FLOWERS BACKS SHORTENING ACTIVITY SUSPENSIONS

High school kids who get into trouble with drugs should be given a
chance to return to extracurricular activities after a 60-day
suspension, Rep. Charlie Flowers, D-Iroquois, said Saturday.

But while a bill to ease school drug sanctions is heading to the
Senate, he said he expects it to be vetoed if it reaches the desk of
Gov. Bill Janklow.

Supporters believe the current law is too harsh. It requires students
convicted of a first drug offense to be suspended for a year from
extracurricular activities.

Not only would kids be suspended for 60 days for initial convictions
in the pending measure, but they would also be required to attend
prevention classes.

"In the current law if you get caught you're done for a year, and
there's no way to try to get yourself corrected," Flowers said. "I
just feel that anybody can make a mistake."

Five area lawmakers spoke at Saturday's Coffee with the Legislators,
sponsored by the Governmental Affairs Committee of the Huron Chamber &
Visitors Bureau.

Two legislators who attended - Rep. Quinten Burg, D-Wessington Springs
and Rep. Dale Hargens, D-Miller - will be part of District 21 a year
from now.

Also speaking were Rep. Tom Hansen, D-Huron, and Sen. Ron Volesky, D-
Huron.

It was a good week for Huron because ethanol funding was passed and
the Legislature approved a bill providing $900,000 from state horse-
racing money to get the State Fair out of debt, Volesky said.

He said a permanent funding source is still needed.

Hansen said money appropriated for the fair will mean it will now be
debt free until the end of the fiscal year. Accounting procedures are
now under the direction of the Department of Agriculture, which will
mean more oversight, he said.

Meanwhile, Hansen said there has been some apparent confusion over
Amendment E. Language has been drafted by the legislators to hopefully
correct some problems in the constitutional amendment passed by voters
four years ago.

"The Legislature can't change the fact that it's an amendment to the
constitution," he said. "The only thing that can change it is a vote
of the people. This isn't a done deal. That won't happen until the
election."

Under the new language, a replacement measure would remove impediments
to business arrangements and opportunities for farmers and ranchers,
yet still protect the state's agriculture sector from being overrun by
corporations.

Hargens said a bill that was killed would have helped to increase the
salaries of nurses working in nursing homes. It would have used $1
million in state funds to leverage $2 million in federal money.

Opponents argued the money wasn't available in the budget, but he said
lawmakers then found money to create new nursing positions at public
schools.

"This kind of thing just amazes me," Hargens said, "and it doesn't
take five minutes to turn around and find that money."

A "horrible" bill that narrowly went down to defeat would have raised
taxes on ag land and homeowners to provide money for government opt-
outs of the property tax freeze, he said.

"Everybody would be dollar for dollar," he said.

But farmland is taxed at a lower rate because owners can't pass the
increase on to someone else like business owners can, Hargens said.

"I really didn't think that was fair to homeowners and farmers and
ranchers to change that just on the opt out," he said.

Burg said as a member of the Appropriations Committee he and others on
the panel are responsible for the state budget. They also spend time
hearing from departments on how they spend their money.

He said he supports using $11 million from the reserve fund to make up
for the budget shortfall this year.

Unless the situation changes, the state could be $35 million short a
year from now.

"I am against starting next year out and using that reserve and
building it into the budget before we start," Burg said.

Hansen said a measure that attracted little attention was a value-
added issue. The bill, which failed, involved the interstate shipment
of wine.

A small winery in South Dakota currently can only ship wine to another
state if a reciprocity agreement is in place so the other state can
ship wine here.