District 20 Senator Mike Vehle says this about South Dakota's budget situation:
South Dakota's 35-day legislative session begins Tuesday at in the Capitol building in Pierre. Gov. Dennis Daugaard will present the State of the State address at 1 p.m.
"I think it's going to be a lot more pleasant than it was last year," said Sen. Mike Vehle, R-Mitchell. "There'll still be money issues, but last year it was where to cut and how much. This year we have more money so it's going to be, 'How do we divvy up the money we have?"
Reps. Lance Carson, R-Mitchell, and Tona Rozum, R-Mitchell, agree this year's session will be much less stressful and allow legislators to better focus on how to move the state forward.
Vehle said since legislators won't have to cut so much from the budget, they can spend more time on where to place extra funds.
But then is says this:
Vehle said he's working on bills about sexting and enhancing the state transportation system. He introduced a bill about sexting last year, but is working to improve it. He said a subcommittee made up of state's attorneys worked on the specifics and "I think we've got something for this year."
He's also advocating for matching the 3 percent excise tax on vehicles to sales tax, which is 4 percent.
"Cars should be taxed at the same rate as everything else in the state, which is 4 percent," he said. "It raises about $19 million to $20 million, which is way short of what we need to put in every day."
Next thing he will push is to increase the 2% excise tax to match the 4% sales tax. Typical tax and spend liberal, but in GOP clothes.
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