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With 34 legislative days in the books, the 2008 South Dakota State Legislature will now take a several week hiatus while all the bills that passed the Legislature are examined by the Governor for final action.  Many of the bills passed have already been signed but since many of the most contentious issues are held to the end of session, there is always a possibility that legislators will be busy on March 17th for the 35th and final legislative day addressing gubernatorial vetoes that may have occurred in the interim.  While things can always change (and they frequently do!), I’d like to give a final update on our legislative portfolio for the 2008 legislative session.

South Dakota Retirement System (SDRS)

In all, there were seven (7) bills offered by SDRS this legislative session.  The issues ranged from benefit increases to auto-enrollment to small technical fixes in statute.  At the beginning of session, SDRS provided a briefing that indicated that SDRS continues to be one of the best funded and administered public retirement systems in the entire country.  To date, the system has accumulated roughly $2 billion in reserves, which are held to ensure that the system is capable of weathering any economic downturn that may threaten investment returns to the system. 

The SDRS Board of Trustees did see an opportunity to enhance benefits while at the same time maintaining an adequate “cushion” in the reserves.  One of the biggest changes to the system will be a benefit increase to members of SDRS as of July 1, 2008.  For class A members of the system, the benefit will increase from 1.625% of the final average compensation to 1.7% of final average compensation for years of services prior to July 1, 2008.  Years of services accrued after July 1, 2008, will be credited at 1.55% of final average compensation.  Class B members and members retired or retiring under the class A alternate formula will receive comparable increases.  This is a great benefit increase at a time when many retirement systems around the country are having a hard time meeting their current needs.  Many thanks need to be extended to the staff of SDRS, the SDRS Board of Trustees, and the South Dakota Investment Council for their wise stewardship of this system.

Health and Long-Term Care

There were other positive outcomes during the 2008 session, namely in the areas of health and long-term care and benefits for low-income elderly and disabled South Dakotans.

In health and long-term care, the 2008 Legislature passed Senate Bill 182, which expands the current hospital price reporting website to include average cost, median cost, payment mix, and other factors that are derived from all procedures for which that hospital had 10 or more cases in the previous 12 months.  The South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations (SDAHO) took the lead in crafting this bill along with the bill’s prime sponsors Senator Tom Dempster and Representative Joel Dykstra.  AARP supported this legislation and we hope that additional pieces of the Zaniya Health Care Task Force Final Report will be considered in the coming years to address other pressing health care needs in our state.

On the long-term care front, AARP supported an amendment brought by the long-term care provider organizations in the state to successfully amend Senate Bill 203, the General Appropriations Bill (also called the Budget Bill), to include an additional one-half of 1% increase, bringing the total Medicaid increase to 3% for long-term care providers.  This represents an increase of 20% over the Governor’s original proposed increase of 2.5%.  As many of you know, the battle over limited resources was particularly intense this legislative session and the ability to secure additional resources for long-term care ensures that our long-term care facilities are best able to meet the needs of their clients.

AARP also supported Senate Bill 38, dealing with the exhaustion of benefits for individuals who hold long-term care partnership policies.  There was some disagreement as to whether or not benefits had to be completely exhausted by a policy holder in order to qualify for benefits and this bill clarifies that a partnership policy holder can qualify for Medicaid without exhausting all of the benefits of their policy so long as they do not have assets that exceed the amount of dollars expended by their partnership insurance policy.

Tax Relief for Vulnerable South Dakotans

In the area of tax relief for low-income elderly and disabled South Dakotans, AARP was pleased to support HB1276, the Governor’s $1 million appropriation for the extension of the South Dakota Elderly and Disabled Tax Credit program, which provides sales and property tax relief to low-income South Dakotans.  While the total appropriation was amended down to $800,000 during the committee process, we continue to believe that the need exists within our state to have the entire appropriation utilized by our most vulnerable elderly and disabled residents.  An amendment was also offered to raise the income guidelines to $10,250 a year for an individual and $13,250 for a couple and we saw that as a positive change to the bill.

Consumer Protections

AARP was pleased to support several bills brought by the Attorney General to address shortcomings in South Dakota law that impeded the ability of the Attorney General to act effectively on behalf of South Dakota residents in consumer protection cases.

House Bill 1059 eliminated the artificial cap on full-time equivalents (FTEs) that restricted the number of staff the Attorney General could utilize to investigate consumer complaints in a timely and appropriate manner.  House Bill 1060 increased the statute of limitations on deceptive practices cases so that South Dakota is better able to join in multi-state actions that sometimes require more time than was currently allowed in state statute (2 years).  AARP believes that both of these measures will give the Attorney General additional resources as necessary to protect South Dakota citizens from unscrupulous actors and the services they peddle.  We applaud the Attorney General and his staff for their continued support of strong consumer protections in the state of South Dakota.

The Circular File

HB1297- Payday Lending
--This bill, which would have imposed a 36% cap on payday and title loan interest rates, was defeated in committee 12-2.  AARP supported this bill.  The votes in committee opposing the bill were Ahlers, Boomgarden, Dreyer, Hunt, Noem, Nygaard, Pederson, Street, Willadsen, and Rounds.  Those who voted in favor were Novstrup and Engels.  Our thanks to Sen. McCracken and Rep. Cutler for prime sponsoring this legislation.

SB35- Consumer Protections on Auto Insurance Claims
--This bill passed the Senate but was defeated in the House Commerce Committee. AARP supported this bill. The bill would have implemented important consumer protections not currently available to South Dakota auto insurance purchasers that are available in neighboring states.  The votes in committee opposing the bill were Ahlers, Boomgarden, Hunt, Juhnke, Noem, Novstrup, Nygaard, Pederson, Willadsen, and Rounds.  Those who voted in favor were Street and Engels.  Our thanks to Director Merle Schreiber of the Division of Insurance and his staff for bringing this bill.

HB1066- Revising definition of unfair and deceptive practices
--Sent to 36th Day (kills the bill) 11-2.  AARP supported this bill.  The bill would have expanded the scope of unscrupulous [was this the word used in the bill? We should stick with language in the bill used to describe it’s intent, not editorialize] business practices that the Attorney General could prosecute.  Those votes in committee opposing the bill  were Buckingham, Engels, Gillespie, Gilson, Hunt, Lust, Moore, Peters, Vanneman, Vehle, and Willadsen.  Those who voted in favor were Feinstein and Cutler.  Our thanks to Attorney General Long and his staff for bringing this bill during the 2008 legislative session.

I want to take one final opportunity to thank all of our advocates around the state for their efforts on behalf of AARP throughout the legislative session and special thanks to those of you that attended our Lobby Days in Pierre.  Extra special thanks to many of our Pierre area volunteers (you know who you are!) who acted as gracious hosts all week long.  Over 350 AARP members attended this three-day event and we make a tremendous impact with legislators who are continuously impressed with the number of AARP members actively engaged in the legislative process.  While we may not win every battle, we absolutely make sure that our viewpoint is heard throughout the halls of the Capitol.