Latest news with #HeleneDuhamel
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
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. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Planning ahead for water projects: SD lawmaker wins endorsement for special fund
Big Bend Dam on the Missouri River in South Dakota. (Courtesy Army Corps of Engineers) At the urging of a Rapid City lawmaker who said big water projects need special attention, a South Dakota legislative committee unanimously supported a bill Thursday at the Capitol in Pierre that would create a water infrastructure development fund. The fund would hold state and federal grants for rural water projects, accruing interest over time. Lawmakers would appropriate money from the fund for future water projects that have received congressional authorization or are on the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation rural water projects list. Republican Sen. Helene Duhamel introduced Senate Bill 202. She told lawmakers the fund is a 'proactive, fiscally responsible' way to gradually save funds for future water projects. South Dakotans in Congress request study of Missouri River pipeline to western part of state The Western Dakota Regional Water System, which Duhamel used as an example, aims to deliver Missouri River water to communities, tribes and rural water systems in the western part of the state. The project has received some state and local funding, but has a projected cost in the billions, which would require federal funding. The system has requested a future-use permit for nearly 7 billion gallons of Missouri River water annually, which is pending in the Legislature. To earn federal funding, state and local governments typically have to provide a match. Other water infrastructure projects in eastern South Dakota could also seek future funding. The state doesn't have a process in place to save for large-scale water projects, Duhamel said, like the Legislature has been doing for prison construction funding. 'We cannot afford to delay investments in water infrastructure,' Duhamel said. 'The cost of inaction will be far greater than the cost of preparation.' A lobbyist representing WEB Water in north-central South Dakota said the bill requires amendments to ensure support from the water industry across the state. The state Department of Revenue opposed the bill, saying it would circumvent the existing state water planning process. The department awards between $10 million and $12 million to projects throughout the state annually, which Duhamel said is insufficient to properly fund infrastructure projects costing billions of dollars. SB 202 would only create the fund and would not appropriate any money to it. The bill now heads to the Senate. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
