Legislative session will wrap up this week in Pierre. For many legislators, the last week of session means that it is time to look at the state budget. However, for a small group of legislators, the budget process began when the legislative session started in January.

At the beginning of session, the pace is slow for most legislators. For members of the Appropriations Committee, the task of prioritizing the state budget begins immediately. Within the first few days, the Appropriations Committee begins meeting with each department of state government. The departments provide an overview of operations and department priorities. Legislators will ask questions of the department staff relating to program efficiencies in order to determine the viability of that program. For example, women in the meth program have a low reoccurrence rate and the cost is less than long-term incarceration. The effectiveness of the meth rehabilitation program for women and the potential savings to the Department of Corrections budget has led to redirecting more funds to these types of programs.
After department hearings have concluded, the Appropriations Committee begins revenue projections for the next fiscal year. An appropriations subcommittee will first examine the current fiscal year and determine whether the current state budget is on pace with last year’s projections. If state revenues have fallen behind projections, the appropriations committee may have to consider modifications to the current budget. Then the subcommittee will listen to revenue projections from legislative budget staff and from the governor’s Bureau of Finance Department. The subcommittee may choose to adopt one of the revenue projections provided or it may decide to adopt a hybrid of the two options.

Finally, the entire Appropriations Committee convenes and begins to put the state budget into the General Appropriations Bill. During this process, many amendments are offered to the state budget. Each amendment receives testimony and is voted on by the Appropriations Committee. When this process is completed, the legislative budget staff input all the changes and the bill is sent to both the House and Senate for approval.

The final product in this process is our entire state budget. The General Appropriations Bill contains funding for services like our roads and schools. The amount of funding given for each determines which roads and bridges will get fixed this year or whether or not a school will be able to hire teachers or have to lay-off staff. The funding decisions made by the Appropriations Committee will certainly have a direct impact on our daily lives.