State Agencies Brief Legislature on Coronavirus Relief Spending

Not all of South Dakota state government is sitting on its coronavirus relief funds to earn interest or burning them up on national TV campaign ads. The Legislature’s Interim Appropriations Committee heard last week that other state agencies are actually using their coronavirus relief funds for coronavirus relief.

Memos submitted to Appropriations outline how several state agencies have used their federal coronavirus cash:

• Our Regental Institutions have disbursed $10.2 million out of $14.4 million in CARES Act aid. The feds required that the Regents give half of that money to students as direct financial aid; the Regents have handed out over 95% of that aid.
• The Department of Human Services received $1.2 million in “Families First” funds and put it all toward its Home Delivered Meals Program for older South Dakotans:

  

  DHS is also working on spending another $4 million for family caregiver support, supportive services for old folks, nutrition services, and aging and disability resource centers.

• The Department of Labor and Regulation has received $3.5 million to implement and administer increased unemployment claims. DPR received $282K from a National Dislocated Worker Grant to put in workers’ pockets… but the state is using some of that money to cover the $40 per credit for the state’s new “Upskill” online job certificate training program.
• The Department of Education has received $56 million in coronavirus relief funds. The state gets to keep no more than 0.5% of that money for administrative costs. The rest goes to school districts to spend on cleaning, public health actions, remote learning technology and training, school meals, additional contract days for teachers to provide additional services (hey, how about additional teachers?)
• The Department of Health has received $74.4 million to fight coronavirus. At least $4.57M in Public Health Emergency Response/Preparedness money is supposed to support efforts like surge staffing, but the failure of DOH to call Aberdeen families with close-contact alerts from in-school coronavirus cases shows they haven’t allocated enough money for that purpose.
• The Department of Transportation is passing $38.2 million to South Dakota airports to pay their usual bills. Rural transit systems are receiving $22.5 million and urban transit systems in Sioux Falls, Rapid City, and Sioux City are getting another $11.6 million for usual expenses, coronavirus prevention measures, and filler for lost revenue.
• The Department of Public Safety has received $93K to combat family violence, $910K for emergency management (that grant requires a state match, which we are covering with our federal CARES Act money), $3.3M for state and $1.5M for local coronavirus response.
• The Department of Social Services has received $1.13 million for Community Services Block Grants, $4.67 million for heating assistance, $82K for child welfare services, $2.0M for mental health and substance abuse treatment, and $9.02M for child care. Additionally, DSS is managing a 6.2% increase in federal Medicaid assistance, an ongoing increase in SNAP benefits that has provided $3.4M to $3.6M each month to over 20,000 South Dakota households in additional food assistance, and another $16.7 million in SNAP Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer payments that have helped nearly 30,000 South Dakota households feed their kids since June 19. Finally, DSS has passed along about $405 million in federal relief funds to our hospitals.
• The South Dakota Housing Development Authority has directed $1.95 million to nine homeless shelters around the state out of a $2.20-million HUD grant and is applying for another $5.55M.
• The Secretary of State’s Office has received $3 million to cover coronavirus-related election expenses. That grant requires a 20% match; instead of finagling CARES Act dollars to cover the match as the Department of Public Safety is doing, Secretary Barnett is dumping this match cost on the counties. Counties used $369K for the primary.
• While it enjoys the millions in CARES Act dollars that Governor Noem is pouring into her vanity projects, the Department of Tourism has given an additional $422,800 to the South Dakota Arts Council to save arts jobs and organizations.