South Dakota Marks Fourth Consecutive FiscalYear End With Surplus
South Dakota Marks Fourth Consecutive Fiscal Year End With Surplus
PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota state government closed the 2015 budget year on June 30 marking the fourth consecutive year with a surplus, Gov. Dennis Daugaard announced today. The state general fund budget for Fiscal Year 2015 ended with both higher revenues and lower expenditures than budgeted.
Revenue growth for the completed 2015 fiscal year exceeded estimates adopted by the Legislature last March by $10 million, or 0.71 percent. In addition, state agencies also demonstrated fiscal restraint, spending $11.5 million less than appropriated, or 0.84 percent. In total, the state’s financial picture improved by $21.5 million from the March fiscal year 2015 estimates.
“When I took office, balancing the budget was my number one priority. Now, for four years in a row, we have maintained structural balance in our budget and we’ve done so without using one-time revenues or rainy day funds,” said Gov. Daugaard. “We had a strong finish to the fiscal year. Our ongoing revenues came in higher than projected and our expenses came in lower than budgeted. This leaves us in an enviable position as we begin the new fiscal year and increases our ability to continue responsible budget practices for Fiscal Year 2016.”
South Dakota’s sales and use tax receipts, the state’s largest revenue source, finished the fiscal year right at the projections, growing 0.03 percent over the revised projections and 1.6 percent over last year’s levels. Collections from the sales and use tax accounted for 61 percent of ongoing general fund receipts in FY2015.
Other notable revenue increases came from the contractor’s excise tax and insurance company tax, which grew 10.7 percent and 6.5 percent, respectively, over FY2014. Notable revenue reductions include the bank franchise tax, declining 20.4 percent , and ongoing unclaimed property at 11.5 percent, compared to the prior year. Ongoing receipts to the general fund totaled $1,381,384,943, which combined with nonrecurring receipts of $36,404,005 yields total general fund receipts of $1,417,788,948.
State agencies again remained within their appropriated budgets in FY2015. Collectively, the three branches of state government spent $11,535,637 less than appropriated. The lion’s share of this – over $5.1 million – was seen in the Department of Social Services, where utilization growth in Medicaid has remained lower than estimates. Another $5 million of unspent appropriation was by the Department of Education, where reduced enrollments and increased tax assessments provided savings to general funds during the FY2015 fiscal year.
South Dakota state government ended FY2015 by transferring $21.5 million to the Budget Reserve Fund, as required by law. The state’s Budget Reserve Fund now has a $126,737,303 balance, and the Property Tax Reduction Fund which has transitioned to the General Revenue Replacement Fund has a $44,000,048 balance.
The combination of those two funds, totaling $170,737,351, represents a combined reserve of 12.3 percent of total general fund spending for FY2015.
For more information, go to the Bureau of Finance and Management’s homepage at bfm.sd.gov.
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State Representative Tim Rounds suffers stroke
Sad news from the Capital Journal, apparently State Representative Tim Rounds has taken ill, suffering a stroke:
State Rep. Tim Rounds is hospitalized after suffering what was apparently a stroke, sources said Sunday.
“That’s what we have been praying about all weekend,” one legislator told the Capital Journal.
But the family and some legislative members of the Republican legislator, who is 55, have kept the news pretty low-key. More than one Pierre area party leader hadn’t heard yet Sunday about Rounds’ hospitalization.
Rounds is from a big family. One of his 10 siblings is his older brother, U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D.
Read it all here in the Capital Journal.
Scary stuff. I just saw Tim a few weeks ago in DC, where he was visiting at the same time I was. Please keep he and his family in your prayers.
Daugaard on Special Session proposal – most will want to wait.
Governor Daugaard was just noting on KCCR radio that he doesn’t think a special session is going to happen, simply because the Blue Ribbon task force is only part-way done:
South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard says while he respects the ability of state legislators to call themselves into a special session, he doubts it will happen.
