Lawmakers tackling funding, regulation in programs for intellectually disabled

First meeting sets up goals of what summer study hopes to accomplish for South Dakota's special needs population

Cole Uecker, the executive director of Disability Rights South Dakota, testified Wednesday during a committee meeting of lawmakers studying the state’s system for the intellectually disabled. (Jonathan Ellis/The Dakota Scout)

Organizations that provide services to the state’s population of intellectually disabled residents have seven days to submit their top two or three requests for regulatory changes to a legislative committee studying the issue.

That was the final request of the committee following its first meeting in Sioux Falls Wednesday. The committee is one of a handful that legislators created to tackle special issues that could then be addressed by the full Legislature next year.

Wednesday’s meeting saw high-level presentations, which Sen. Chris Karr, the committee co-chairman, said he appreciated. But Karr, now in his ninth year in office, said he wants concrete priority proposals from organizations in a week on what they think the state can do to help make services for the developmentally disabled better. He repeatedly asked presenters which “fire was closest to town” that the committee could address.

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