Committees are starting to hold hearings on spending bills. If a committee approves of a spending bill, they will likely send it to the Appropriations Committee which is the committee that focuses on the budget and spending bills.
Senate State Affairs Committee heard Senate Bill 62 which appropriates 600 million dollars in Federal funds to the Board of Water and Natural Resources. The funds are available as a result of the American Rescue Plan. This money is for grants for water, wastewater, storm water and other similiar projects. Local Government entities have been encouraged to apply for grants and many have already. Eligible entities include cities, rural water systems and sanitary districts. To ensure fairness, the state will use existing funding processes to determine which projects will receive funding.
Entities with smaller populations will receive grants that cover a bigger percentage of the project cost which seems fair as they tend to have more limited resources. Six hundred million dollars seems like a high number and it is, but the amount of potential projects out there still far exceed the amount available through this legislation so it is essential to make sure these funds are used in the most beneficial manner. A large amount of Federal money has been received by the State of South Dakota and local governments such as schools and cities in recent years. The various payments have different rules and deadlines to comply with and the rules keep changing.
Bill introduction deadlines are coming up in the next couple of weeks. More bills will continue to be heard in committee and on the floor as session continues.
I can be contacted at 605-660-6468 or kyle.schoenfish@sdlegislature.gov.