District 20 delegates to discuss session Saturday

District 20 constituents should “bring all the questions they can bring” to the first of two legislative forums scheduled in Mitchell, says state Rep. Noel Hamiel.

“We’ll try to answer them,” Hamiel said. “I’m not sure we’ll have the answers, but we’ll give it our best shot.”

Hamiel, Rep. Lance Carson and Sen. Mike Vehle, all of whom are Republicans from Mitchell, are scheduled to attend the forum, sponsored by the Mitchell Area Chamber of Commerce Governmental Affairs Committee. The open-to-the-public event begins at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Mitchell Technical Institute’s south campus, on Spruce Street south of Interstate 90.

It’s the first of two forums sponsored by the Chamber, with the other set for March 13. The location has been changed for this year’s forums; in past years, they were held at the MTI campus on Capital Street.

Hamiel and Carson both expect to field questions about the state’s budget woes. This year’s Legislature is in the midst of trying to solve a $40 million budget deficit. Whether the solution is through massive cuts, by dipping into state savings accounts, or a combination of the two methods has yet to be determined.

“Given the grim economic news in South Dakota a few days ago — declining receipts for our treasury — it makes a difficult task even more difficult,” Hamiel said. “My view all along has been that we need to wring out all the efficiencies we can without permanently damaging the important services the state offers. We need to take a program-by-program approach and see where it takes us.”

Carson said he expects the budget to be on attendees’ minds Saturday, saying he has gotten calls from constituents on the matter. After much preliminary talk — and with the session down to its final three weeks — “now the work begins,” he said.

“Everything, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart, is on the table,” he said.

Said Hamiel: “The goal is to get us to a balanced budget and not one balanced by dipping into our reserve fund. I don’t think anyone can say, at this point, if that approach will entirely solve the budget deficit.”

Carson said that Saturday he expects to discuss HB 1060, which passed 48-19 in the House last week and which would trim tax refunds for large business projects and ag processing plants. The state Bureau of Finance and Management estimated recently that the state treasury would retain about $3.5 million more in 2011 due to the proposed changes. The bill next heads to the Senate.

“I’ve been approached quite a few times (about 1060),” Carson said. “There have been a lot of questions about it.”

The Legislature was in session Thursday and Vehle could not be reached for comment for this report.

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