And…
Daugaard says he doesn’t think there is a consensus on any approach to education funding…
Daugaard says he thinks most legislators want to wait and see what the “Blue Ribbon Task Force on Education” comes up with…
Guest Column: State Rep Mathew Wollmann attends Emerging Leaders conference
Emerging Leaders 2015 Review
by Representative Mathew Wollmann
I was first informed about the Emerging Leaders program at the close of this past legislative session. I heard nothing but great things about this challenging but rewarding opportunity and was graciously nominated by Representative Dean Wink, the speaker of the House. After being nominated I was required to submit my resume, answer a multitude of questions, and give reasons why I wanted to attend the program. The program receives over 200 applications from across the United States, while only 50 are chosen. I was honored to be selected to attend this year’s program.
Monday July 6th I left Sioux Falls airport and made my way to the historical University of Virginia. Upon arrival I got settled into my room, and got ready to meet the staff, faculty, and legislative members I would be working with for the next three days. Before attending it was required to read the books, “The Second Machine Age”, “Plato’s Republic”, and “What got you here won’t get you there”. These assignments also included multiple exerts regarding nutrition, leadership, and economic development.
That first day we started bright and early discussing economic inequality and the new machine age we are finding ourselves in. Professor Edward Freeman the faculty leader led the discussion. I very much enjoyed this discussion being the youngest participant and growing up with technology my entire life. I almost feel that we as a generation have been shaped and molded along with the technology we live with on a day to day basis. Education and technology drove most of the conversation. It was agreed upon among the group that we as a society need to start from a young age teaching kids what a computer really is, and how powerful of a tool it can be. And we as legislators need to keep up with technology ensuring that society can benefit the most from it, that being economically or socially. When it comes to technology you have producers and consumers. Today’s society is able to see media and information at extremely fast rates, while being anywhere in the world. No more Pony Express. It’s alright to be a consumer, but in order to fully optimize the technology in your hands society must teach each other to become producers. Instructing our youth & youngsters to not just consume what technology has to offer, but produce new technology & innovations for others to consume. This can be accomplished by providing computer science courses within elementary schools, emerging today’s youth into coding classes at a young age.
We transitioned from technology and started to discuss Plato’s Republic focusing on the cave allegory with Professor Dominic Scott leading the discussion. We were in fantastic hands being that Scott is a visiting Fellow at Merton College Oxford. This passage describes what it’s like to spend life in a cave, to leave the cave, and then to return only to be disappointed on how difficult it is to bring your ideas across. No matter how great the idea there will always be those that disagree completely, are hesitant, or those that will follow you out of the cave to see the light. I saw this from multiple different standpoints, and at no time ever thought that as a legislator I am the only one attempting to find the light. One fantastic idea emerged from the discussion that multiple other states already implement. During a designated amount of time, state legislators would switch districts and hear from a different group of constituents to try and gain a better idea about what can be done at a state level to help all citizens. I would like to see something like this within South Dakota to keep us all out of the dark. My favorite quote from the class summed this section up very well. Education is not a matter of instilling knowledge, like putting sight into blind eyes, it is a process of reorientation involving the soul in its entirety.
Next on the agenda was public and private partnerships led by Professor Mary Margaret. Mary is an Associate Professor of Business Administration. This was very interesting because we had a room full of around fifty legislators from across the U.S, along with representatives from corporations such as Comcast, Wal-Mart, and Darden Restaurants who each brought a different perspective. Phenomenal discussion was had and it became clear how businesses are more than just a store for consumers. They are an integral part of a community. The success of local businesses can make a community either thrive, become stagnant, or worse fail.
We also discussed how regular exercise helps. Registered Dietitian Jodi H. Harris led the discussion. I firmly believe that it is a balance between mental, physical, and spiritual strength in order to achieve great results. To sum up the class, cut mindless eating, ditch the sugary drinks, even your fruit juices, and always make time in your day for exercise.
Simulations were also implemented to let us all work together to solve simulated problems. Our first tested our ethical behavior and put us in charge of a toy department. It was all computer based, and we were instructed to take our newly developed toy and properly market and distribute it to make the most profit. We found out later on that our toy was made with a certain plastic that 1/100,000 children and adults were allergic to. This among other problems tested our ethical behavior, and gave us a score at the end. The next morning in class we not only dedicated the whole morning to ethics, but discussed our scores as a group. My personal favorite was where we discussed ethical issues each legislator has seen within their state. My eyes were opened to unethical behavior that is just not seen at the South Dakota level. This made me very proud to serve in a state that doesn’t need an ethics commission to remain ethical.
