John McCullough, director of the Legislative Research Council, told the Joint Legislative Appropriations Committee that the LRC is requesting a $172,348 fiscal‑year 2025 adjustment to cover a statutorily required increase in legislator pay and that the governor's budget includes the same adjustment.

McCullough described the LRC's workload and staffing: the council is supported by an executive board, operates four divisions (research and legal, fiscal, operations and IT), and has 37.6 authorized FTE with 32 permanent positions. He told the committee, “So far we have about a little over 600 drafts in the system, I believe,” and said that the office has filled recent vacancies and currently has no open positions.

Why it matters: the LRC provides drafting, committee staffing, legal review and technology services that support the full legislature; McCullough said about 70 percent of the LRC budget goes to salaries and benefits (staff and legislator pay) and noted capital and technology needs that could be affected by any budget reduction.

Details and technology requests: McCullough said the LRC's base budget for FY2026 is $9.1 million and that the executive board and the governor proposed adding the $172,348 to cover the legislator salary change required by South Dakota Codified Law 2‑4‑2 (the statute that sets legislator pay as one‑fifth of median household income). He said a 5 percent reduction to the LRC budget would equal roughly $456,000 and would jeopardize planned upgrades: phase 2 of an audio upgrade for chamber speakers is currently estimated at about $442,000 and needed server hardware replacement is estimated at $150,000.

McCullough reviewed recent internal improvements: network upgrades on the third and fourth floors of the Capitol, phase 1 audio amplifier and control updates on the House floor, improved bill‑drafting software and workflow, new meeting and session space, a new education program for visiting schools and an initiative to publish a more complete historical list of legislators online.

Committee members asked about live video streaming for committee rooms and the cost implications. McCullough said there is no active plan and that the executive board would need to direct any expansion of live streaming; Jeff Melhoff, the LRC deputy director and fiscal chief, added that additional video archiving by South Dakota Public Broadcasting would increase costs because of larger archives.

Ending: McCullough said the LRC will use approved funds to meet statutory pay obligations and to prioritize capital and technology upgrades; he told the committee the office aims to maintain service levels while preparing for the 2026 budget cycle.