LAWMAKERS ADDRESS UNCONSTITUTIONAL MEASURE, SET STAGE FOR REPLACEMENT

Pierre, SD – January 23, 2017 – Today, South Dakota House State Affairs Committee members took action to repeal Initiated Measure 22 and replace it with a real, South Dakota solution. The Committee voted to send HB 1069 to the House Floor, which repeals the misleading Initiated Measure that went into effect last November and was ruled unconstitutional by a South Dakota Judge shortly after. 

“We need to send a message to outside groups spending millions of dollars in our state to change our laws and our Constitution,” said House Majority Leader Lee Qualm. “South Dakotans deserve an apology from the proponents of this measure. They knew IM 22 was unconstitutional when they submitted it, yet they spent more than $1,700,000 dollars on deceptive ads to mislead voters,” added Leader Qualm. 

Initiated Measure 22 supporters spent $1.73 million dollars to pass the measure. Of that, 98% came from outside South Dakota and 61% came from dark money groups that are not required to disclose their donors. One donor alone, Represent.us donated 57% of the money used in this campaign. Since the November elections, these same people have spent tens of thousands of dollars attacking elected officials in slanderous ads across South Dakota.

“South Dakota has a long history of good government and pragmatic stewardship,” said Speaker of the House Mark Mickelson. “We’ve become an inexpensive target for outside groups to test their agendas and introduce policies because of our low population and less expensive media market,” added Speaker Mickelson.

In 2016, seven measures were initiated and placed on South Dakota’s ballot. Three of them (IM 21, 22 and 23) would have changed South Dakota statute, while four (Constitutional Amendments S, T, U, and V) would re-write the state’s Constitution. 91% of the funding to support these measures came from out-of-state.

During the joint committee hearing, opponents of the effort to repeal and replace IM22 admitted that it would not have prevented or applied to the EB-5 or GEAR UP incidents in South Dakota.

Rounds Statement on Heather Wilson’s Nomination to Serve as Air Force Secretary

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today issued the following statement on the nomination of Dr. Heather Wilson, president of South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSM&T), to be secretary of the Air Force:

“I congratulate Dr. Wilson for being nominated to lead the Air Force,” said Rounds. “While I am selfishly disappointed she won’t be continuing to serve SDSM&T, our state’s loss is our country’s gain. Her experience as president of SDSM&T, U.S. Congresswoman and Air Force officer make her uniquely qualified for this important leadership position. I look forward to continuing to work with Dr. Wilson in this new role.” 

The Senate Armed Services Committee has jurisdiction over Dr. Wilson’s confirmation. If confirmed, Wilson will be just the third female and first Air Force Academy graduate to serve as Secretary of the Air Force. Since 2013, Wilson has served as president of SDSM&T, a leading science and engineering school in the U.S. located in Rapid City. She represented New Mexico’s 1st district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1998 – 2009.

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Noem Applauds Nomination of Heather Wilson for Air Force Secretary

Washington, D.C. – Rep. Kristi Noem today applauded President Trump’s nomination of South Dakota School of Mines and Technology President Heather Wilson for Secretary of the Air Force.

“Time and again, Heather Wilson has answered her country’s call and inspired those around her to always aim higher,” said Noem.  “I am confident her diversified experience, continually forward-looking vision, and bold leadership will enable our Air Force and the service men and women within it to fly, fight, win.” 

A graduate of the Air Force Academy and a Rhodes Scholar, Heather Wilson served in the Air Force until 1989.  Under President George H.W. Bush, Wilson served on the National Security Council.  In 1998, Wilson was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, representing New Mexico, and served there until 2009.  In 2013, she became President of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology where, among other things, she has worked to solve B1-B Bombers maintenance issues at Ellsworth Air Force Base.

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Thune Statement on Heather Wilson’s Nomination to Serve as Secretary of the Air Force

“As an Air Force veteran, former member of Congress, and now leader of one of the nation’s top science and engineering schools, Heather Wilson is uniquely qualified to help lead America’s airmen …”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) issued the following statement after the White House announced that President Trump will nominate South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSM&T) President Heather Wilson to serve as the next secretary of the Air Force:

“As an Air Force veteran, former member of Congress, and now leader of one of the nation’s top science and engineering schools, Heather Wilson is uniquely qualified to help lead America’s airmen, and I look forward to supporting her nomination,” said Thune. “Our military requires strong and bold leadership, particularly in the early stages of a new administration, and Heather is exactly what the Air Force needs.”        

Wilson served in the Air Force from 1982-1989 and is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1998 and served until 2009. In 2013, Wilson became president of SDSM&T, which is just miles away from Ellsworth Air Force Base in Rapid City, South Dakota.

Wilson was instrumental in applying cutting-edge technologies that were developed at SDSM&T to solve B1-B Bombers maintenance issues at Ellsworth Air Force Base.    

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Wow!

