State lawmakers will move fast to clarify spending authority for $200 million dollars in housing grants passed last session.
The bill had a rocky path through the legislature when state senators moved spending authority from the executive branch to a board created by the legislature.
The legislative e-board issued a resolution clarifying the board had the authority to spend the money in the spring. But the money remains unspent.
Republican Rep. Mike Derby is an incoming co-chair of appropriations. He said legislators worked through the offseason to craft a new bill.
“The issues that have put it on hold have been resolved,” Derby said. “My hope, of course, is we can pass it out with an emergency clause—2/3rds vote—and get that money out into the street as soon as possible.”
Derby said the state lost a whole construction season by the money going unused.
Thirty percent of the money is earmarked for housing projects in Sioux Falls and Rapid City. The rest is for other areas of the state.
