Val Rausch

Week 2 2008 Session

Hello again from Pierre, I will have Molly finish her report and get it to the paper as soon as possible. We are in the short session and with a 4 day work week, we have Friday off this week, so Molly had to go to school, so her final week’s report will be soon to follow.
The pages really had a great time and especially for me a very proud week!

The Appropriations committee met for an additional 22 hours this week, we continue to listen to the Departments defend their portion of the Governor’s budget. The departments that appeared in front of us this week included the Public Utilities Commission, Bureau of Finance and Management, Dept. of Tourism and State Development, State Treasure, State Auditor, Dept. of Transportation, Dept. of Revenue and Regulation, South Dakota Retirement System, Secretary of State, Dept. of Education, Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources, Dept. of Public Safety and the Dept. of Agriculture.

When the Dept of Public Safety was testifying we had a chance to hear how the Highway Patrol will be handling their proposed $2,000,000 cut. Many were concerned that their response and ability to patrol would be hurt or slowed. They assured us that the public safety will in no way be put in jeopardy. Their plan would mainly include controlling overtime and delaying or extending their car replacement schedules. Col. Mostellar assured the committee that, although the cuts were unwelcome, the services the public has depended on would be able to be met.

The Dept of Agriculture was happy to inform the committee that the State Fair has had a good year, exceeding their projected revenue. They were able to use the excess dollars to do some very necessary repairs and improvements to some of the buildings located on the fair grounds. The Governor has included the State Fair state money in the regular budget. Normally it has been issued through a special bill that goes through the legislature. I believe the Appropriations committee will insist we continue to give the state fairs’ money in the same fashion and remove it from the general bill and offer a separate bill to accomplish the same results. Sec. Even also said they will be hiring a new fair manager soon.

With the slow down in the State’s revenue most of the budgets are very similar to last year with only the necessary changes being proposed. It will be interesting to see if the rest of the Agencies and Departments carry on with the same trend.

The 4 day work week is having an effect on the committees that normally meet on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. There seems to be a larger number of bills this year and with those committees losing one day every week they have started hearing bills as early as 6:30am. Serving on appropriations leaves me little sympathy for these committees, but it is nice to have the extra company in the early hours at the capitol.

With the shortened session the last bills to be entered will be submitted Wednesday, at that point we will know which bills need to watched and either passed or killed. As always please contact me as soon as you hear of a bill that affects you and I will help you get the answers to your concerns. The voting next week will start being on major issues so please keep yourself informed. You can track bills on the internet at legis.state.sd.us/session/2008/ or call me at 605-880-5015 or email me at rep.rausch@state.sd.us. Thank you again for all your support. God Bless

Week 1 of the 2008 session.

It is hard to believe that it has been a year already since my last report, but session has started and things are getting moving at a fast pace. This session is the short session (35days) and it really pushes legislation to be handed in early and really gets the committee going quickly. Appropriations had already listened to 16 hours of testimony consisting of 7 agencies or departments. But instead of boring you with those details I thought it would be interesting to get a unique perspective on the session, so I asked my daughter Molly, who is my page, to share her experience with you. Hopefully it will be interesting and also encourage other students to consider the page program in future years.

For the first two weeks of session, I, Molly Rausch, am a page for my father, Val Rausch. I have been busy the whole week. From taking phone messages to making appointments, I have had plenty to do.

The legislative session started on Tuesday, January 8th, but the pages were hard at work two days before session began. We had to report on Sunday at 3:00pm. Here we met our page advisor, Val Melmer, and got a tour of the capital. It was a short meeting but very productive.

Monday was our first official day of work. There were still no legislators around, but we were busy all day dumping bill books and getting the capital ready for session on Tuesday. We learned what we were in charge of and got a better understanding of what was expected of us.

The rest of the week was full of activity. Every page is assigned six or seven representatives. We are in charge of getting all their paper work ready for them and getting their mail. If they have a special task for us, we complete it.

What’s a typically day for a page? Well, our mornings are pretty low key. We have to report to the Page Advisor office in the capital by 7:30 every morning. The first thing we do is hand out the daily calendar. Once that is finished, some report to committee meetings and others report to phone duty. I have worked both. In the house, there are two pages working the phones. Because there aren’t a lot of phone calls, we take turns running around and helping our legislators. We take shifts for lunch. The first group eats at around 11:00 and the rest eat at noon. We are allowed to eat where ever we like. For those who want to eat at a restaurant, Pierre offers a large variety of food. For those who want to stay at the capital, there is a little café in the basement of the capital.

After lunch is when we really get busy. During session, the pages are in charge of a row, if any one in our row waves at us, we attend to them. This year has been really neat. Usually they ask us to get them coffee or get a copy of a bill, but this year they are giving us more complicated missions. They are relying on us more, which really makes you feel significant. In the past, they have had the interns do jobs like making appointments and summarizing court cases, but they have been asking more and more pages to do these kinds of jobs. Our Advisor is really impressed with how fast we are catching on and how many compliments the legislators are giving her. She said that they are giving us really difficult jobs, but they are impressed with how well we are doing them.

