Fee/Tax Increases in effect on July First
By Jason | July 6, 2009
The following is a Guest Editorial that I wrote for the Watertown Public Opinion that was published in the July 1, 2009 edition.
Many of us rely on the State of South Dakota to provide services to us as taxpayers and citizens. Perhaps registering a corporation through the Secretary of State, licensing a motor vehicle, or indirectly through a visit to a healthcare facility would be just a few examples. After the 2009 Legislative Session many state services became more expensive to utilize.
Throughout the Legislative Session various State Department employees would lobby us on behalf of their bill that will send more revenue to the State of South Dakota. These employees of the State wear a blue badge which is different than the contract lobbyists who have a white badge. Many times in the morning before a session the floor of the House of Representatives would be covered with “blue badges” in an attempt to shore up the needed votes for their fee/tax increase to pass.
The days leading up to the Legislative Session I was never crazy about supporting the fee/tax increases, and throughout the Session I continued to oppose these increases on South Dakotans. The only fee increases I supported were those dealing with increasing professional fees and those who are late on child support.
I encourage all of you to examine where you are required to “file” State paperwork or receive licenses, registration, and permits, because those fees will most likely be increased on July First.
Healthcare facilities were the recipients of some of these fee increases, over $200,000 extra will be deposited in the State’s General Fund. We all know that long-term care facilities are strapped to make ends meet in rural South Dakota, so these fee increases will be an extra burden. Thanks to the efforts of some legislators a portion of the fee increases were reduced from what the Executive Branch requested for raising taxes on South Dakotans.
I had the opportunity to be involved from the beginning on the agriculture related fees that were presented to the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. An increase in fees on the seed/nursery/greenhouse facilities was one bill and another bill increased the fees on dairy operations. These two pieces of legislation troubled me. First off, many greenhouse operators do it as a service to the community and run on thin margins; so why increase their fees? Next, the Dairy Industry is going through very difficult times with extremely low milk price/hundredweight; with some even selling their cows and getting out of the business.
Almost all of these fee increases were “sold” to Legislators on the basis that the program is do or die. If we didn’t support the fee increase; the state service would be gone. Ridiculous and I didn’t buy that argument. Do you really think they would discontinue a dairy inspection program that ensures safe, clean milk and dairy products for consumers? That would be foolish, and that’s exactly what these fee increases have accomplished, foolishness.
A positive alternative to these fee increases could have been an across the board percentage cut to State Government and force State Agencies to look for and find inefficiencies to save money.
There is a fee increase that I would have been glad to support. It was a bill that would attach a fee for each barrel of oil that travels in a pipeline through South Dakota. The sheer purpose of this fee would be to create a cleanup fund for any problems with the pipeline. However, this bill was killed in the Senate State Affairs committee, so I didn’t get a chance to vote on that bill.
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Lake Area Tech Commencement Speaker
By Jason | May 18, 2009
Below is a link to the video from the 42nd Graduation of Lake Area Tech where I was fortunate to be the Keynote Speaker. My speech begins at 13 minutes:
mms://media.lakeareatech.edu/grad/grad09.wmv
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Education in the State Legislature
By Jason | April 6, 2009
The below column was published as a Guest Editorial in The Watertown Public Opinion:
I had a unique vantage point during this past Legislative Session. The floors of either Chamber were always accessible; inside the Democrat caucus; walking the hallways and lobbies of our Capitol; watching the Inauguration of President Obama from one of the recently-remodeled committee rooms; or even looking down on Pierre from inside the Capitol Dome. Many people would remind me that I would be on a steep learning curve in my first year of serving in the Legislature. I enjoyed the challenge, and I am sure it helped that my father and grandfather shared some of their institutional knowledge with me.
Representatives for all levels of education were always present and available for assistance to us as lawmakers. When I ran for the State House I selected “Investing in Education” as my most important plank. Throughout the Session I would ask myself if I was working towards that goal.
Governor Rounds announced in his revised Budget that he would be cutting a grant programs assisting schools that offer Career and Technical Education (CTE). These programs provided additional State funds to our local school districts over and above the per student allocation. Governor Rounds also had proposed freezing the mill levies. Between these two issues Rounds was granted his request to cut the grant program for CTE; but the Legislature won on rolling back mill levies. I voted to keep the CTE grant program intact, and I also voted to roll back the mill levies which will lessen the burden on local taxpayers.
