South Dakota’s 101st Legislative Session, Week Five
Hello again from Pierre, The joint Appropriations Committee adopted a revised total general fund revenue estimate of $2.69 billion for the current (FY26) fiscal year. The fiscal year 2026 revenue estimate includes one-time and ongoing revenue, while the fiscal year 2027 revenue estimate includes only ongoing revenue. This total for FY26 was 99 million more than FY25.
State governments day-today operations are funded by ongoing revenue, while money from federal stimulus programs and other one-time sources are typically used for one time needs such as construction projects.
Taxes and fees that contribute to ongoing income include sales and use tax, lottery income, contractor’s excise tax, insurance company tax, unclaimed property, license, fees and permits, tobacco taxes, trust funds, alcohol beverage tax, Bank Franchise tax, Telecommunications tax, severance taxes (gold, oil, and other minerals), investment income and interests, and a few more smaller income sources.
One-time receipts include one-time unclaimed property receipts, Bank Franchise tax, prior year revenue, unexpended carryovers and specials, and obligated cash carried forward.
It was an honor to be selected to serve on the Revenue setting committee. We were all very grateful for all the work done by the BFM and LRC financial staff for their excellent efforts in helping us come to a consensus on where we were comfortable setting these budgets.
The house and senate have each started the process of prioritizing their choices for one-time projects for South Dakota’s future. Two keys here are how much is negotiated for the big-3 and what amount we decide to keep the state’s reserves at. The governor recommended 12 ½% and some in the legislature feel it should be kept at 10%.
Floor activity has and will continue to pick up as we approach crossover day on February 24th. All bills must be moved out of the house they were filed in by that day.
As Matthew Kim suggests, “if we place a higher value on issues than we do on human beings that we’re interacting with, we are probably off course. We need to stop trying to be right and understand what is right.” Let’s all be our best to follow his advice.