Week 5 of the 2015 Legislative Session is now in the books, which means that we are over halfway done. Many big issues are yet to be addressed, with crossover day quickly approaching on the 25th, which means that all bills have to pass their house of origin in order for them to continue through the process.
So far this legislative session, we have seen some encouraging signs that lawmakers and the executive branch are willing and ready to make smart investments in health care. We are facing serious workforce shortages in health care across South Dakota, and especially in our rural areas. Many of the challenges facing rural areas are due to low wages. It can be very difficult to attract and retain valuable employees when fast food chain restaurants are able to offer a higher starting salary than a healthcare provider. Much of this goes back to South Dakota’s low Medicaid reimbursement rates as compared to other states. The most critical issue in the healthcare industry is workforce turnover. The Association of Health Care Providers has been tracking turnover since 2011 and shows a turnover of 57% for direct care providers in FY14. South Dakota’s high turnover rate in our health care industry especially impacts the care of children and those with disabilities as it creates a break in treatment. The Governor is proposing a two percent increase to provider reimbursement rates and as the session comes to a close I will be looking to find more dollars to put toward provider reimbursement rates.
SB 190 passed the Senate last week and would require insurance companies to offer coverage for Applied Behavior Analysis (“ABA”) for children with Autism. This has been something that I have supported the last several years, but it hasn’t gotten much traction until this year. The bill resulted from a Summer Study on insurance coverage for certain types of autism treatment. Four public forums were held across the state this past summer. Private insurance or Medicaid in South Dakota generally does not cover ABA services. Thirty-seven other states have adopted some sort of coverage guarantee for Autism Spectrum Disorder. Treatment of autism is also an important healthcare and workforce issue because it has been proven that new therapies for autism are very successful in helping many children succeed in school and then in the workforce.
The annual maximum benefit would be $36K for ages 0-6; $25K ages 7-13; and; $12.5K ages 14-18. Some would argue that this does not go far enough, as ABA Therapy can be much more costly than this depending on the need of the child. Even so, this is definitely a step in the right direction. It seems that SB 190 is a good compromise after a bitter battle last year, and let’s hope we can get it passed so it will help families with autistic children.
There are a number of bills this Session that seek to make adjustments to a schools capital outlay fund by lowering the cap on mill levies as well as capping the growth of property tax valuations as it pertains to capital outlay. This proposal would very simply seek to capture some of those future savings and shift them to the General Fund as local effort, effectively decreasing the state’s share of education for future years. This proposal could potentially be very detrimental to a school’s option to make capital improvements to their buildings and infrastructure as well as letting the state off the hook by shifting more cost for education to property tax payers.
There are 151 school districts in South Dakota and each and every one has a unique story. Every school district has a reason for why they need these Capital Outlay dollars, and that is why we elect school board members. This is an issue that is dealt with at the local level and that is the way it should stay.
District 21 legislators will be hosting three legislative forum’s this coming weekend, and we want to welcome anyone and everyone to attend in order to get an update on the legislative session as well ask any questions that you may have of your legislators. All three forums will be held on Saturday, February 21st as follows: Avon at 9:00 a.m. at the A-1 gas stop, Wagner at 11:00 a.m. at Booms, and Lake Andes at 1:00 p.m. at the Community Building on Main Street.
Even though we are now over halfway done with the 2015 session, we have a lot to do and very little time to do it in. I encourage anyone to contact me with questions, concerns, and new ideas about how we can improve South Dakota as we move through the rest of this session. It is an honor to be your Senator, and I will continue working hard for all of you and for the great state of South Dakota.
HYPERLINK “mailto:sen.sutton@state.sd.us” sen.sutton@state.sd.us
605-830-5540
District 21 Senator
Minority Leader
Billie H. Sutton
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