State lawmakers are split on the Governor Kristi Noem’s decision to not accept President Trump’s Lost Wages Assistance help.
South Dakota unemployment claims are around three time the amount they were before the coronavirus pandemic hit.
Governor Noem says South Dakota is in the fortunate position of not needing to accept unemployment assistance from the feds.
Trump’s executive order would give unemployed workers $400 a week, but is a cost share. The feds pay $300 dollars a week and the state pays $100. The state would even get to use some of the $1.25 billion from the CARES Act.
State Senator Gary Cammack agrees with the governor’s choice. The Republican from Union Center says earlier unemployment assistance worked great, but the state should incentivize getting back to work.
“Now, we’re getting to the point where businesses are starting to open back up and they’re needing employees,” Cammack says. “So, we want to do everything we can to encourage that—those folks to go back to work and get the South Dakota economy rolling again.”
Cammack acknowledges a certain population will have extenuating circumstances where they couldn’t or shouldn’t return to work, but that state policy has to apply to the large majority of South Dakotans.
Sioux Falls Democrat Jamie Smith says the governor’s position is disappointing. The House Minority Leader says South Dakota families could use that money to pay rent, mortgages and feed their families.
“The repercussions of the virus are yet to be felt throughout our state completely,” Smith says. “I just think it’s a mistake not to accept that money. The $100 dollars from the state—I believe we can use the 975 million dollars that we have that we have that we’re trying to figure out how to allocate, we could tap into that to pay the state’s $100 portion.”
State lawmakers are debating whether to have a special session. Congress gave states a deadline of December 30th to spend those CARES Act dollars. Some state lawmakers are hoping for a deadline extension to spend that money.
