2 Broadcaster Press New Juvenile Reforms Are Intended To Reduce Commitments Of Youths By Bob Mercer State Capitol Bureau PIERRE – Big reforms take effect for South Dakota’s juvenile justice system in 2016. More money will be spent on community services for young offenders. Fewer youths will be placed at state and private facilities. If the changes work, state government will see a net savings and will cut incarceration numbers by half. The Legislature adopted the broad package of changes last winter. The recommendations came from the state courts system, the state departments of social services and corrections, prosecutors, counselors and others who work with youth in times of trouble. A similar approach to reforms for adult offenders won approval from the Legislature two years ago and is showing success. The hope is the juvenile reforms would reduce placements in state or private facilities, from 314 to 208 during the 2017 budget year, and the number would decline to 175 in 2018, 146 in 2019 and 127 in 2020. Depending upon whose estimates are used, the first full year of the program could cost about $260,000 more because of the up-front expenses for community services, according to a fiscal note prepared by the Legislative Research Council. The net reductions in expenses would begin to accumulate in the years after, according to the LRC analysis, as fewer youths are committed to facilities. The savings gradually would increase to $1.2 million in the second full year, then $2.7 million and $3.7 million in full years three and four. The LRC report notes that Pew Charitable Trusts through its public safety performance project “determined the average annual out-of-home placement cost for state facilities, detention and jail, and private placements was $59,281, based on program cost data provided by the Department of Corrections.” Basically the Legislature, the courts and the governor want community intervention rather than commitments to be used whenever possible. New state laws that take effect Jan. 1 limit when a state court may commit a child to the state Department of Corrections for cases of delinquency or CHINS – child in need of supervision -- or for probation violations The alternative approach moving into place calls for community response teams to make recommendations for community treatment options when there is a potential commitment to DOC. The judge on the case may accept, reject or modify the recommendation. Probation options for the courts now will be limited generally to four months maximum or eight months in instances of intensive probation, with an overall combined limit of 12 months. The court system is establishing rules in January for a grid of responses to probation violations. State law also now calls for four common offenses -- petty theft; intentional damage to property less than $400; under age purchase, possession or consumption of alcohol by youths younger than 18; and truancy – to be handled outside the normal juvenile courts process and would be punished as citations carrying a maximum $100 fine and restitution. Overseeing the reform efforts is a 19-member council appointed by the governor, the Supreme Court chief justice, the Legislature’s majority leaders and the attorney general. The oversight council’s chairman is Greg Sattizahn, administrator for the state Unified Judicial System. Vice chairman is Jim Seward, the governor’s legal counsel and a former county prosecutor. Krebs Announces Initiated Amendment Validation PIERRE – Today, Secretary of State Shantel Krebs announced that an Initiated Amendment to the South Dakota Constitution to Provide for State Legislative Redistricting by a Commission was validated and certified to be on the November 2016 general election ballot as a ballot measure that the citizens will vote on. The sponsor turned in 43,198 signatures to the Secretary of state’s office. An Initiated Amendment to the Constitution required a minimum of 27,741 signatures from South Dakota registered voters. Once the signatures were delivered to the Secretary of State’s office, a 5% random sampling was conducted. It was determined that 70.2% or 30,335 of 43,198 signatures were in good standing. Secretary Krebs stated that “South Dakota has a long and rich history of citizens taking issues directly to the voters. After serving 10 years in the legislature it is an enjoyable role for me to act as an impartial official in the initiated measure process and ensure that the citizens of South Dakota have a chance to voice their concern in regards to the ballot measures that meet the signature threshold.” Read and Recycle Winter Auction Sunday Jan. 10 , 2016 12:30 PM th National Guard Armory (603 Princeton) Vermillion, SD Lunch Served Auctioneer notes: fishing boat, lift chairs, pump organ, wheel chair, household and tools. Joe Sipple Estate: 14 ft. alum craft boat with 25 hp. Mercury motor, standing lamps, kitchenware, antique round table w chairs, book case, dressers, steel bed frame, Casio key board, antique pump organ (great shape), cedar chest, fishing poles, push mower, bike, step and extension ladder, steel shelving units, misc. old tools and much more. Lela Kruse: Invacare electric wheel chair, tools, office chair, old paintings, anvil, refrigerator, turkey fryer, gun cabinet, shelves and much more. Cathy Ezrailson: Brass and crystal chandelier, Gordon laughead piano, couch, large dining room table w leaf and matching cabinet, 4 high bar stools, king size bed and solid cherry head board, mirror, roll top desk, 3 matching chairs, large cupboard. Lisa Hardy: couch, sitting chair, lift chair, dresser, dresser w mirror, reg. bed, queen bed, end tables, lamps, t.v. trays, sitting