President Trump plans to nominate former congresswoman Heather Wilson to serve as Air Force secretary, the White House announced Monday.

Wilson, a Republican, represented New Mexico from 1998 to 2009. She has been president of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology since 2013.

“Heather Wilson is going to make an outstanding Secretary of the Air Force,” Trump said in a statement. “Her distinguished military service, high level of knowledge, and success in so many different fields gives me great confidence that she will lead our nation’s Air Force with the greatest competence and integrity.”

Read it here.

I’m betting this is probably a really, really good thing for Ellsworth AFB.

From the Argus:

A South Dakota lawmaker who admitted to having sex with two legislative interns during his time in office resigned Monday.

Rep. Mathew Wollmann, R-Madison, submitted his resignation letter Monday morning, House Majority Leader Lee Qualm, R-Platte, confirmed.

Read it here.

Sounds like $6000 a year isn’t worth the silliness & media circus.

Wow! What a week it has been!

Last week I mentioned it was like the first days of high school.  That was a pretty close description,  like in High School, the first few days was filled with laying the ground work for the real work, that started this past week. Most of the agency bills are being worked. Legislators are working to get their bills into the hopper, so far 124 bills have introduced. That is down from last year where 134 bills were introduced.

We had picture day!  That mean everyone has new pictures on the LRC web site now.  I know, I don’t have my hat on.  We were inside, and I try to follow proper hat etiquette, especially at the capitol.

It has been suggested that at least once a week I walk around the building, and walk up the front steps, and use the front entrance, and again leave the same way.  At first, I thought this was foolish, silly idea.  Then I did it; I found the experience quite humbling.  A reminder why I am there. I plan to continue the practice.

This past week I must have angered the technology gods in some way.  With every incoming call to my cell phone, my battery drained, and the phone rebooted, several times.  I ordered a replacement phone and it would be delivered by week’s end. Meanwhile, I have had to rely on messenger and Google Voice.  I avoided giving my cell number out, until I can get a new phone on-line which for some reason is much harder than it should be.  In addition to that one of my tablets decided to reset to factory defaults.  I don’t keep any files on my tablets, however, it is bit of a pain to restore everything.  Hopefully I can have everything back to ‘normal’ this weekend.  Thank goodness I make back-ups of everything.

Along those same lines, every technologist knows that static electricity is an enemy to almost all of today’s technology.  For some reason there is a lot of it on the house floor.  It seems every time I walk on to a the floor I am getting shocked or shocking someone.

The social calendar is full!  Sometimes we have four or five events in a night.  Some of those parking lots can get to bit tricky to get around in, with all the SUV’s, snow piles and ice.  I have opted to drive our older GMC pick in Pierre.  It is not going to win any beauty contest, however   It is smaller to get around, and If someone dings it, I’m not going to lose any sleep.

Some of the bills I’m working on right now:

Apparently there is a number of uninsured drivers on the road.  I have been asked to develop a bill to address this issue. I have heard form several law enforcement agencies and tow truck companies about this issue. I know bills like this have failed in the past, maybe it is time to have a second look.

I have also heard from E-cigarette users they would like a list of the ingredients of what is in the E-juice, which seems reasonable. However the FDA is involved in a federal lawsuit over this issue.   I may have to put this bill on the back burner until that is resolved, maybe

This weekend has gone by like a blur. Week three is coming up, things are really going to heat up.

House Bill 1069 was introduced this past week with an eye on reforming and rectifying the problems that have arisen in State law as a result of the passage of Initiated Measure 22, which has been declared as unconstitutional and enjoined by Circuit Court Judge Mark Barnett:

HB1069P by Pat Powers on Scribd

While the measure has significant sponsorship (I counted 50 of the 70 house members, and 27 of the 35 Senate members) there are still a few dissenters who oppose taking action.

In considering that. my attention is drawn to the oath of office legislators are required to take, as dictated in the State Constitution:

§ 3.   Oath of office. Every person elected or appointed to any office in this state, except such inferior offices as may be by law exempted, shall, before entering upon the duties thereof, take an oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the United States and of this state, and faithfully to discharge the duties of his office.

Read that here.

For the sake of discussion, if a legislator is required to swear an oath to support the constitution of the state – aren’t they almost obligated to rectify and remove laws that are contrary to it?

Your thoughts?

The Mitchell Daily Republic is reporting today that the Governor’s focus for his final two years are about big projects, but about something no less important – Government transparency:

Amid his penultimate legislative session as South Dakota’s top elected official, the second-term governor and long-time politician hopes to boost governmental transparency and improve citizen access to public information as he caps off his gubernatorial tenure.

And…

As he looks to wrap up priorities like promoting government transparency, Daugaard doesn’t expect to see many major items on his plate in his final two years. Instead, Daugaard is looking to improve upon what he’s already initiated, like the Public Safety Improvement Act.

And the popular governor who was elected in two landslide victories is content wrapping up his second term by finishing what he’s started.

Read it all here.