A committee of South Dakota state lawmakers held the first of two public hearing on the state portion of SDPB’s funding.
The half-hour hearing featured a presentation by the Bureau of Information and Telecommunications about SDPB operations.
In December, Gov. Kristi Noem proposed slashing SDPB’s funding by $3.5 million by saying it receives more dollars per capita than other public broadcasting outlets.
That represents a 65 percent cut of state funding to the statewide broadcasting organization.
SDPB supporters say that kind of cut could lead to a trickle-down effect of decreased funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and could affect local fundraising efforts.
The committee that crafts the state budget is holding two working group meetings with SDPB and BIT officials.
The next public hearing about SDPB’s funding is scheduled for Feb. 7.
