Val Rausch

Week 7 of the 2008 session.

Hello again from Pierre.

This week in appropriations we heard the economist’s projections for the revenue that they feel will be available for the 2009 fiscal year. The Bureau of Finance and Management and the Legislative Research Council each made a presentation and then a sub-committee of the joint appropriations met to try and decide which, if either, we will use for the general bill’s projected revenue. I was appointed to sit on that sub-committee and the future is not bleak or doom and gloom, but the revenue stream has slowed and finding extra monies to increase the Governor’s recommended budget will be difficult at best. The final number from the Sub-committee for the revenue number will be revealed on Monday.

The Governor recommended in his budget that for the 2008 budget we would need to use $29,000,000 from the reserves to cover all of our commitments, things such as flooding, wildfires, energy savings loan fund, etc. He also thought we would need to use $5,000,000 to cover our budget for 2009 fiscal year. So now with the revenues slowing a bit we will need to use even more out of the reserves. We will continue our work of looking for things that can be cut or cut back and reviewing the requests still waiting to see if they can be funded. A lot of work to be done yet in our last 5 days.

There will be a lot of debate next week on several bills, some of which include eminent domain, liquor license, education funding, state employee salaries, health provider fees, public safety, well you get the idea. Always a challenge to make everyone happy and often times we do not accomplish that goal. I’m sure this year will be no different.

With the end of session coming soon, the associations have started to become fewer and fewer. Even some of the lobbyists have been able to go home with their work done for the session.

The legislature had a visit this week from the Madison 4th Grade students, they are our little legislators. In their classes they elect all the positions in the House and Senate and actually practice passing bills. They also adopt us and write us letters. Then as a finale to their project they come to Pierre and visit with us and then watch us during session. What a great experience for them and a treat for us. Many school groups have been to Pierre during session, but this is the only one that gets to come on the floor and visit with us.

If you are in Pierre, please look me up, I love to meet with those who make the trip.

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

Week 6 of the 2008 session.

Hello again from Pierre.

This week was a very busy and exciting week. All of the bills had to leave their House of origin and be either voted up or down and then sent to the other House for their consideration. It gives all the bills that are still alive about 2 weeks to find their final form and then to find their way to the Governor’s desk for his final consideration. The bills that will see the most changes will be the remaining education bills. I have already received numerous e-mails and comments and I encourage and welcome the feedback. It must be known that a majority of the members must agree before anything becomes law. So a lot of work to be done yet for sure. The 2 education bills would be HB 1124 & SB 187. Please review these bills and relay your feedback as soon as you can. I’ll be interested to see the responses.

Appropriations finished the week by clearing all the House Bills, as I’ve mentioned before, some of the bills had the money removed or reduced to a $1 so the bill could stay alive until we can see the revenue projections, which should be Wednesday or Thursday, and try and determine if and to what extent they can be funded. We started hearing the Senate Bills this Friday and will continue with them next week. We now will decide if the House and Senate agree.

The property tax bills 1005 & 1006 have now passed both houses and are being delivered to the Governor’s desk for his consideration. These bills will change how property tax has been figured and evaluated. The delayed implementation date will allow the calculations to begin and any necessary fixes to be made before it actually take affect.

There will be some very interesting debate coming in the next couple of weeks on issues such as Liquor License, minimum hunting age mentor program, changes to open meeting laws, open records laws, eminent domain laws, etc. You get the idea, lots of fun yet!!

There has been some flu and other bugs floating around the capitol and I managed to catch one. I was able to make all my meetings and votes, but I need to apologize if I missed some visitors this week. I’m feeling better and hope to be in full form again soon. My wife, Paula, did join me in Pierre for Valentine’s Day and also to attend the SD National Guard Dining Out. It is a black tie affair to thank and recognize our servicemen and women for all they’ve done and continue to do for our State and Nation.

If you are in Pierre, please look me up, I love to meet with those who make the trip.

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

Week 5 of the 2008 session.

Hello again from Pierre. As I report about the activities and legislation of the week I can’t help feeling so blessed. As I check my e-mails and messages I found that Miles and Holli had sent some pictures from their honeymoon. If we accomplish little this session I will always remember that the 2008 session was special for me and mine. Welcome to the family Holli.

