Author: @SoDakCampaigns

Governor Noem Signs Twenty-Six Bills into Law

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem signed twenty-six bills into law:

• SB 1 codifies legislation enacted in 2020.
• SB 2 modifies the duties of the Code Commission.
• SB 7 permits a government agency to qualify as a victim for purposes of restitution in criminal cases.
• SB 8 revises various provisions related to banks and trusts.
• SB 9 revises various provisions related to bank trust departments and trust companies.
• SB 11 revises provisions regarding highways and bridges.
• SB 12 updates a reference to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names standards manual.
• SB 13 revises a statutory cross reference in the written waiver of right to a parole hearing or appearance.
• SB 14 limits time children in need of supervision are held in detention under certain circumstances.
• SB 15 revises the voting requirements necessary for the board to grant or deny parole or recommend clemency.
• SB 16 revises the requirements of setting discretionary parole dates by the board.
• SB 19 corrects errors in statutory cross-references in certain provisions regarding healthcare.
• SB 21 revises contracting procedure options for certain highway construction contracts.
• SB 23 corrects a technical error concerning a cross-reference relating to certain reporting requirements for the building South Dakota programs.
• SB 25 removes an incorrect cross-reference in provisions regarding elections.
• SB 26 modifies the type of candidates that may use a joint petition.
• SB 37 updates certain citations to federal regulations regarding pipeline safety inspections.
• SB 38 corrects technical errors in and makes stylistic revisions to certain provisions regarding public utilities.
• SB 67 corrects a cross reference relating to sheriff’s compensation.
• SB 69 corrects certain provisions with incorrect cross references regarding county road district boundaries.
• HB 1004 repeals the registration requirement for medical assistants.
• HB 1005 repeals the emergency medical technician-student status license requirement.
• HB 1006 revises certain provisions regarding the practice of chiropractic.
• HB 1012 updates references to certain federal motor carrier regulations.
• HB 1036 corrects technical errors in certain code cross-references regarding the Department of Game, Fish and Parks.
• HB 1060 directs certain persons to notify funeral directors of communicable diseases or conditions.

Governor Noem has signed twenty-eight bills into law this legislative session.

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It was announced today that Northern State University’s homecoming moniker of over 100 years is being dropped due to a spate of political correctness, where there are some who find the term “Gypsy Days” offensive, according to media reports:

Justin Fraase, vice president for enrollment, communications and marketing, said that since his arrival on campus four years ago, and even before, outside groups have made comments on social media and sent letters and emails about discontinuing the use of Gypsy Days.

and…

While the decision to shift to “homecoming” was made internally, Downs said there was a push from outside groups. Until hearing from them, Downs said, he hadn’t thought of Gypsy Days as offensive.

and..

Selecting a new theme, Fraase said, should be a process that involves the community, alumni, faculty and staff with the idea that it would be inclusive.

Read it all here.

Since the Snow Queen festival is held annually in Aberdeen where NSU is based, they could consider renaming the homecoming as NSU “Snowflake” Days.

Just a thought.  I’ve also heard Hawaiian Day is popular on some campuses.

Oh, and Jackrabbits – we might make light of the controversy, but don’t think the forces of political correctness aren’t eventually coming for South Dakota’s largest institute of higher education.

Earlier this month, the South Carolina Republican filed an amendment to an appropriations package that would prohibit a certain type of federal funding “to any school to celebrate Hobo Day,” which raises an obvious question: Is there a scourge of government-funded hobo bacchanalias?

Not exactly. In 2018, Norman introduced a bill identifying a lone culprit, South Dakota State University. “Not only is this celebration derogatory and negatively stereotypical, but it’s absolutely wasteful — plain and simple,” he said in a release announcing the bill, which attracted no co-sponsors.

Read it here.

*sigh*

From the appropriations committee on January 25th, Representative Mulally learns from the Governor’s Office of Economic Development that Value Added Agriculture is not just giving farmers “a buck” if they have corn valued at “a buck:”

.. it might be a long session.

From KELOland news, another legislator has been diagnosed with COVID-19:

Representative Aaron Aylward, a Harrisburg Republican serving his first term, confirmed Monday he was diagnosed by a doctor late Sunday morning.

“I decided to go in after not feeling well Saturday night/Sunday morning. I plan on going back (to session) next Tuesday,” Aylward said in an email to KELOLAND News.

and..

He is the first legislator to contract the coronavirus since the 2021 legislative opened January 12.

Read the entire story here.

Targeted
By U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.)

