Last updated on 2013.01.22
Whoo-hoo! It's the State of the State Address! Governor Dennis Daugaard comes to the dais of the House for the first time to deliver this weighty tome. I'm watching on South Dakota Public Television---you should be too! You can also listen live on the radio. I'll plink along here offering notes. Hit refresh to bring up new stuff as the hour progresses!
(13:18: The House should elect a taller speaker. Val Rausch looks short next to our chief exec and lt-exec.)
13:20: "Against what standards do we measure ourselves?" nicely undangled preposition.
"self-reliant" mentioned less than 60 seconds in. I guess we're all reading Emerson this year.
13:22: Governor Daugaard notes that South Dakota unemployment is second-lowest in the nation. Our universities are doing "dramatically more" research---hey! That's me! Well, kinda....
13:24: January 19 we get Governor Daugaard's budget. Ah, and he refers to his economic development plan from the campaign! More jobs, more wealth, more opporortunities for our young people. He says it's a four-year plan (come on, go Stalin, go five!). Daugaard says he plans to be "personally involved every day in our state's economic development efforts."
Invite, increase, innovate: Daugaard's three big I's. Keep trying to recruit businesses from high-tax states, push existing buinesses to produce and hire more, and support new entrepreneurs.
Daugaard announces a partnership with the ethanol industry to provide another $10 million to the REDI fund. He will introduce a bill to save the state $13.5 million to spread out the state's ethanol incentives over the next couple years. $3.5M goes toward installing more blender pumps; $10M goes to REDI. Daugaard notes the ethanol producers are redeploying short-term incentives to build long-term infrastructure and industry.
Now to small-towns (and I'm pleased to hear Daugaard highlighting this early!): Daugaard speaks of the "small-town specialists" he mentioned during the campaign. He also proposes revamping our microloan program. He says the current program has too much paperwork. He's asking the economic development office to streamline the paperwork and prioritize loans to small businesses.
13:30: Hey, did you notice we're ten minutes in, and Daugaard didn't spend a lot of time with opening fluff? We didn't get a lot of big rah-rah "the state of the state is strong" lines. We're already into policy initiatives, specific savings.
Daugaard also notes that SD tourism bucked the nationwide trend last year and increased business. Daugaard says he will introduce a bill to retain the extra half-penny tourism tax imposed in 2009 to keep promoting the state.
Daugaard will change the large-project refund program. He says it has helped build ethanol plants and wind farms. However he notes it has been used by some projects that would likely have been built here anyway. He says we should reform the program to focus on attracting programs that wouldn't happen otherwise. Sunset 2012: Daugaard wants to keep it going but only give refunds to the projects that wouldn't happen without it and give discretion to determine when a project meets this standard. Daugaard wants to end unneeded rebates (oh! but he doesn't actually say the word "pipeline" or "TransCanada" or "Keystone XL").
(Hee hee: Daugaard said "large cavities." There's a drinking game in here somewhere.)
Sanford Homestake Lab! Daugaard talks about the National Science Board's yanking of $29.5 million. He says he will continue working on a new funding agreement. No word on whether he'll ask the Legislature to pony up more bucks.Ellsworth Air Force Base
13:36: Daugaard will propose legislation to make South Dakota more appealing to the aviation industry! He says he'll change tort law based on changes in Kansas, which has Boeing and other manufacturers, to give the aviation industry cover from legal claims arising years after manufacture of their products. Daugaard likens this to our drive in the 1980s to draw credit card vendors. To the good: drawing aviation manufacturers to the neighborhood of Ellsworth AFB could bring loads of high-tech, high-pay jobs. To the maybe bad: will we weaken protections for consumers nationwide again?
Daugaard says he will veto any bill raising taxes.
"The foundation of our economy is an educated workforce." Star that statement. "but we should not measure our schools by how much money they receive or spend. We should meausre them by the success of our students." Daugaard ascribes success to good parents, hard-working educators (as his wife Linda was as teacher, librarian, and coach).
Can we do better? Of course. How do we do that, Dennis? Expand tech education opportunities, sponsor bill to increase bonding capacity of post-HS tech schools to allow more facility improvements and expansion.
Daugaard wants more science, technology, engineering, and math ed. We're competing against China and India, he says, and he's going to push those areas.