The sparsity funding was our major “school funding” battle that we had on the floor of the House. North-central and western South Dakota Republicans were working with all of us Democrats to try and restore 100% of the sparse-school funding. Unfortunately the Governor only wanted 75% funding of sparsity, so the bill was amended to reflect his wishes. The leaders on fighting for full funding were not quite sure if they would have the votes to override a Governor veto.
In closing since the focus of this column is on education I better mention the issue of tech school governance. During the Session our Tech School leaders traveled many times to Pierre to monitor, testify in subcommittee, and to attend the House Education committee. They were all adamantly opposed to the Governor’s plan to take Executive Branch control of our four technical institutes. As a result of this strong opposition, the Governor’s Bill only received one vote of support in the House Education committee, so it was virtually dead on arrival. I hope this issue is silenced forever because our Tech School leaders are working hard to build industry and community support for their progressive building projects and the bright future that Technical Education has in South Dakota!
Rep. Jason Frerichs (D-Wilmot) is a farmer/rancher and an instructor in the Agriculture Department of Lake Area Tech. You can reach him at www.jasonfrerichs.com or rep.frerichs@state.sd.us.
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Legislative Day 40
By Jason | April 1, 2009
Since the Governor didn’t veto any bill after we left for our two weeks of back to our real jobs it was a pretty quiet last day of the Legislature. Mainly ceremonial and a chance to thank the Clerks and Sergeant at Arms folks who were great help during the session.
Below I have posted my last newspaper column I prepared for the Northeast South Dakota newspapers:
We are approaching the end of a rollercoaster ride for the 2009 Legislative Session. In December Governor Rounds delivered his Proposed Budget. This was brought to us with some concern that revenues would be decreasing, but few programs were cut in this initial budget. Next in January the Governor delivered the revised budget address, which was full of doom and gloom for our State, including many important program cuts. Fortunately as the Session progressed, the Federal Government pulled through by providing much needed funding to our State’s education, transportation, and health programs.
House Bill 1300 was the General Appropriations Bill for this year, and that bill contained many provisions to allow for this huge infusion of Federal Funds. Unfortunately this General Funding bill did not contain an increase to our health care providers; specifically the nursing home/long term care providers. For every dollar the state would have given as an increase, it would be matched by $2 of Federal Medicaid assistance. I find it very contradicting that the Governor asked for and received an increase in fees on our nursing homes, and then didn’t even allow an increase of State Funds to be doubled by Federal funds for our nursing homes. These long-term care providers are essential to our rural communities in South Dakota, and any assistance is greatly needed. I voted against the General Appropriations Bill because it did not include this increase to assist our providers. I also voted against the fee increase for health facilities.
We all understand that our Country all over is in tough economic times. However, our State’s reserve funds are in excellent shape yet! I think it is raining pretty strong now, so we should have used a portion of these reserve funds to help out the health care providers.
Serving in the South Dakota House of Representatives has truly been an honor for me. One of my goals for the Session was to garner respect and trust from my fellow legislators. Worthy progress has been achieved on this goal, but I continue to forge connections with legislator’s from both party’s and each Chamber.
I look forward to visiting with you when we are out of session. I am proud that we have a citizen legislature to keep us grounded to the people who sent us to Pierre. Working towards a routine again of teaching and farming keeps me busy these days.
I am still available at my email: rep.frerichs@state.sd.us. I will also provide legislative updates on my website: www.jasonfrerichs.com. Feel free to give me a ring anytime at 949-2204.
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Legislative Day Thirty-Nine
By Jason | March 13, 2009
Today is the Day to vote on our State Budget.
Fortunately many of the proposed cuts by Governor Rounds in his 2nd Budget Address were restored. Our Federal Government has been very instrumental in assisting our State through these tough economic times with the Stimulus money.
Unfortunately, our providers which would be nursing homes and adjustment training centers will not receive a Medicaid increase. If we as a State would provide an inflationary increase, those dollars would be matched by about 2:1 Federal dollars. South Dakota House of Representatives Democrats submitted an amendment to give our providers an increase of 1.5%. This amendment to the General Appropriations Bill was defeated on a party-line vote with one republican standing with the democrats.
House Bill 1300 was adopted by the South Dakota House of Representatives. I did not support HB1300. I am not proud of a spending bill that does not provide adequate assistance to our providers.
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Thirty-Eighth Legislative Day
By Jason | March 12, 2009
Our South Dakota 2009 Legislative Session is nearly complete. The 40th and final day will be March 30th, which comes after a two week break. The 40th Legislative Day is also termed Veto Day, because we will attempt to override any of the Governor’s Vetoes.
