Bill would transfer $15 million from SD housing fund to support Air Force base expansion
Sen. Helene Duhamel, R-Rapid City, listens to testimony during a South Dakota Senate State Affairs Committee meeting on Jan. 17, 2024. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
The South Dakota Senate advanced legislation Monday at the Capitol in Pierre that would take $15 million from a statewide housing infrastructure program and put it in a fund supporting the growth of Ellsworth Air Force Base.
The base near Rapid City is undergoing an estimated $2 billion worth of construction to accommodate the future arrival of B-21 bomber planes, which are under development. That activity is expected to grow the base and its surrounding civilian population significantly, putting stress on local governments to accommodate the growth with roads, housing, schools, and other infrastructure and services.
Sen. Helene Duhamel, R-Rapid City, introduced the bill. She said supporting the base will help ensure it never lands on a closure list, as it did temporarily two decades ago.
Defense bill passed by US Senate includes $282 million for Ellsworth construction
'It is something we must take care of, pay attention to and not take for granted,' Duhamel said.
She also proposed the amendment adopted Monday that identifies the housing infrastructure fund as the source of the money, rather than the state general fund.
The Legislature created the $200 million Housing Infrastructure Financing Program two years ago with state money and federal pandemic relief funds. Half of the fund was made available as grants to support infrastructure for housing projects, and all of that money has been awarded. The other half was made available as loans, but demand has been low, leaving more than $80 million in loan funds still available as of December.
Duhamel's bill would capture $15 million from the housing fund and place it in a new Ellsworth support and development fund, from which grants and loans could be made for projects 'promoting the development, expansion, and support of the mission' at Ellsworth. The fund would be administered by the South Dakota Ellsworth Development Authority and its board of governor-appointed members, which the Legislature created in 2009.
The Senate voted 29-6 to send the bill to the House of Representatives.
Senators rejected a related bill from Sen. Taffy Howard, R-Rapid City, that would have further supported the base's growth with state contractors' excise tax revenue generated by construction projects on the base. The vote against that bill was 21-14.
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