Local control for education: Daugaard will sponsor bills to repeal the 100-student minimum for state aid to school districts and remove the cap on reserve fund balances! Wow! That's serious local control! He says trust the local voters to govern their districts.
Health care (yes, Daugaard is covering all sorts of ground: this is a serious executive and legislative agenda): Lots of health care jobs needed in near future! Daugaard says we must promote education opportunities in health fields. Daugaard also says he's already having conversations to drum up support for the privately funded Dakota Corps scholarship.
Daugaard also says he will work to implement the federal health care reform... but alas, he says he'll still support the lawsuit challenging the law in court and the repeal effort in Congress. He says the federal law focuses almost entirely on providing coverage for "the few without" (the few?!?!) without controlling costs for the many.
Daugaard says infant mortality in South Dakota has not received enough attention. He says we've averaged 79 infant mortality rates a year, and that's a higher rate than our neighboring states. He says we have seen our infant mortality rate worsen over the past decade. Among Native Americans, the rate has improved, but it's still worse than other groups. "The infant mortality rate is the gold standard for measuring the vitality of a population." He notes too many moms smoke, not enough seek prenatal care in the first trimester, more parents need to learn about safe-sleep practices and other good parent practices.
Daugaard says the Bright Start home visit program is good: nurses visit homes to help parents. Daugaard says we've received a $640K (approx) grant to expand this program.
13:46: Daugaard says problems on the reservations are not merely tribal issues; they are South Dakota issues. He emphasizes the need to recognize the tribes as nine autonomous groups and to respect the wishes of tribal leaders. "I'm not looking to attend more meetings as window dressing... I want to build real relationships" to achieve results, says the new Governor.
Executive reorganization order: raising Tourism, Econ. Dev., and Tribal Affairs to separate Cabinet seats; moving biz reg functions from DRR to Dept. Labor., letting DRR focus on core mission of collecting tax dollars; three behavioral health divisions move from Dept. Health to Dept. Social Services, since they're mostly funded by Medicaid; splitting Depts. of Military and Veterans Affairs, which will allow the adjutant general to focus on leading an increasingly active National Guard.
13:50: Daugaard says fascism and communism! Ah, but he's referring to the Honor Flight veterans who fought in World War II. he salutes the veterans, calls for applause, and then applauds pretty darned hard himself, making some serious eye contact with folks in the gallery.
Daugaard discusses the new Lt. Gov full-time position directly: He says Matt Michels is a great dude (doesn't mention that great mustache). Daugaard says his admin changes do not add bureacracy, employees, or expenses. He says we're cutting the governor's office payroll 10%, effective yesterday.
Lots of budget bills to come from Daugaard's office: stay tuned January 19!
State travel: Daugaard wants a comprehensive study of auto fleet and airplane fleet to determine whether we need all that we have.
First principle on budget: eliminate the structural deficit. We can't have ongoing expenses exceed ongoing revenue. We don't count one-time expenses in that calculation (Daugaard repeats this for emphasis.) He says the deficit comes not from mismanagement but from the recession. Our ongoing revenues fell in FY2009, FY2010. They are turning around, but for FY2011, they are still expected to be below FY2008. Federal mnoney covered our increasing expenses, but federal strings kept us from making other cuts to solve our deficit.
Second principle on budget: can't use one-time dollars to perpetuate excessive spending. One-time money should only be used for one-time needs. Reserves should only be used for unexpected needs. Daugaard says his budget will show that we can fix our budget without raising taxes, but we will make hard decisions. He will cut agencies under his direct control by 10%. Every member of his cabinet is taking at least a 10% cut, and he's taking a 15% cut. Leading by example....
Daugaard reminds the legislators that the taxpayers are the fist (if less well-organized) interest group to whom we should listen.
13:59: "Let me close now with a little history": 100 years ago, Jan. 3, 1911, Legislature convened for the first time in this State Capitol building. Budget, education, agriculture, government agencies, law enforcement, transportation... same issues then as now. Daugaard notes that very few people recall the name of that governor. Daugaard says he will be as forgotten in 100 years as Gov. Robert S. Vessey is now. Don't sweat being remember by name, says the governor. Don't worry about who gets the credit. Make a "stronger, freer, better South Dakota."
14:02: And we're out! A little over forty minutes, chock full o' policy chips. A quick blog assessment: I spent the whole time banging away at what the governor was saying. I wasn't sitting idle with my fingers over the keys waiting for noteworthy comments.