We all have bad habits. Even the best leaders the world has seen had bad habits. But the key is to distinguish those habits and learn to suppress them. That is exactly what we covered in the book, “What got you here won’t get you there”. In the book, the author lists 20 bad habits that challenges our interposal behavior. These habits include adding too much value, or always having the desire to add our 2 cents to every discussion, providing needless sarcasm or cutting remarks, starting sentences with negatives, not listening, passing the buck, or even failing to express gratitude. We discussed each of these in depth, and even took 45 minutes to pair up and discuss personally what we ourselves need to change to become a better leader. I highly encourage everyone to search for these twenty bad habits online, and make a personal commitment to change them one at a time.
It all wasn’t classroom material. We had the distinct opportunity to tour Monticello, President Jefferson’s home. I have previously had the opportunity to visit Mt. Vernon and can say that both are must visits. Jefferson’s Monticello shows off his architecture skills as well as his scientific studies and inventions. I can say that both President Washington and Jefferson know how to pick a great location to settle down. This wasn’t our only trip off campus though. Professor Freeman was so kind to invite us all to his personal residence. I believe this just shows how dedicated and down to earth all of our instructors were.
In summary, the SLLF Emerging Leaders Program is by far the greatest leadership conference I have attended. Walking into the classroom, the letters before your name are dropped, and everyone works together to discuss topics without politics getting in the way. The corporate members attending give us an insight to how businesses view politicians and government. There was never a time where I felt solicited, or troubled that they were in our presence. Many individuals may feel that corporate dollars have no place within legislative leadership conferences, but I think it shows the support that the business community has to develop future leaders of America. At the end of the day we all tie our shoes the same way, and all want what is best for future generations.
In closing I would like to thank Speaker Dean Wink for the nomination, the support by The State Legislative Leaders Foundation led by President Stephen G. Lakis, the donations from many business sponsors, the amazing faculty and staff, and of course the other fifty or so members attending the course.
If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Representative Mathew Wollmann at 605-480-3038 or email at [email protected].
Nice article on State Treasurer Rich Sattgast this AM
South Dakota’s State Treasurer Rich Sattgast had a nice piece written about him in the Rapid City Journal this AM. And according to the article, apparently, he’s Santa:
For South Dakota State Treasurer Richard Sattgast, nearly every day is Christmas. And, to his distinct pleasure, he gets to play Santa Claus.
and…
On a personal level, Sattgast said the program has changed his own world.
“It’s made a great impact in my life,” he said by phone from his Pierre office. “This is definitely the most fun of all the state treasurer’s duties. When is returning something that has been lost not a great feeling? When you’ve found someone’s wallet and you’re able to give it back to them, that’s the feeling I get to feel every day.”
Sattgast said the range of items and their values returned to South Dakotans were quite diverse. Since assuming his post, he said, he has found for state legislators stock dividends that were valued at 25 cents. He also once returned property that looked like a Hot Lotto jackpot.
“When I first became state treasurer five years ago, I was able to return over $1 million to a family in Sioux Falls,” Sattgast recalled. “They actually were a fairly well-to-do family in South Dakota, and the father had passed away. The estate had been settled, but they had missed stock in an oil company in Colorado. They were grateful, I will say that.”
Chris Christie’s first TV Ad – Leadership
Any South Dakotans out there who are wearing their heart on their sleeve for Chris Christie? Tell us why!
US Senator John Thune’s Weekly Column: Transportation Reforms Strengthen, Provide Certainty toFarmers, Ranchers, and Businesses
Transportation Reforms Strengthen, Provide Certainty to
Farmers, Ranchers, and Businesses
By Senator John Thune
With all the Senate has accomplished this year, it is hard to believe that we are just six months into the Republican majority. The Senate has passed nearly 50 bipartisan bills since January, and we are on pace to pass many more. We have made bipartisanship a cornerstone of the GOP-led Senate because when the two parties work together, the American people win.
With a new majority, came a fresh set of leaders at the numerous Senate committees, which is where the important groundwork is laid before legislation comes to the Senate floor. For years, this process was ignored under Democrat leadership, and the legislative process suffered because of it. Thankfully, that has changed, and our committees are once again hard at work.
