Rural Lobbyist: Education Funding and Medicaid Expansion headline the Governor’s State of the State Address

Posted on: January 12, 2016 | Category: News Releases

January 12, 2016 – By #South Dakota Farmer Union

Today Governor Dennis Daugaard gave his annual State of the State Address to kick off the 2016 Legislative Session in Pierre. In this address Governor Daugaard gave the audience a glimpse of what to expect from the Governor’s office during this year’s session.The two major topics addressed were: Education funding and Medicaid expansion. Other topics included:

South Dakota Retirement Systems
Prison Populations/Drug Courts
Worker Shortage
Disability Employment
Native American Education and Development
State Transparency
Rail Improvements
State Park Development
State Veterans Home

TEACHER PAY Governor Daugaard began the address talking about education funding and the findings of the Blue Ribbon Task Force (BRTF). His proposal called for a cent increase in the state sales tax. However, the proposal did not include exemptions regarding food or clothing. The goal of the proposal is to create an average salary of $48,500. In total, the increase would generate $40 million beyond those needs identified by the BRTF. The additional revenue would be used to provide property tax relief. The funding level for each district would be determined by district size and the student-to-teacher ratio. Districts below 200 total students would be funded based on a scale of 12.5:1. Those above 600 would be reimbursed on a 15:1 scale. Districts falling in between would be addressed on a sliding scale. The proposal will also recommend a cap on district reserves. Any reserve funds over the cap would see reduced funding on a dollar-for-dollar basis. CAUSE FOR CONCERN: The governor did not include food or clothing exemptions in the cent increase. Without these exemptions, the tax increase would have the greatest impact on low income families/individuals in South Dakota. Also, the governor spoke briefly about equity redistribution in reference to revenue sources like gross receipts on utilities and wind farm tax. To take these funds away from their respective communities could have a serious impact on rural districts currently utilizing the funds. Not to mention that other counties have refused to take advantage of similar opportunities in their respective communities. MEDICAID EXPANSION The expansion of the state Medicaid program also dominated the spotlight in the governor’s address. In his explanation of the expansion, Governor Daugaard provided a cost-to-benefit analysis to convince legislators that his proposal “makes sense for South Dakota.” The benefits provided in his explanation included:

Fixing Indian Health Services through federal reimbursement
Providing better health care to Native Americans
Covering an additional 50,000 South Dakotans under the Medicaid program

Governor Daugaard stated that the expansion could provide all of these benefits at NO COST TO THE STATE GENERAL FUND. It just makes sense. In order to further address concerns of fellow conservatives, the governor explained the methodology used to reach the additional 50,000 covered South Dakotans, as well as, the neutral impact on the state general fund. In his explanation he stated that there were built in cushions within each of the estimates in order to protect against miscalculations suffered by other states. He also called for the use of a trigger mechanism within the legislation that would allow South Dakota to repeal the expansion if the federal government were to change the terms of the agreement. Governor Daugaard also assured legislators he would not go forward with Medicaid expansion without legislative approval through the form of budget appropriations. South Dakota Farmers Union has recently signed on in a letter of support to the governor’s expansion proposal. Providing better health care for Native Americans and additional coverage for 50,000 South Dakotans, at no cost to taxpayers aligns directly with Farmers Union policy and is simply the RIGHT THING TO DO.

Last Modified: 01/12/2016 9:26:34 pm MST