West River Eagle

Here’s how to spend a billion dollars



During a special session on Monday, the South Dakota Legislature did its best to go on a spending spree, figuring out how to allocate more than half a billion dollars-worth of federal funds.

The $1.25 billion was designated for coronavirus relief from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, also known as CARES. It was designated for a multitude of programs.

Almost $468 million of the funds have already been allocated by Gov. Kristi Noem.

Noem’s allocations included $153.5 million for the S.D. Local Government COVID Recovery Fund, $100 million for re-employment insurance fund protection, $18.7 million for K-12 grants, $33.8 million for correctional officers and parole officers, $19.6 million for the Human Services Center, $10 million for the Highway Patrol and Motor Carrier, $8.5 million for correctional health care, $8.1 million for court service officers, $15 million for the Department of Tourism, $5 million for state government laptops for remote work and security, $5 million for public universities and colleges, $5 million for private universities and colleges, $650,000 for legislative chamber and meeting rooms remote access, $64.9 million for other state government needs and $20 million for K-12 and higher education COVID testing.

Since the announcement of the federal funding, some legislators have said that they deserve to have an opportunity to weigh in on how the money is spent. To that end, in September five interim joint policy committees took public testimony on how the funds should be spent.

Using information from those committees, the Interim Joint Committee on Appropriations offered a draft resolution spelling out the recommendations for the uses of the federal coronavirus relief funds.

With just more than $597 million to work with, the interim appropriations committee’s recommendation centers on grant programs with $400 million for small business grants, $40 million for small nonprofit business grants and $10 million for small business start-up grants. In each case grants can be awarded for as much as $100,000.

Legislators sought $115 million for grants for community-based health care providers or personal service providers. Another $15 million is designated for acute care in hospitals.

Other allocations include $2 million for adult education and private non accredited education, $5 million for advertising by destination marketing organizations and $10 million for housing assistance.

The resolution requests that the governor report to the special interim committee by the 10th of each month about the status of the coronavirus expenditures. It also allows the governor to exercise her authority to “adjust to changing economic conditions, to unexpected circumstances in the administration of relief funds or to changes in federal law or guidance provided that the governor inform and seek the input of the special interim committee as to any such action.”

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