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takes care of schools and medical facilities while supporting other priorities.
• "It feels to me like we're putting big business before people, before kids," Sen. Billie Sutton, D-Burke, said.
• After the Appropriations Committee voted to reject extra funding for nursing homes and other facilities that rely heavily on Medicaid, the state-federal program that provides health care for poor people, House Appropriations Chair Fred Romkema said lawmakers had to make tough votes to balance the budget.
• "We're making some painful decisions here," Romkema told the dozens of state officials, lobbyists and other lawmakers who watched the Appropriations Committee meet over much of the day. "We don't have the money in the budget. We don't relish these votes. We're looking for a balanced budget for South Dakota."
• The committee rejected most of the 59 proposed changes to the budget. The panel's recommended spending plan made few changes in Gov. Dennis Daugaard's recommended budget, which gives roughly 3 percent ongoing increases to K-12 schools, universities and the hospitals and other facilities in the Medicaid program.
• However, lawmakers noted that the Legislature in recent days approved separate bills that give extra money on a one-time basis to school districts and the medical facilities that treat poor residents. One of those special spending measures gives schools an extra one-time boost in state aid of 1 percent, or $5.8 million. Technical schools get an extra $200,000. And all Medicaid providers got an extra 1 percent one-time increase, with nursing homes and other facilities that are heavily dependent on Medicaid money getting extra help.
• The measure would spend nearly $4.1 billion in the budget year beginning July 1. About $1.33 billion will come from state general tax funds, up about $29 million from this fiscal year. Another $1.7 billon comes from federal funds, with about $1.1 million coming from other funds dedicated to specific uses such as roads.
• Daugaard had left some money uncommitted in his budget proposal, and the Legislature is spending about $33 million in one-time money on schools, Medicaid, a new economic development program and other projects.
• The committee rejected a request by Rep. Susan Wismer, D-Britton, to add $5.8 million to give schools an extra 1 percent in ongoing state aid. She said school districts need ongoing money because they cannot make long-term plans with one-time money that may not be granted in future years.
• But Rep. Dean Wink, R-Howes, said the Legislature cannot make long-term funding commitments while facing uncertainty caused by federal budget problems and the possibility that South Dakota will be hit by drought for a second straight year.

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