into the reserves to cover $32 million of the deficit this year, but I have yet to find a legislator in either body willing to go along with that. Instead of draining the reserves, most of the legislators plan to sharply cut spending. Legislators have a choice, we can either cut spending or raise your taxes, and no one I’ve heard from wants higher taxes.
Since this is the beginning of an election year when we will be voting for a new governor, the campaign rhetoric is heating up and to hear them tell it, every one of the gubernatorial candidates is a fiscal conservative whose sole interest is balancing the budget without raising taxes or dipping into the reserves! That sounds wonderful, but it would be much more convincing if some of their voting records would reflect what they’re saying.
There doesn’t seem to be much interest in raising the gas tax either. Roads definitely need money for maintenance, but this is not the year to add to the financial woes of the taxpayers who are already hurting from the recession. A proposal to cut highway funds to GF&P by $2 million has a lot of support. If GF&P wants the park roads, hunting trails, snowmobile trails, and boat docks fixed they need to use the money they get from selling licenses to harvest the public’s wildlife instead of wasting tens of millions on “outdoor learning centers” and buying up more private property for hunters.
While we’re on the subject of roads: As our last order of business Friday afternoon, we tried to act on Rep. Mike Verchio’s HCR 1002 requesting federal natural resource agencies to refrain from designating wilderness or roadless areas in South Dakota without Legislative approval, but the left side of the House rose to protest allowing the state to have some input on federal government policies involving land within our borders. This week the Rapid City Journal reported that the Fourth of July fireworks over Mount Rushmore have been canceled this year because of the extreme fire hazard the federal government has created in the Black Elk Wilderness Area. If South Dakota had been allowed to introduce some sanity into federal policy, the wilderness area wouldn’t be a catastrophe waiting to happen. Leadership decided to postpone what promises to be a lively debate on the issue until we come back on Tuesday.
The economy is in a mess at every level of government. South Dakota is much better off financially than most other states, but if the federal government isn’t reined in soon we’re sunk. If the liberals in Congress pass the health care bill, there is no way South Dakota taxpayers will be able to pay the additional cost to the state on top of the budget deficit we are already facing. Some South Dakota legislators are looking into ways we can stop the federal government from forcing these unfunded mandates down our throats. Stay tuned!