bench, antique dresser w/ mirror. Elsie Wirth: wheel chair, walker, large assortment of jars, tools, blue jars, antique singer sewing machine, kitchen pots, misc. glassware, dressers and antique glassware. Guest consigner: Lift chair, sitting chair, glassware, milk glass, Blue Bird dishes, and children dishes. Phyllis Noble: hide-a-bed, queen memory foam mattress, desk, china hutch, table, end tables, dresser w/mirrors, lamps, computer, microwave, armoire, jewelry, small dresser, misc. kitchen materials, filing cabinet, and much more. Madsen Auction Service Gary Madsen 605.638.0643 Hazen Bye 605.670.0422 & Jim Brady January 5, 2016 www.broadcasteronline.com Dave Says You can catch up later from what you put into your 401(k). There would be going forward, for sure, but I think you’ll be able to make that up pretty quickly. —Dave BY DAVE RAMSEY Courtesy of EveryDollar.com Dear Dave, I work in IT, and I recently learned that I’ll be losing my $88,000 a year job at the end of February. We’re debt-free, except for our home, and we have a full emergency fund in place. The problem is we just cash-flowed one daughter’s wedding, and we’ll be paying for another daughter’s college soon. I’ll receive a severance package of around $30,000 to $40,000, but we’re wondering if I should stop contributing to my 401(k) and stockpile cash until another job comes along. Steve Dear Steve, You’ve done a great job handling your money, so going a couple of months without contributing to your 401(k) isn’t going to mean the difference between retiring with dignity and eating Alpo in your golden years. In this case, I would temporarily stop funding the 401(k). You’re in a highdemand line of work, so I think you’ll probably land something soon and maybe even get a raise in the process. The main thing is to be intentional. Go ahead and start networking and lining up interviews now. Try to land something as soon as possible so that you can start at the end of February or the first of March. At that point, you could look at the severance package as a signing bonus. There’s not much lost between now and then with what you’d actually gain No New Years debt next time? Dave RAMSEY Dear Dave, We’ve always just assumed that we would use credit cards for Christmas, and accepted the fact that there would be a mountain of debt to pay off in January and February. Can you tell us how to make it through the Christmas season next year without accumulating debt? Carol Dear Carol, It’s just common sense, but it’s easy to find something in the mall you “just have to buy.” That’s where problems start. Giving is not meant to be stressful on your finances. Give with the right intentions, and give with a financial plan in mind that does not include debt. Another thing to remember is Christmas always falls on December 25th. Don’t wait until Thanksgiving to realize it’s right around the corner. You could even get a real jump on things, and set a little bit aside each month toward Christmas starting right now! —Dave EveryDollar is a simple, online budgeting tool that helps users set a monthly budget and seamlessly track expenses. For more information, go to www.everydollar.com. We’re all ears. Giving is a wonderful thing if your intentions—and your finances—are in the right place. But don’t let yourself get Your opinion is something trapped in the shopping bonanza just we always want to hear. Questions? because everyone else is doing it. It’s all Call, write us or contact Comments? too easy to try to justify overspending in us via e-mail and let us the weeks ahead just because it’s a gift. Story Ideas? It’s pretty simple. Look at your budget, know how we are doing. and see what you can afford to pay cash for during the holiday season. Once you and your spouse agree on this amount, make a list, check it twice and stick to it! 201 W. Cherry •Vermillion, SD 57069 Include the names and amounts you are going to spend on each person or charity. 605-624-4429 • classifieds@plaintalk.net A Frugal Dane, Governor Finds Cash To Buy Down State’s Debts By Bob Mercer State Capitol Bureau of Finance and Management spends roughly six months putting together the recomPIERRE – Spending excess mendations each year, while cash to pay down debts, and the legislators have approxiin turn setting free smaller mately 35 to 40 half-days to streams of revenue for years build from those recommento come, is a technique Gov. dations the appropriations Dennis Daugaard likes to use. bill that becomes law. Call it the anti-gimmick of Much of the plan from state government budgeting: Daugaard this year involves Reduce long-term obligaputting money into educations, and redirect to other tion. He would use $42.3 purposes the money that million of cash to pay off had been going for annual some of the bonds for the payments. state universities and public This brand of smart thrift technical institutes. could play a significant role In turn there would be in the budget that Daugaard enough money freed from the recently proposed for the bond payments to buy-down coming year. tuition for resident on-camHe wants the Legislature pus students at those same to agree with his plan to six universities and four tech transfer about $47 million of schools. cash from various accounts Other chunks of cash – including $27.4 million from would be used to increase by the state’s budget reserve, $2.1 million the endowment a move that should please for needs-based scholarships those legislators who for for state university students years argued the reserve – earnings from the endowshould be used more frement’s investments pay for quently -- and also cut about the scholarships – and to $12.6 million from the