Rep. Betty Olson (Dist. 28B): Budget comes to the fore in final week
Rep. Betty Olson, R-Prairie City
Did you remember to turn your clocks ahead for Daylight Savings Time Saturday night? The time change seems to get earlier every year and, just like lemmings following our leaders over the cliff, we dutifully turn our clocks when the powers-that-be tell us to. One of the little girls in church this Sunday had a question we had no answer for when she simply asked, “Why?” I don’t know, but by now we should have a pile of daylight saved up somewhere!
At the end of this week on Friday, March 13th the South Dakota legislature will finish the 2009 session. I don’t know if ending the session on Friday the 13th bodes ill for the state, but with the economy going south as fast as it has I hope our ending date is not just more bad luck! We will come back to Pierre on March 30th to decide if there are any of the governor’s vetoes that should be overturned.
There is much discussion about the budget, the pending general funding bill, the federal stimulus money available to our state, and the on-going program strings tied to the federal money. Legislators have submitted several spending cut amendments to the general funding bill and we spend a lot of time pouring over the various department budgets looking for savings to the taxpayers to balance the books. Constitutionally, South Dakota must balance the budget each year and at the end of 2011 when the stimulus dollars will no longer be available, plans are afoot in the legislature to maintain a 30 to 40 million dollar level of spending cuts that will enable us to do that without having to raise taxes.
Rep. Betty Olson, R-Prairie City
Did you remember to turn your clocks ahead for Daylight Savings Time Saturday night? The time change seems to get earlier every year and, just like lemmings following our leaders over the cliff, we dutifully turn our clocks when the powers-that-be tell us to. One of the little girls in church this Sunday had a question we had no answer for when she simply asked, “Why?” I don’t know, but by now we should have a pile of daylight saved up somewhere!
At the end of this week on Friday, March 13th the South Dakota legislature will finish the 2009 session. I don’t know if ending the session on Friday the 13th bodes ill for the state, but with the economy going south as fast as it has I hope our ending date is not just more bad luck! We will come back to Pierre on March 30th to decide if there are any of the governor’s vetoes that should be overturned.
There is much discussion about the budget, the pending general funding bill, the federal stimulus money available to our state, and the on-going program strings tied to the federal money. Legislators have submitted several spending cut amendments to the general funding bill and we spend a lot of time pouring over the various department budgets looking for savings to the taxpayers to balance the books. Constitutionally, South Dakota must balance the budget each year and at the end of 2011 when the stimulus dollars will no longer be available, plans are afoot in the legislature to maintain a 30 to 40 million dollar level of spending cuts that will enable us to do that without having to raise taxes.
