Bureau of Finance and Management Commissioner Jim Terwilliger speaks to the Senate Committee on Appropriations on Jan. 18, 2024. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
South Dakota has $130 million of federal pandemic aid left and an abundance of ideas about how to spend it.
The requests from legislators are more than double the available funding.
“A lot of hands are already in that bucket, and that bucket is only so deep,” said Paul Lepisto, a lobbyist for the Izaak Walton League, which is a national conservation group.
He made the remarks to the Senate State Affairs Committee last week at the Capitol in Pierre. Lepisto testified against a bill that would use $20 million of the money for grants to the logging and sawmill industries in the Black Hills. The industries need the help to stay afloat after years of wildfires, a tree-killing mountain pine beetle epidemic and pandemic-related effects to their businesses, the bill’s proponents said.
The state Capitol in Pierre. (Getty Images)