On Tuesday December 7, 2021 Governor Kristi Noem delivered her budget recommendations for fiscal year 2023 to a joint session of the legislature. Overall, healthcare’s representation was positive with a handful of recommendations aimed to improve some of our state’s biggest healthcare challenges, including workforce, housing, rural health, state healthcare providers, and telehealth.
The Governor is recommending a budget including special and continuing appropriations for FY 2023 total $5,722,372,639.00 in total funds: The breakdown is:
- $717.9 million Health, Human and Social Services
- $681.6 million, state aid to Education
- $239.9 million for Higher Education
- $115.6 million for Corrections
- $$85.6 million for the Legislature, Unified Judicial System, Elected Officials
- $23.6 million, for Agriculture, Natural Resources, Game Fish and Parks
- $111.6 million for the remainder of State Government
Investing in our people was an overall theme in the Governor’s address – with workforce and housing needs addressed. $600 million in combined state, local and developer funding for workforce housing and sewer construction is part of the Governor’s budget plan. It breaks down to a $200 million dollar investment from the state in workforce housing grants. $150 million will be one-time state general funds. An additional $50 million in federal funds will be invested in infrastructure needs. The dollars will be matched by local communities and developers to ensure that everyone works together in partnerships, with a $600 million total dollar investment in workforce housing.
The Governor is recommending $35 million additional marketing dollars for the SD Department of Tourism. These efforts will include traditional tourism campaigns in addition to increasing our workforce marketing efforts.
Assisting with our state’s healthcare recruitment needs was part of the budget speech. $17 million is being recommended to enhance training at our technical colleges. These targeted projects will increase training for nurses, farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers. To meet the needs in our health care industry, the Governor is seeking federal approval to fund construction projects at Northern State University and Black Hills State University to expand their nursing program. The project at Northern State would fund facilities for a partnership with South Dakota State University’s accelerated nursing program.
Public Health took center stage for part of the Governor’s speech, with a recommendation of $69.6 million going towards building and remodeling our state Public Health Lab. Governor Noem told lawmakers that as healthcare continues to innovate and evolve, our Public Health Lab needs to continue its work. The money will come from the federal Capital Projects Fund, which has tight strings on how it can be used and requires federal approval.
A $15 million-dollar one-time allocation is being recommended for our state’s mental health needs. It will be used to construct additional mental health regional facilities state-wide.
Our state’s First Responders may see an increase in FY 2023, as Governor Noem is recommending $24 million dollars to fund a comprehensive reform proposal from our Departments of Health and Public Safety to improve emergency services. A significant portion of this investment will go to support our emergency medical services (EMS) workers and bolster service in our rural areas. The proposal includes a series of investments to make much needed upgrades to first responders’ equipment to keep them on the cutting edge, such as new lifesaving LIFEPAK machines for EMS. In addition, regional EMS Services will be funded and expanding telehealth to EMS to allow them to communicate with patients and hospitals.
Last, Governor Noem is recommending a 6% pay increase for state workers, state aid for education and for our healthcare providers. In addition, the Governor stated in her speech that the funding increase to provider’s should go directly to those frontline workers.
To see the Governor’s Budget address along with the slides presented during the speech, visit the South Dakota Bureau of Finance and Management. www.bfm.sd.gov