I was among the new set of committee leaders that took over earlier this year, and am humbled that my colleagues selected me to lead the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, which has broad jurisdiction over significant issues that are important to South Dakota, including telecommunications, aviation, rail, highway safety, and interstate commerce. The committee has already passed a number of improvements this year.
South Dakota businesses and agriculture producers faced numerous challenges last year during the nine-month labor dispute at 29 West Coast container ports. During this prolonged slowdown, many businesses and agriculture producers faced inventory challenges during the holiday season because shipments on the West Coast were severely backed-up.
Some estimates say that these disputes cost the economy up to $2.5 billion per day, and the resulting strife was widely cited as a contributing cause to the anemic 0.2 percent annual growth rate of the U.S. economy in the first quarter of 2015.
To help prevent a reoccurrence, I led a group of senators in introducing a set of common-sense sunshine reforms that would help with early identification of port labor disruptions before they inflict damage on the economy. These reforms would also require yearly port metrics reporting, which would create a new level of transparency and accountability for U.S. ports and give businesses and agriculture producers across the country greater certainty. Last month, my bill cleared the Commerce Committee, and I am hopeful that the full Senate will consider this legislation soon.
Freight rail is another issue that is critically important to South Dakota businesses and agriculture producers because of our dependence on transporting commodities and products across the country and around the globe. Because of the serious rail backlogs that occurred at the end of 2013 and into early 2015, I introduced legislation last Congress, and again this year, to provide common-sense reforms to the Surface Transportation Board to address the added costs and uncertainty that many South Dakota agriculture producers and businesses encountered when they were unable to get reliable rail transportation they depend on.
I have worked with numerous South Dakota groups for years on this bill, which has strong bipartisan support and the endorsement of organizations like the American Farm Bureau Federation, the South Dakota Grain & Feed Association, the National Rural Electric Cooperatives, and the South Dakota Farmers Union. This bill passed the Senate unanimously late last month and is awaiting consideration in the House.
Once these reforms are in place, South Dakota farmers, ranchers, and businesses will be in a stronger position to ensure that they get a fair deal on critical shipments, coming or going.
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US Senator Mike Rounds’ Weekly Column: We Must Act Decisively to Defeat ISIL
We Must Act Decisively to Defeat ISIL
By Senator Mike Rounds
July 10, 2015
Protecting our nation through a strong defense is a fundamental role of the federal government. We have the greatest military in the world, and it’s an honor to serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee to give them the support they need to continue to protect our nation. The House and Senate recently passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016, which supports our troops and provides them with the tools necessary to successfully complete their missions. Yet, while Congress has done its part, I am concerned about the administration’s strategy to combat and defeat ISIL in the Middle East and the threat ISIL poses to the U.S.
ISIL emerged two years ago out of the Al Qaeda terrorist organization. Since its formation, it has made alarming advances in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East and Africa as other violent terrorist groups pledge loyalty to ISIL. This group is the most dangerous, extremist Islamic terrorist group history has ever seen and now poses a direct threat to the United States. ISIL is a jihadist organization following an extreme interpretation of Islam which conducts unspeakable acts of violence against Muslims and non-Muslims, to include women and children. The United Nations holds ISIL responsible for human rights abuses and war crimes, and they have also been accused of ethnic cleansing on a “historic scale.” Their ultimate goal is to unite the entire Arab world under a violent extremist Islamist caliphate, and they are the first terrorist organization to hold large swaths of land from which they can obtain financial and other resources as well as organize and train their fighters. They have destabilized the entire Middle East and pose a threat to the United States and other nations outside the region partly because of the many individuals from the U.S. and Europe who have joined ISIL’s ranks and can one day return home to commit terrorist acts.
Many experts view ISIL, in conjunction with other expanding threats, as posing the most complex and uncertain international environment for the U.S. since the end of World War II. They pose a direct threat to our nation and American interests all over the world. ISIL must be defeated – and can be – but the administration’s halfhearted strategy to defeat them is failing to produce results, even emboldening them.