After session, we wrap up the day by finishing up phones and getting the calendars all laid out for tomorrow. We are usually out of there an hour after session adjourns, but if there are meetings we are in charge of sitting in on them. This week appropriations have met after caucus so we have gotten out of here at about five every day.

I am enjoying my time out here so much. It is an amazing experience. I not only get to see hands on how my government is run, but I also get so see why my dad loves it out here so much. Everyone is really nice, and if we have a question they are more than willing to answer it for us. Being out here is kind of addicting. The energy of government is fascinating. Time is flying out here in Pierre, and I am enjoying every minute of it!

As always please contact me with any of your legislative concerns at 605-880-5015 or valrausch@hotmail.com or rep.rausch@state.sd.us Thank you and God Bless, Val

Final Report,

Hello again,

This will be my final report for the year. Session is officially over and now I get to return to my office and try to find my desk under the mountain of paper work that has accumulated over the last 2 months.

On Monday the 26th was what we call VETO day. We gather for the last day of session to decide if we want to override or uphold the Govenor’s vetoed bills. This year there were 5 bills the Governor vetoed and all of his vetoes were upheld.

Those 5 bills were, booster seat law changes, changes in Brand Board, funding for Conservation districts, new governance for the Tech schools, and tax exemption for nurseries and greenhouses. But they failed.

The conservation districts funding will be increased, but through a different fund, not the unclaimed motor fuel tax refunds. Hopefully it will be a more permanent source for the conservation districts. The other 4 bills will have to try again next year.

Other accomplishments in this years session include. Giving more protection to the elderly who are abused, created a task force to find a solution for health care for all South Dakotans, created new sobriety programs, created new Meth treatment programs, covered tuition reimbursements for health care professionals, appropriated $800,000 for special tax refunds for elderly, clarified end of life health care decisions, reimbursed funding for wildfire protection, increased the state’s minimum wage to match the Federal Law when passed, appropriated $15 Million plus for water and waste related projects, revised authorization of the Public Utility Commission to regulate electric rates, raised the State’s cost share of the Lewis & Clark Rural water project to $19 Million, authorized $12 Million for upgrades and additions in Custer State Park, appropriated $750,000 for the SD State Fair, funded drought tolerance biotechnology research, approved 3 new Ph. D. programs, authorized securing a dedicated internet line for research and use for high speed data transfers, funded the opportunity scholarships, increased funding to the Technical Institutes, extended the veterans’ bonus program, extended deadlines for abatement or refund of property taxes to military personnel, changed campaign finance laws, created a teacher compensation program for teacher pay ($4 M), funded the short fall of the Education Service Agencies ($1.7 M), appropriated $1.4 M for K-12 technology, appropriated $1.5 M for career/technical education, increased state aid to general education by $23.6 M, increased state aid for special education by $594,809.

This is a long list, but it is only a portion of all the things addressed this session. It was an honor to represent all of you again and I encourage you to contact me for any of your concerns that I may help with.

Until next year God Bless and please be safe, Rep. Val Rausch 1-605-880-5015

Week 8,

Hello again from snowy Pierre,

Well this is a first for me, getting snowed in for the weekend. My Wife and daughters think I did this on purpose because of course, they have to move the snow. I did have extra gas for the snow blower, so I’m not totally in the dog house. I hope everyone was able to find a safe haven for the storm. What an event.

I did have an opportunity to take a look at the new emergency strategy room in action. What an impressive place. It is in the new DCI building that houses our training center for law enforcement, the Attorney General and his staff, and the State Lab. We have had tours of the facility before, but it is nice to see it in operation.

This week has been extremely hectic. It is 6:00pm Friday and we are just finishing for the day. All the bills have been voted on and have passed, failed, or are in conference committees trying to solve the differences the House and Senate have. All the bills except the budget. Now that were in Pierre for the weekend we’ll be working tomorrow trying to get all the numbers crunched so we can here the General Bill Monday on the Floor.

We will need to get the Education bills from the conference committee with the final recommendations for education spending completed and then the picture will be complete. It is still a work in progress with all parts agreed in theory, so just the final numbers will be hashed out. By the time you read this letter it will already be in the papers, so I won’t revisit them here.

The bill that would have changed the way property is valued in the state had a 1 1/2 hour floor debate and in the end it was defeated with a 30 to 40 vote. Next year will be another opportunity to try and deal with 150% rule and non-ag z.

The weather did not stop our Wednesday night House/Senate Basketball game. It is the final event of Kids Voting Week and their fund raiser. It is a lot of fun and probably the funniest sight most people see all year. Out of shape legislators, interns, pages and constitutional officers trying to play a game we couldn’t play when we were in shape. Quite a sight I’m sure. The fundraiser raised about $16,000, so it was very successful. My only regret was my daughter Brenna’s 8th grade class was not able to get to Pierre to present their project for the competition held as part of the activities for Kids Voting. It would have been nice to have them visit the capitol and watch the House beat the Senate.

I will try to get a final article in for next week and recap the year. A lot happens in 40 days and it is amazing how fast the time goes. I appreciate the opportunity you’ve given me to represent your interests in Pierre and I hope I have not let you down.

Until next week God Bless and please be safe, Rep. Val Rausch 1-605-880-5015