• Greetings from Pierre!  It seems hard to believe this is already my sixth legislative session!  But again I am honored to be here and to represent our little piece of heaven up here in the northeast corner of South Dakota.
• The Appropriations Committee started right out last Tuesday digging into the Governor's budget recommendations.  All of us are awe struck at the unclaimed property windfall that is giving the state the chance to address many unmet needs.  It's over $100 million dollars! It's amazing how many places other than K-12 education and nursing homes the Governor has found to spend the money.  Yes, I'm banging the same old drum.  I'll share the specifics in coming weeks, but for now I'll just say that there was no recognition in the budget that K-12 and Medicaid providers have still not been made whole from the cuts they suffered four years ago.
• Some have expressed dismay that we are using more "win the lottery" proceeds to finance state government. That's the world we live in.  As it's been explained to me, the estimates provided to us are quite firm, and the probabilities of the rightful

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