I have officially passed my first few bills while serving as the House Prime Sponsor. SB 140 and SB 185 are on their way to the Governor for his signature.
Senate Bill 140 received strong support for its passage in the SD House of Representatives. Sen. Julie Bartling brought this Bill to Pierre as an avenue for school districts to enter into whole-grade sharing contracts. I have enjoyed working with Sen. Bartling on this Bill, and I am glad she asked me to help out!
Senate Bill 185 also received strong support in the SD House. This Bill removes the “Basic” category in the High School graduation requirements. The recommended program also was strengthened to include balance for Career and Technical Education coursework. Sen. Russ Olson and I served as the Prime Sponsors for this Bill.
Tuesday, March 10 was a memorable day for me during the Legislative Session. Rep. Mark Kirkeby, R-Rapid City graciously handed the gavel over to me to serve as Chairman for the House Local Government Committee. As a Democrat, I didn’t expect to chair a committee during this Session, but it sure was fun!
During this last week of Session, I have been fortunate to serve on two joint Conference committees. These committees consist of three Senators and three Representatives. Senate Bill 115 is the bill to clean up the process for landowners in a zoning district to petition the planning and zoning board for a public hearing. In the conference committee it was decided to reduce the 30% of the landowners needed to sign a petition down to 20%. It was also decided that religious organizations, and any other landowners who wouldn’t have an interest in the zoning process, would be removed. This agreement in the conference committee did not solve the problem of having out-of-state landowners included in the total number of landowners required to petition for a public hearing. I hope we can fine-tune this issue over the summer and fix this problem.
House Bill 1281 is the other conference committee I served on. This bill is an effort to increase the fees on billboard advertising. In the conference committee we adopted a proposal to slightly increase the fees on smaller billboards, but on the larger signs, we doubled the fees. I have been against the increase in fees that would burden South Dakota consumers. On this particular issue, many of these billboard owners are out of state corporations who continue to change out their displays.
On Thursday, March 12, I had the opportunity to meet with Governor Rounds about my Bill that was defeated and opposed by his Staff on using E30 in State vehicles. The Governor was very cordial, and we had some good discussion. I would like to see our State’s standard automobiles use more ethanol, and I asked for his approval. Governor Rounds is somewhat hesitant to challenge the EPA on this issue. I am confident that we as a State should challenge the EPA, because using higher blends of ethanol is obviously CLEANER FOR OUR ENVIRONMENT!
I enjoy serving you and I would like to hear your thoughts on the issues. Please send me an email at rep.frerichs@state.sd.us. I also provide legislative updates on my website: www.jasonfrerichs.com. Feel free to give me a ring anytime at 949-2204.
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Thirty-Seventh Legislative Day
By Jason | March 12, 2009
We overrode the Governor’s veto of House Bill 1197. This is a good bill because it allows homes that are “spec” homes to not be charged tax. Nobody is living in the homes, they have been built and are up for sale. There cannot be a shift in taxes, because ultimately they will be taxed when someone purchases them, and declares the home as their residence. The SD House of Representatives voted 60-10 to override the Governor’s veto, and stand strong in our previouse passage of the bill.
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Thirty-Sixth Legislative Day
By Jason | March 10, 2009
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Legislative Day Thirty-Five
By Jason | March 9, 2009
The smoking ban is on its way to the Governor! The SD House concurred with the Senate amendment, which made the violation of the smoking ban a petty offense.
Three bills that further clarify our values for agriculture land were approved. SB 3, SB 4, and SB 149 assist in making the transition to value our agriculture land based on its productivity instead of using market values. This is a good change for agriculture, because there are few parcels of agriculture land that is sold each year. Oftentimes the market price paid for that land is based on emotion, because “we just never know when more land will come available”. I support this positive change for agriculture land, and I hope that the transition will be very transparent.
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Legislative Day Thirty-Four
By Jason | March 8, 2009
Due to the “snow day” last week we had session today to keep on track with our schedule.
I had my first Bill up on the House Floor today.
Senate Bill 140 received strong support for its passage in the SD House of Representatives. Sen. Julie Bartling brought this Bill to Pierre, as an avenue for school districts to enter into whole-grade sharing contracts. I have enjoyed working with Sen. Bartling on this Bill, and I am glad she asked me to help out!
Senate Bill 185 also received strong support in the SD House. This Bill removes the “Basic” category in the High School graduation requirements. The recommended program also was strengthened to include balance for Career and Technical Education coursework. Sen. Russ Olson and I served as the Prime Sponsors for this Bill.
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