State legislators will begin their second full day of work this morning to whittle down the two-year state budget by $335-million. Senator Cap Dierks of Ewing says he’s reviewed the cuts Governor Dave Heineman proposed and thinks it won’t be too hard to follow the road map.
“The difficulty is going to be, whoever’s going to be affected is going to feel the difficulty but we are in a position where we don’t have a whole lot of choices,” Dierks says. He says it appears virtually all state agencies are going to share in the cuts and adds, “I can’t see that I’m going to be objecting to too much of it.”
While some senators may be tempted to offer their own versions of budget cuts, Dierks says they may not be able to stray too far from the governor’s plan. Dierks says there are some potential cuts he’s worried about.
“I would have some concerns if we take too many dollars away from the veterans,” Dierks says. “I think we have some obligations there for these veterans who’ve been in the service and have some needs at these veterans homes.”
The special legislative session may last into mid-month.
Thanks to Jerry Oster, WNAX, Yankton