existprovide $2.2 million for three ing budget. pilot schools at the K-12 level Then he would spend to try new approaches for $55.7 million on one-time pur- American Indian students. poses and make about $4.5 From where would this million of increases in other cash come? “We’re rakparts of the ongoing budget. ing every cash source we Legislators who are mem- have,” said Jason Dilges, the bers of the two committees governor’s commissioner for that oversee state governfinance and management. ment’s budget and spending Here’s a summary of those had long complained about sources. millions of dollars squirreled Budget reserve – The away in dozens of accounts governor’s plan calls for throughout state governtaking $27.4 million from this ment. source. The state Department of Money that is unobligated Legislative Audit even preat the end of state governpares a report annually – this ment’s fiscal year on June 30 year it contains 325 pages can be shifted to the budget -- that provides lawmakers reserve. The leftover money a summary of the cash, revis often called a surplus. enue and spending for those The budget reserve held accounts. $105.2 million at the end of The Legislature still wants fiscal year 2015 on June 30. more authority over budget- There also was $21.5 million ing. But timing is a challenge. of surplus from fiscal year The governor’s Bureau 2015 that was to be trans- Insulated & Waterproof Boot SALE! FREE Socks Available in Safety & Non-Safety Toe Boston Shoes to Boots 312 W. 3rd • Yankton • 665-9092 Maid Service “Yankton’s Clean Team” Housecleaning weekly, bi-weekly, bi-monthly, monthly, spring/fall cleaning, new home construction cleaning, move-in/move-out cleaning Housecleaning makes a great gift for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, anniversaries, new moms, elderly, illness, and holiday cleaning. Serving Yankton, Vermillion and Hartington for 26 years. Please call Sherry at 605-665-5266 and get your house on the schedule or www.welovetocleanyankton.com ferred to the budget reserve after fiscal year 2016 began July 1, 2015. The governor wants to take $27.4 million from the budget reserve in fiscal year 2016. This would reduce the budget reserve’s ending balance to $99.3 million on June 30, 2016. Much more money could be kept in the budget reserve. State law limits the amount in the budget reserve to 10 percent of the generalfund appropriations for the previous year. For fiscal 2016, that upper limit for the budget reserve would be $137.2 million. Instead, after the transfer out, the remaining amount will be approximately $38 million below that threshold. South Dakota Risk Pool – The governor wants to transfer $3,375,000 from this source. The risk pool was created in 2003 to provide health insurance that could be purchased by people who otherwise couldn’t get insurance. Insurance carriers paid into the fund an assessment of 25 cents per covered person in their plans. The federal Affordable Care Act now makes the pool unnecessary. The risk pool will be removed from state law Jan. 1, 2017. As of June 30, 2015, the risk pool contained slightly more than $3.3 million. The fiscal year 2015 revenue was $1,385,761 and the payouts totaled $1,933,480. Petroleum release compensation fund – The plan calls for taking $3.5 million from this source. Fuels shipped into South Dakota are charged a special fee of 2 cents per gallon, in addition to any other state taxes on them. The petroleum release compensation fund receives 10.65 percent of the revenue from the 2-cent fee. In the fiscal year 2015 that ended June 30, the fund received $1,890,413 and paid out $1,147,037. The pooled cash as of June 30 was $4,749,291. The state Department of Environment and Natural Resources operates this fund for removal of abandoned fuel tanks and for responding to unintended spills, leaks, discharges and other releases. Department of Corrections – The plan calls for taking nearly $5 million of cash from an assortment of sources. Current budget cuts – The plan calls for reducing spending within the fiscal year 2016 budget in various places by a total of $12.6 million in general funds. This would be Governor Daugaard’s Red Tape Review Targets Bottled Drinking Water PIERRE – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has streamlined regulatory oversight of companies in South Dakota that produce bottled drinking water. Gov. Dennis Daugaard transferred the regulation of bottled drinking water from the Department of Public Safety to DENR through an executive reorganization order earlier this year. After a review of the regulatory program administered by Public Safety, DENR repealed the existing state rules and adopted new DENR rules that simply reference the pertinent sections of federal U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations for the production of bottled drinking water. “These rule revisions make regulatory oversight of water bottlers more efficient by having just one set of rules to follow,” said DENR Secretary Steve Pirner. “Using Governor Daugaard’s Red Tape review process, we were able to eliminate seven sections and 1,023 words from the state’s administrative rules, but having the federal rules in place will still ensure bottled drinking water is safe.” Prior to the rule revisions, which will become effective in early January, drinking water bottlers were subject to both state administrative rules and federal FDA regulations. There are nine companies currently bottling drinking water in South Dakota. 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CALL: 624-4429 or FAX: 624-2696 EMAIL: classifieds@plaintalk.net ONLINE: BroadcasterOnline.com DROP BY: 201 W. Cherry, Vermillion