This week found the hours in session lengthening and the debate on the floor impassioned. We even had some after hour caucus meetings to address the biggest issues and to try to reach some consensus as to how they can be resolved. With 50 members in our caucus that can be an impossible job. I can assure you we will spend all the money that we have available, hopefully where it’s needed the most.

We have finished listening to all the agencies and departments portions of the general bill and are now concentrating on the individual requests in the form of House Bills. We will need to make all our decisions by Tuesday at the very latest if we don’t amend the bill. Wednesday is cross over day, this when all the House bills must be out of the House and all the Senate bills need to be out of the Senate.

As we continue to look for ways to fund the special requests we will, in order to give us more time, amend the dollar amounts requested to as little as a dollar. This allows us to meet cross over deadlines and ensure that the bill will not be killed. The Senate will then amend the money back into the bill, if it can be found. Then the House will need to agree with the changes before it can be sent to the Governor. Several bills that were approved with the $1 amendment were the Technical School bills, 5 bills in total.

Other bills that came through appropriations included funding for the State Fair and the annual Omnibus Water bill. The water bill funds the special projects such as Lewis & Clark Pipe Line, Southern Black Hills Water System, etc. Although deadlines are approaching it doesn’t mean the final decisions have been made on the bills still alive. So please continue to follow the bills of interest to you and let us know which ones they are, we can still influence some of the results.

Some of the groups that visited the Capitol this week included SD Physical Therapists, SD Voices for Children, SD Nurses, SD Veterans of Foreign Wars, AFL-CIO, SD Municipal League and other individual city and civic groups. Also this week some legislators had shadows. The shadows were part of the CTSO’s in our high schools. They included FBLA, FFA, DECA, PAS, PBL, FCCLA, & SkillsUSA. I had 2 shadows Mary Remily of Doland and Ethan Remily of Aberdeen. They are 1st cousins and Ethan is also my Nephew. It was great to have them as shadows, I hope they enjoyed their day at the Legislature, I sure did.

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

Week 3 of the 2008 session.

Hello again from Pierre. It is hard to believe that another week has passed, but with the 4 day work week it probably should be expected. I hope the High School Juniors were able to read the articles that my daughter Molly wrote reflecting on her experience as a page. Hopefully it will inspire them to join us and enjoy an experience of their own.

This week the Appropriations committee continued our work of inviting the agencies and departments to the hearings to present and defend their portions of the general budget. The departments included the Board of Regents (8 hours of testimony) and the department of Human Services (4 hours of testimony) and then on Friday we had individual bill hearings for the House Appropriations committee. Most of the bills that we heard had to do with money that comes from either special funds or gifts, so will not affect the general fund dollars needed to run needed items in the state.

In session this week the activity has picked up and the number of bills that we voted on has increased. Many of the bills are still task force bills or agency bills trying to make changes in current laws that they feel would be better or a fix to arising concerns.

We heard from our Investment Council about the status of our Health Care Trust Fund and the Education Enhancement Trust Fund. The funds are healthy and continue to provide us with a good return to use as revenue for the state. The council also warned that we need to be careful not to spend more than absolutely necessary so the funds can keep pace with inflation and maintain it’s purchasing power. The desire to spend those funds is very real, but keeping them healthy and strong is the best for the long term health of the state. Not all agree with this and so we debate it every year.

We also got information on the property taxes and a couple of proposed changes and how they would affect the residents of our state. The meeting lasted about an hour and no specific bill was talked about, but the information was appreciated and hopefully will help us make informed decisions on the property tax bills that will be voted on this year.

Visiting the capitol this week included the Towns and Townships Association, County Commissioners and Officials, SD A.B.A.T.E., SD Newspaper Ass., SD Healthcare Ass., Community Health Care, Community Mental Health, just to name some of them. It is great to have the calls and notes to let me know when people from Dist 4 are here. It is great to see and visit with you, thank you for your efforts.

I need to keep this short because I’m off to my son, Miles, wedding. A great way to spend a weekend, welcoming another Daughter, Holli, into my family.

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