South Dakota Joint Appropriations Committee

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54,000 South Dakotans disenrolled in Medicaid unwind; 52,000 expected to be eligible with expansion

BY: - July 26, 2023

Roughly 54,000 South Dakotans have lost Medicaid coverage since the end of pandemic protections in March. At the same time, 52,000 South Dakotans are estimated to be eligible for enrollment in a voter-approved Medicaid expansion that took effect on July 1, state officials told legislators at an appropriations meeting Wednesday in Pierre. Voters approved the […]

The South Dakota Capitol building in Pierre. (Getty Images)

Most out-of-state worker recruitment cash goes unspent

BY: - May 5, 2023

A few years ago, an economic development office in Yankton asked for and received access to $100,000 from the state to train local employees and recruit out-of-state workers. The funding helped pull in a manufacturing quality manager, two professors, a vice president of enrollment, an accountant and a fire chief from states including Illinois, Nebraska, […]

The Joint Committee on Appropriations meets on Feb. 14, 2023, at the Capitol in Pierre to review revenue projections for the remainder of fiscal year 2023 and fiscal year 2024. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

State budget committee adopts ‘conservative’ fiscal year 2024 revenue estimates

BY: - February 15, 2023

PIERRE – The Legislature’s Joint Committee on Appropriations officially adopted the revenue projections for the remainder of fiscal year 2023 and fiscal year 2024 on Wednesday morning at the Capitol. The committee adopted an ongoing revenue estimate of $2.3 billion for the remainder of the current fiscal year, which is an 8.2% increase over last […]

The Joint Committee on Appropriations meets on Feb. 14, 2023, at the Capitol in Pierre to review revenue projections for the remainder of fiscal year 2023 and fiscal year 2024. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

State revenue ‘overflowing’ this year, but some lawmakers are cautious about the future

BY: - February 14, 2023

PIERRE – South Dakota’s 2024 revenue is expected to increase by millions of dollars, but experts say that increase won’t last forever, and some legislators are growing cautious about how to spend the state’s excess money in the coming year. At the Joint Committee on Appropriations meeting Tuesday morning at the Capitol, the Legislative Research […]

A sigh shows the Sioux Falls, SD location of the Helpline Center, one of three call centers across the state that connects callers to a range of services.

Calls to 211 Helpline Center rising again after post-pandemic lull

BY: - November 11, 2022

Mental health calls to South Dakota’s 211 Helpline declined as the COVID-19 pandemic tapered off, but calls for all needs – especially for housing help – are on the rise again. That was among the major takeaways from a Department of Social Services (DSS) presentation on the operations of the statewide assistance call center on […]