2020 S.D. Legislature: Noem calls for special session to prioritize CARES Act funds
By:
Steve Haugaard, Speaker of the House
The Legislative “listening sessions” are complete, but now the real work begins. Thankfully and finally, the Governor has called for a special session, which will begin Oct. 5. The information gathered over the past weeks will now be sifted into a manageable list of needs and that will have to be reduced to priorities that will, hopefully, benefit from the available CARES Act funds.
As we prepare for the Special Session, we will continue to assess the overall personal impact and business impact. There is an added blessing from these very difficult times, and that is we have been made aware of a variety of new business opportunities which show great promise for using our state’s resources. There are businesses that will likely develop with the promise of long-term growth and stability. Processing of grains and finishing of livestock within the state are good examples of adding value to farm incomes as well as preparing our state’s young people for lifelong careers with great income potential.
The Special Session should not be viewed as a “rubber stamp” of the Governor’s plans for the $1.25B. Our job will be to move whatever funds are yet available to the place where they will do the most long-term good for all the citizens of the state. The goal of the CARES Act was to help citizens survive the impact as opposed to just ensuring government and special interests made it through.
As we get closer to the Regular Session in January we will continue to develop legislation to make use of the lessons we are learning from the pandemic. We will consider legislation to deal with the business failures from the state’s shut down, the gaps in statutes and our Constitution in regard to balance of government power, the impact of Federal powers and funding, as well as ensuring that South Dakota is not left in a vulnerable condition when the next emergency strikes.
As the months go by, we will continue to feel the impact of these unusual times. Revenues will likely diminish as the stimulus money runs out. There might even be some belt-tightening to be done within the state government. Audits will likely become necessary to ensure the monies disbursed were properly applied. And we can expect that there will be additional legislative action needed to tie up some of the loose ends as we all find a new way of conducting our lives and our businesses. Given the starts and stops of our schools we might also expect that there could be similar interruptions of business, but we do hope that will be limited and done only on a voluntary basis.
As the reaction to the virus continues it is imperative that we go back to the original perspective that existed in March which was “risk management” as opposed to what it has become and that is “risk avoidance”. Part of the problem, as I see it, is that the original perspective was lost due to a lack of reliable information and a lack of historical perspective. We have always suffered with viruses and their results. In this case, we failed to keep up with “risk assessment”. In fact, it appears that the assessment was lost due to an epidemic of fear which was based upon a steady stream of fluctuating data. Sadly, the fluctuations were affected by reporting from all over the nation and all over the world, and that statistical data was driven by competing financial interests as well as competing political interests. In other words, we weren’t comparing apples to apples.
So, as we move into this new school year and a new flu season, we do hope that our responses will be tempered with wisdom and experience gained over the past six months. As I have said before, we are a resilient people with the ability to overcome adversity when we work together. I look forward to the opportunities that lie ahead and the innovation that is uniquely American and a hallmark of our South Dakota heritage.
Please go to www.sdlegislature.gov for a listing of upcoming meetings and other information about the Special Session. As usual, please keep in touch with any concerns or recommendations you have. You can contact me at steven.haugaard@sdlegislature.gov
