The State House Appropriations Committee has a
busy day tomorrow (Wednesday, March 4), taking up a whole slew of newsworthy spending bills. Among the highlights:
- Supporters of SB 203, a measure to secure funding for the Birth to 3 Connections program, carry their momentum from the Senate to the House. Come on: did anyone think legislators would vote against a thousand toddlers with developmental delays or disabilities?
- On a completely different moral plane, Huronians and other State Fair boosters take a swing at restoring funding for The Big One with SB 181. The Senate basically punted, amending the subsidy to $1 just to keep the bill alive and leaving it to the House to decide whether the State Fair is worth state dollars. Prime sponsor Senator Tom Hansen's last hope: borrow from Obama and make an economic stimulus argument for keeping that money flowing into his hometown.
House Appropriations faces plenty of other important bills tomorrow. The full agenda:
- SB 49: make an appropriation to fund sales tax on food refunds and to declare an emergency.
- SB 50: revise the General Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2009.
- SB 72: make an appropriation to initiate a master of social work degree program in higher education.
- SB 117: appropriate funds to the postsecondary technical institutes for program enhancement.
- SB 164: revise the General Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2009 to fund the South Dakota Opportunity Scholarship.
- SB 181: make an appropriation for the support of the state fair.
- SB 203: make an appropriation for the purposes of funding the Birth to Three Program in the Department of Education and to require a review of the program.
- and maybe SB 36: revise certain drug registration fees and license fees related to health care facilities.
Crunch time indeed!
Actually restoring funding for the state fair would be a great use of the stimulus money. It generates a lot of money flowing thru the fair and back into the community.
ReplyDeleteMakes more sense than a lot of other uses of "stimulus money." But is it even allowed as a use of stimulus funds? And what strings come along with it? Always gotta look for the strings cuz they are there!
State subsidy funding for the state fair needs to go away. They keep promising to make it self-sufficient, but like a cat looking for more milk, keep coming back for another $750,000 every year. Make it fair and treat the state fair like all other fairs across our state, self-funded.
ReplyDeleteBirth to three is a developmental program that would adversely affect young parents at a time when they need the most help. It needs funding.
Today's Argus says the auto dealers and body shops are bickering about whether to raise the threshhold for damage disclosure on titles to $8000 or 40% of the car/truck value. I was sideswiped which damaged the door skin, fender and bumper, total was over $8000 and NO structural damage, but now damage disclosed on title. That isn't fair since there was nothing structural or frame damage, just cosmetics. Take off, reinstall and drive away.
ReplyDelete"make it fair and treat the state fair like all other fairs across our state, self-funded."
ReplyDeleteI don't believe that's correct. SIoux empire fair is not "self-funded."
Anon 12:33 is correct: Sioux Empire Fair gets $230K from Minnehaha County.
ReplyDeleteMy point about subsidizing the state fair with stimulus money stands. It's a fair (no pun intended) use of stimulus money, provides jobs, spreads wealth, and all the good stuff that stimulus money is supposed to do. Why not use it in this way???
ReplyDeleteActually I'm against all this stimulus porky pig, but it appears that it's a done deal and we are going in debt for it no matter what and the powers that be don't seem to care. So IMO the fair has as much right to it as anything else.