Governor Kristi Noem announced that she will call a special legislative session of the state legislature. The legislature will meet on Monday, October 5, 2020 to consider legislation related to the use of federal stimulus CARES Act Coronavirus Relief Funds (CRF) allocated to South Dakota. The announcement comes on the heels of a series listening sessions hosted by the state legislature regarding the use of remaining CRF dollars that have not yet been spent by the state. The legislature hosted five listening sessions on the impact of COVID-19 on agriculture, education, local government, energy and commerce, and health and human services.
South Dakota was allocated $1.25 billion CRF dollars. CRF dollars may only be used to cover costs that:
- are necessary expenditures incurred due to the public health emergency with respect to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVIDā19);
- were not accounted for in the budget most recently approved as of March 27, 2020 (the date of enactment of the CARES Act) for the State or government; and
- were incurred during the period that begins on March 1, 2020, and ends on December 30, 2020.
The state has already allocated expenditures for COVID-19 response including $200 million for city and county governments, $100 million for re-employment insurance fund, nearly $100 million for state public safety and public health officials, $75 million for K-12 schools, and more than $20 million for universities and technical colleges. Resources related to South Dakota expenditures of CRF dollars are available atĀ https://bfm.sd.gov/covid/
Governor Noem has proposed an additional $400 million for grants for small businesses and $100 million for grants for community-based healthcare providers.
