BY REP. LANCE KOTH
We finished day 8 of the 2024 Legislative session. Again, the bulk of my time is spent in Joint Appropriations where this week we heard from the Department of Social Services (DSS), Department of Human Services (DHS), Department of Tribal Relations, Unified Judicial System and Public Safety.
Did you know that total general fund revenue for FY2024 is forecasted to be $2.6 billion?
Did you know that education consumes 45% of our state’s revenue?
Did you know that Medicaid consumes 26% of our State’s revenue?
Did you know that DHS, DSS, DOH and State Institutions consume 13% of our State’s revenue?
Did you know that Corrections, SD Courts and Dept of Public Safety consume 10% of our State’s revenue?
Did you know that the balance of our State’s revenue (6%) supports the remaining 10 Agencies, 4 Bureaus, the Legislature, the Governor’s office and 5 constitutional offices?
South Dakota’s Constitution requires us to balance the budget which means we will not appropriate more dollars than what our revenue forecast predicts.
I hear often that our taxes are too high, and we need to shrink State Government. The question is, how do we do that? A little historical perspective. Looking back to 1995. State aid to public schools has increased 316 % to $715m, Medicaid 522% to $633m, public universities and tech schools 205% to $345m, health, human and social services 326% to $312m, protecting the public 346% to $242m and the remainder of state government 31% to $154m. The bulk of these increases result from taking care of those that cannot take care of themselves. Social Services and Human Services is for the most part outside of my wheelhouse. As you can image, after hearing dozens of hours of testimony from these department experts you will learn a lot. I will let you in on some of the things I learned.
The South Dakota Department of Social Services is one of the state’s largest agencies with more than 1,500 employees serving from 43 different office locations across South Dakota. Their mission is to serve children, families, individuals, seniors and people with disabilities through some of the most difficult times in their lives with the safety net programming and services we have been tasked to provide.
Medicaid started in 1965 by President Johnson. Medicaid is funded jointly by the state and federal government. The federal government’s share of a state’s Medicaid expenditures is called the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP). States must contribute the remaining portion to qualify for the federal funds. The FMAP is designed so that the federal government pays a larger portion of Medicaid costs in states with per capita incomes lower than the national average. South Dakota’s Medicaid share will increase to 46.45% from 44.58%. In December 2023, the number of South Dakotans enrolled in state medical services programs increased by 2,149 to 125,924. This budget line item will continue to increase as we encounter the full cost of Medicaid expansion.
The Department of Human Services is responsible for Developmental Disabilities, South Dakota Developmental Center, Long Term Services and Supports, Rehabilitation Services, Rehabilitation Service and Rehabilitation Center for the Blind.
In 2023, the legislature infused $116 million into reimbursement rates for targeted home and communitybased providers. That funding allowed rates to be set at 100% of the targeted methodology rate. Provider groups received significant rate increases, ranging from 13% to 38%. Now a year later we find that providers will need an increase of 6.4% to 17.6% to bring reimbursement to an amount to cover their costs. As a side note, the Governor is recommending an across the board increase of 4%. How did we fall so far behind so quickly? INFLATION. When one does a deeper dive into health care inflation you find that it is substantially higher than the inflation numbers we hear on national news. This can be attributed in part to the lack of skilled workforce and the increased cost to bring in traveling nurses which on average will cost 287% more than non-traveling nurses.
Budgeting for increased cost, in and of itself is a heavy lift but must be accompanied with a long-term solution. There was a 2023 Study Committee on Sustainable Models for Long Term Care that met throughout the summer and fall of 2023. This study group spent countless hours taking testimony from industry experts. Coming from that study was HB 1017, which would adopt the psychology interjurisdictional licensure compact and HB 1012 which would adopt the interstate counseling licensure compact and revise educational requirements to comply with the compact. Both bills were heard and passed in the House but not without debate. Will this solve our problem? Likely not but I believe it is a good start in finding long term solutions.
Next week we will have budget hearings for the Board of Regents, Board of Technical Education, Department of Education, Department of Labor and Regulation. Education is 45% of our budget which compels us to be diligent in our budgeting efforts for education.
I’m reminded often of my limitations as your representative. I spent 4 decades in the banking world, have very limited experience in social services and human services. So… .I’m very reliant on the experts in those fields, be it fellow legislators, agency leaders, constituents and lobbyists. Next week we will dig into education, giving me the opportunity and privilege of seeking out experts in the education field.
Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your Representative.
BY REP. BEN KROHMER
The 99th legislature wrapped up it’s first full week. This week was the 2nd week, and the 1st week of regular schedule in Pierre, and so far we are off to a quick and busy start. I’m definitely not a pro at this yet, but I’m learning and getting better at the process day by day. However, it sure feels like we’re off to a fast start, probably because of the number of bills I’m introducing this year. Please feel free to contact me anytime about any issue, I always try to be available and respond to all emails. The www.sdlegislature.gov offers an endless amount of information about bills and committees and folks can search the titles and numbers of bills and track ones of interest.
Since this is the first full regular week, we still have some of those nuts-and-bolts kind of bills going through, the kind I mentioned last week. Even though a majority of bills were the nuts-and-bolts type of bills, I have so many bills in the works that I prefilled 4 of them just to try and get them heard in the first couple days or weeks.
In Transportation we heard a bill about changing which website was used for used vehicle evaluations since the previous one was bought by another company and no longer exists. We also heard another bill involving veterans license plates. Both bills passed unanimously.
On the first day in Commerce & Energy we had a bill about cosmetology apprenticeship, which unfortunately died. I voted for it and wish it would have passed because I think it was a good bill that helps get new young people into the workforce and into that industry. The motion to pass the bill failed by one vote and the motion to kill the bill also failed by one vote, and someone ended up changing their vote and it died, sadly. We also heard a landowner rights bill. This one would have required anyone constructing a pipeline, or any utility, to require permission or a permit before they could intrude on people’s land and start surveying. I thought this was a common sense bill that protected land owners rights. Apparently the chairman of the committee didn’t like it and his bias showed through because when it came to discussion he allowed opposition to speak, and ended discussion once proponents were going to speak, he closed discussion and gave his own opponent talking points and forced the vote, and unfortunately the bill died right there in committee.
The House floor this week had a plethora of bills involving healthcare compacts. Last year we passed a law allowing for reciprocity of professional licenses, so licensing is no longer a barrier to entry from other states. In fact, the point was made that this compact would make it easier for people to flee the state, making the workforce shortage even worse. Also, an amendment was offered that would ensure that a compact couldn’t supersede state law. I was astonished when people voted against that amendment, apparently some representatives of our state are all too eager to surrender our state’s rights to an unknown compact located who knows where. I even asked the prime sponsor of the bill who is also the assistant majority leader, if other states had that language in their laws, and she flat out lied to me and told me they didn’t, because it became extremely obvious a couple questions later when it was stated that the exact same language was in another state’s law. It was also worth noting that this coverage offered by this compact only covered a limited number of days of medical care and then it would all be treated as out of network expenses costing patients in South Dakota up to 3x’s as much for their medical costs because the providers would be considered out of network. You know the bill is bad when even the lobbyist for these bills, the person that is getting paid to try and promote them, said they are the worst bills she had ever seen drafted. It is sad to see how many fellow Representatives vote for these bills knowing they are bad bills.
We also had another bill that was an extension of the flawed big government law from two years ago that keeps needing to be rewritten to try and make it work. This was to allow grants to tribes without any method to recoup the funds if things were to go south for some reason.
It wasn’t all dim and bleak, two of my bills passed out of the House this week. The first one is a small one, but it helps clarify how campgrounds make their votes while allowing city campgrounds to expand; it passed out of House Local Government unanimously and passed the House floor the same way, and now it’ll be in the Senate this coming week. Then my more major bill passed out of House Judiciary and passed the House this week, a bill that would make it a crime to expose law enforcement officers and first responders to fentanyl if they suffered from a serious bodily injury or death. A vote for this bill was a vote supporting law enforcement and first responders, and a vote against it was a vote against law enforcement and first responders. Some people say they voted against it because it didn’t go far enough, but if that’s the case then they still voted against protections for our law enforcement officers and first responders. Thankfully it still passed the House and will be in the Senate this coming week.
Congratulations to Wessington Springs’ new Fire Chief, Eric Schroeder!
So far we are rocking and rolling, It has been an exciting 8 legislative days so far with 29 to go. I’m excited and looking forward to what comes next. As always, feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, or concerns. My email address is Ben.Krohmer@sdlegislature.gov.