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vote. Gov. Dennis Daugaard is expected to sign it into law.
• Lawmakers noted that in contrast with the gridlock in Washington, Republican and Democratic legislative leaders cooperated in South Dakota to craft the plan.
• "I think that most of the country and South Dakota is watching how we handle this," said Senate Republican Leader Russell Olson of Wentworth.
• Building South Dakota would eventually be funded on an ongoing basis by a portion of the contractors' excise tax collected on large projects and some of the unclaimed property that the state receives from abandoned bank accounts.
• But most of those funds won't be available until 2015 or 2016, so sponsors are asking the House and Senate to "prime the pump" with $7 million from the state's general fund, said Senate President Pro Tem Corey Brown.
• "I think a lot of us felt pretty strongly that if we're going forward with a proposal like this, then we need to be willing to put some skin in the game right away this first year," said Brown, R-Gettysburg.
• Republicans and Democrats worked for two months to find a compromise to help South Dakota better compete with other states in recruiting large projects and to help lure smaller projects to the state.
• The bill also helps communities build the infrastructure needed to encourage development, works with the state's technical centers on training and helps K-12 schools bear the cost of English language training when a project draws workers from other cultures.
• House Democratic Leader Bernie Hunhoff, of Yankton, called the bill a workable piece of legislation that's only as good as the spirit in which it's implemented.
• "It brings education to the forefront of economic development, which is where it should be, and it gets the biggest share of the Building South Dakota Fund," Hunhoff said. "It stresses higher quality jobs in the first sentence."
• South Dakota currently has no incentive plan because a previous program that refunded construction taxes for large industrial projects was allowed to expire Dec. 31. In November, voters rejected a replacement plan suggested by Gov. Dennis Daugaard.
• Officials say the state is at a disadvantage because of its up-front tax structure.
• South Dakota charges a 4 percent sales tax on construction projects, as well as a 2 percent contractors' excise tax on gross receipts. Few other states have a contractors' excise tax, so construction is cheaper elsewhere.
• The new plan would refund part or all of the state sales tax paid by projects of more than $20 million that would not located in South Dakota without such an incentive.

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