Budget Note: Legislature Beats Rhoden in Decreasing Federal Dependence

In a year of low budget expectations, legislators made one small GOP-dogma-aligned improvement the Fiscal Year 2027 budget approved yesterday. House Bill 1326, the general appropriations bill, authorizes spending $2.544 billion in general funds, $1.828 billion in other state funds, and $3.101 billion in federal funds. Federal dollars will cover 41.5% of the cost of doing South Dakota’s business in the coming fiscal year. Governor Larry Rhoden’s original budget proposal relied on Uncle Sam for 42.4% of its spending.

So hooray for the Legislature in making South Dakota nearly one full percentage point more self-sufficient than Governor Rhoden could pencil out!

But don’t cheer too loudly: that 41.5% reliance on federal funds is still far above the 33.2% from FY2019.