AARP Eye Center
Every year, President’s Day weekend brings a break to the chaos of the legislative session, and this year is no different.
On Monday, with your support, the South Dakota House of Representatives passed Senate Bill (SB) 61. The bill will now go to Governor Daugaard and await his signature. SB 61 aims to improve the South Dakota Nurse Practice Act and increase South Dakotans access to two different types of advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs)—Certified Nurse Practitioners and Certified Nurse Midwives. Fully utilizing these APRNs will allow more South Dakotans access to high-quality, convenient health care. Thank you to everyone who responded to AARP South Dakota’s action alert for Senate Bill 61. Your support was noticed by legislators in Pierre.
As you know, in November 76% of South Dakotans voted for Initiated Measure (IM) 21 which caps pay day lending interest rates at 36%. AARP South Dakota supports IM 21 and is working to protect it during the 2017 legislative session. As such, this week AARP South Dakota worked to amend two bills, Senate Bill (SB) 166 and House Bill (HB) 1090 that ensure payday lenders stay out of South Dakota.
SB 166 deals with business to business lending. AARP South Dakota successfully worked to amend SB 166 with language that eliminates any opportunity for business to consumer loans through this bill. SB 166 passed committee this week and will be voted on by the full Senate next week.
The intent of HB 1090 is to allow auto dealers to sell the paper of your auto loan from the dealership to a finance company. The original version of this bill was very broad and open ended. AARP South Dakota worked to successfully amend HB 1090 to more narrowly define its scope. HB 1090 passed committee this week and will be voted on by the full House of Representatives next week.
Another development this week was the adoption of the FY 18 revenue projections. Between the current fiscal year and FY 18, the legislature is facing a $53.1 million shortfall. In FY 17, legislators will need to find approximately $26 million to address the deficit. This shortfall puts the proposed 1% increase for healthcare providers, education, and state employees in jeopardy for FY 18. Everything is on the table as legislators look for ways to address this problem.
The AARP South Dakota Question of the Week for your legislators is:
What do you think the solution(s) is to address the budget shortfall?
Click here to see a list of opportunities to connect with legislators in your local community this week and throughout the 2017 legislative session.