Members of the Senate State Affairs Committee support a bill aiming to improve the financial practices of the state of South Dakota. Lieutenant Governor Matt Michels brought the legislation before the committee, saying it’s part of an effort to raise the state’s credit rating. The bill was hog housed to contain two sections. The first says the Bureau of Finance and Management and the Legislative Research Council must prepare and submit independent projections by the 38th day of the legislative session. If there’s a shortfall of more than two and half percent, they must propose measures to eliminate the shortfall. Michels says that’s already happening. The second section calls for independent projections by July 30th each year, and says if projections show a budget shortfall in the current or next fiscal year of five percent or greater, the Governor shall propose measures to eliminate the shortfall.
“And the determination would be, should we just wait it out,” Michels says. “Now, we’re a month into a fiscal year. And we’re seeing things are starting to slide. Should we, based on estimates, should we call a special session? Are there alternatives? It’s early, so let’s see what the alternatives are. But we’re working together. The Governor doesn’t have the independent right to defund like a number of states do, ‘well we’re not going to fund that.’ That’s a huge battle some states have had.”
The bill passed with a vote of seven to one and now heads to the full Senate floor for further debate.