PIERRE (AP) – Two Senate Republican state budget-writers said Thursday they're pushing for small funding increases for education, health care providers and state workers in the upcoming budget year despite lower-than-expected state revenues.
Sens. Deb Peters and Justin Cronin, members of the Joint Committee on Appropriations, said 0.3 percent increases for those areas would require about $4 million. Senate lawmakers have been backing some form of increases, Peters said.
"We can find efficiencies within state government in order to fund our priorities," she said.
But Republican Rep. David Anderson, the panel's vice chairman, said earlier in the day that he anticipated flat funding for schools, providers and state workers. Anderson wasn't immediately available for follow-up comment.
Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard in December proposed 1 percent increases in those key areas for fiscal year 2018, which starts July 1.
The main part of South Dakota's 2017 legislative session ends on Friday, when lawmakers are expected to pass the state budget for fiscal year 2018. The Legislature has been dealing with lower-than-anticipated state tax collections caused by low inflation, less spending in the farm economy and e-commerce transactions that avoid sales taxes.
Lawmakers last month settled on state revenue targets significantly lower than those Daugaard included in his December budget address. Bureau of Finance and Management Commissioner Liza Clark said in an email that the governor's priority is a balanced budget.
"We will continue to work with the Legislature to make that happen," she said.