I recently had the opportunity to question Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin Dempsey about the administration’s lack of a strategy to defeat ISIL during a Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing. During that hearing, Sec. Carter acknowledged that the Pentagon’s effort to defeat ISIL has been severely slowed due to a lack of Syrian and Iraqi recruits to undergo U.S. training and eventually join the fight. Shockingly, so far we’ve only trained 60 Syrians to fight ISIL instead of the thousands the administration promised. I believe the reason we are having trouble finding recruits is because potential fighters lack confidence in our commitment to support them over the long term and fear what will happen to them and their families if we abandon them. Unfortunately, President Obama’s strategy, with its multiple constraints on what our troops in Iraq can do, does little to convey such a commitment. In particular, the administration refuses to provide Iraqi security forces with U.S. advisors who would serve with them on the front lines and forward air controllers to direct airstrikes to help them. Providing this kind of support would reassure Iraqis of our commitment and help provide backbone to forces who, with our help, have the potential for success.
Just as General Petraeus rallied the Sunni tribes in 2006 and 2007, we must do so again in order to stop the Sunnis from joining ISIL. The Sunnis feel as if they are second class citizens in Iraq due to Shiite control of the country, and their way of fighting against this control is to join ISIL. By working with the Sunni tribes and their elders, we can begin to recruit fighters in our cause as well as reduce the number of fighters providing support to ISIL. We must also work to create greater ethnic and religious tolerance in Iraq among the Kurds, Shia and Sunnis.
No one wants to see American boots on the ground in the Middle East, but this administration’s failing ISIL strategy threatens the region, country and the entire world. We must change our current course and act quickly and decisively to defeat ISIL. Failing to do so would be a profound failure to keep Americans safe.
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Congresswoman Kristi Noem’s Weekly Column: To End Poverty, Expand Opportunity
To End Poverty, Expand Opportunity
By Rep. Kristi Noem
July 10, 2015
More than 1,000 South Dakotans, including nearly 300 children, were homeless at some point last year, according to a recent report by the South Dakota Housing for the Homeless. What is perhaps more shocking is that three of the five lowest-income counties in the country are located in our state. For many impacted by poverty, it’s been a challenge that has been passed from one generation to the next. I want to help end that cycle.
Fundamentally, any conversation about ending poverty must begin with a conversation about expanding opportunity. Too often, federal programs fail in this respect. I believe they need to do more than just help folks avoid the worst hardships; they must also empower people to build a successful career. Earlier this month, I took steps toward such a goal.
On July 7, I introduced legislation to help reform the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program – or TANF. By definition, this is a program designed to help struggling families achieve self-sufficiency and financial independence, but it isn’t working and loopholes let some states get away with ineffective spending.
TANF requires states to make sure 50 percent of program recipients participate in work-related activities, such as working, searching for a job, or training for one. If states spend more than the federal government requires, the 50 percent threshold can be decreased. In extreme cases, it can be decreased to zero. Therein lies the loophole.
Some states are counting third-party spending as “state spending” and driving their apparent investments to artificially high levels. As a result, they don’t need as many TANF recipients to be engaged in work-related activities. Of note, South Dakota does not game the system in this way; we now need other states to follow our example.
The practice completely dilutes the integrity of TANF by eliminating a key accountability measure. No longer do states need to achieve what TANF was intended to accomplish in order to receive the federal dollars in full.
My bill simply stops states from counting third-party spending as their own. States need to make the investment and they need to produce a good outcome. We need this level of genuine accountability if we are to be successful.
My bill was introduced as part of a broader legislative package that aims to increase the employment of low-income families. As part of the package, we also introduced more incentives for states to help people get a good job. We give states more resources to be innovative in how they tackle poverty at home. We create a clearinghouse for best practices, so good ideas can go farther.
I firmly believe the best way out of poverty is a good job and that’s what these bills are intended to do. In recent months, we’ve seen the national unemployment rate fall, but those numbers are deceiving because more and more people are dropping out of the workforce. In fact, the portion of Americans engaged in the workforce today is lower than at any point since Jimmy Carter was president. That lack of employment is reverberating throughout our economy and stopping us from moving beyond the recession. The only way to break this cycle is to give folks more opportunities to rise up and out of poverty.
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