Senate Report by Bryan Breitling
2024 Legislative Session Begins!
The 2024 Legislative Session opened on Jan 9th with Governor Noem’s State of the State Address, highlighting how our state promotes freedom and small government.
This first week, in addition to the Governor’s Address, we heard the State of the Judiciary and the State of the Tribes. The bill process takes time to be scheduled and heard in committee, then passed to the floor. So, there were no bills heard on the Senate floor until Friday. After the first week, there were 97 House bills and 90 Senate bills introduced.
I continue to serve as Vice Chair of Senate Appropriations. In our first week, we heard a report on the Governor’s budget and the American Rescue Plan (ARPA) budget update. In addition, we heard budget reports from the constitutional offices, Legislature, Military, Investment Council and Retirement System.
Some highlights: Inflation is expected to continue to decline, but real consumer spending is also expected to decline. The Governor revised our sales and use tax budget, lowering it by $22.6M, but investment income and unclaimed property are at record highs for FY24. As for ARPA, in total $974.5M was allocated to South Dakota for qualifying projects to jumpstart the economy. $660M was allocated to water projects, $50M each for broadband and housing development, and the balance to a variety of other initiatives. To date, $870M has been appropriated, $736M obligated to various entities, and $235M expended. All ARPA funds need to be allocated in FY24 and spent by FY26.
Our Investment Council continues to perform well, positioning SD, and our state retirees, for strong financial success. The investment Council invests $19.6B, of which, $14.5B is SD Retirement, with the balance in trust funds and operating cash. Over the last 20 years, the SD Investment Council has returned 8.4% compared to a market average of 7.24%.
You may continue to hear about unclaimed property this session. This year, the state received a record $170M in unclaimed property from banks and trusts in SD, with $20.7M paid out. As these numbers continue to climb, the state will need to advertise more to encourage folks to search and verify if they have unclaimed dollars in their name.
Over the last several years, we have been able to put $330.9M into an incarceration fund and appropriate $63.8M for a new women’s prison in Rapid City. If the Governor’s budget is fully approved, all the women’s prison will be paid for, and all but $137.7M of the new men’s prison will be reserved for construction.
This session is looking like it will be defined by prisons, landowners’ rights, ag economy, education topics, long term care topics, and election rights.
I will be adding our cracker barrel schedule in my report each week. The first is a joint cracker barrel with D24 in Highmore on Jan 20 at 10 a.m. January 27 will start with a cracker barrel event with D1, D3, and D 23 in Aberdeen on the NSU campus at 10 a.m., and later in Mobridge at 2:30 p.m. at the city hall.
I get to work with a great team representing your interests; with District 23 Rep. Scott Moore from Ipswich, and Rep. JD Wangsness from Miller. As always, I can be reached at [email protected]. I look forward to continued conversations!
House Report by James Wangsness
Welcome to the 99th South Dakota Legislative Session
January 14, 2024
We opened the 2024 legislative session on January 9 with the State of the State address. "Freedom Works Here" and the Governor gave us her top ten reasons freedom is working in South Dakota. Wednesday, we heard the State of the Judiciary and State of the Tribes addresses for the first time on the same day.
I am serving on three committees, House State Affairs, House Ag and Natural Resources and House Military and Veterans Affairs.
House State Affairs had our first meeting on Wednesday. We did not hear any bills that day, but we did hear from Weiwei Zhang, PhD, State Demographer on population trends in South Dakota. While the state's population is growing, our district is losing population. Supporting economic development and value-added agriculture will help our rural communities thrive. We will meet again next Wednesday 1/17, and it looks to be an interesting committee.
House Ag and Natural Resources had our first meeting on Thursday. We received an update from DANR Secretary Hunter Roberts and heard some agency bills.
House Military and Veterans Affairs is scheduled to meet next Wednesday 1/17.
We finished the week off with floor debate and passage of HB1001! This bill removes the sunset on last year's tax cut making it permanent. It's a great feeling to start the year with a positive result for South Dakotans.
My goals for this year are to protect landowner rights while expanding markets for our agricultural products, our state's number one industry. I look forward to visiting with you at our upcoming crackle barrel events. We have a great team working for you in District 23. Scott Moore from Ipswich, Bryan Breitling and myself from Miller.
I can be reached at James. Wangsness@sdlegislature. gov .
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