I was talking to a friend the other day about the effectiveness of online advertisements. When you’re scrolling through social media, you’ll often see ads for products you’ve previously looked at online or items related to your search history. “It’s kind of scary,” my friend said. “It almost feels like they know what I want to buy before I do.”

This past week, I was greeted by a surprise when I returned home to Ft. Pierre. Jean handed me something we had received in the mail while I was working in DC for the week – a stimulus check from the IRS. Clearly, that’s not right. I am a member of the United States Senate and should not have been a recipient of this money. There’s something wrong when a small business can do better targeting with a few bucks and a Facebook page than the federal government can with trillions of dollars.

Earlier this year, President Biden announced his proposal for COVID-19 relief, which he calls the “American Rescue Plan,” that costs $1.9 trillion and includes, among other things, direct payments up to $1,400. While all the specifics haven’t been fully laid out yet, we are expecting that the Democrats will use one of their previous bills as a starting point. In one of their proposals, a married couple with two children making $300,000 per year would still receive a stimulus check. It’s no wonder President Biden’s proposal would cost taxpayers $1.9 trillion.

Now, just how expensive is $1.9 trillion? The quick answer is too expensive, especially when we passed a $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill just over a month ago and much of that money has yet to be spent.

To be frank, the Democrats’ proposal reads more like a radical wish list than a practical plan. Their proposal is filled with items that have nothing to do with COVID-19, like a provision that more than doubles the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour. This alone would be a major job killer and devastating to small businesses and workers in South Dakota. I’ve already talked to several business owners in South Dakota who have indicated they will be forced to cut staff just to stay open should this drastic hike to the minimum wage take place.

On February 1, nine of my Republican colleagues and I met with President Biden to discuss our conservative alternative to COVID-19 relief. Our plan costs one-third of the price and specifically addresses the pandemic by targeting relief to those who need it most – families, schools, hospitals and small businesses. It also focuses on the expansion of testing and vaccines for states and tribes. Importantly, it omits unnecessary proposals, like the minimum wage, that are not specific to COVID-19 relief but were included in the Democrats’ proposal. We told President Biden if he continues to submit to demands from the left-wing of his party, he will likely be the first president to run the country $30 trillion in debt.

While our meeting with the president was productive, it does not appear that it will change the outcome. This is evident by the fact that Senate Democrats passed a Budget Resolution proposed by Bernie Sanders in the middle of the night. This is a legislative procedure that will allow Democrats to shove through their relief package even without the support of any Republicans.

If Democrats pass this legislation, it will be the sixth COVID-19 relief package that Congress has passed since the start of the pandemic. However, it will be the first that does not have wide bipartisan support. When the pandemic first began in March, members of Congress worked together to pass the CARES Act, a bipartisan bill (passed 96-0 in the Senate) which helped speed up the production of vaccines and save countless small businesses and jobs.

A pandemic is not an excuse to pass a partisan agenda that will saddle future generations with debt they’re forced to pay back. Now is not the time to play political games. Now is the time to lead our country from the center, not from the left. Our goal should be to respond to this pandemic with targeted and specific relief to those who need our help the most.

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Senator Mike Rounds came with a message this morning to the GOP faithful about the good job they did in South Dakota this last election, and that it’s critical to get out and vote.

South Dakota Republican Party chairman Dan Lederman, Vice Chair Linda Rausch, Secretary Marilyn Oakes, and Treasurer Justin Bell were all re-elected on a unanimous ballot this morning at the SDGOP biennial party elections held today in Pierre.

With nearly 100 of the party faithful participating in person or over zoom, the party quickly disposed of the election formalities, and moved into reorganizing their regional leaders for participation in the party’s executive board.

The Sad Story of Keystone
By: Governor Kristi Noem 

It may seem cliché, but energy independence is a matter of national security. The United States is a net exporter of energy, which means that we can guarantee our ability to provide for our own energy needs, no matter what situation that the world may throw at us.

With that in mind, I was terribly disheartened to hear that President Biden cancelled the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have helped secure America’s energy independence for years to come.

This issue strikes close to home for us here in South Dakota. Last year, TC Energy – the company building the pipeline – estimated that the project would bring 3,500 jobs to our state. Many of those jobs were already in place, as crews were laying the groundwork for the eventual pipeline itself.

But the impact to the South Dakota economy extends far beyond the direct pipeline jobs. Local businesses – hotels, gas stations, restaurants, and more – benefited from the business brought by these workers.

One such business was the Stroppel Hotel and Mineral Springs in Midland. Laurie Cox, the owner of that business, has said that the Keystone workers who stayed at her hotel for months have become like family. She says that she and other local business owners “responded to a need that was in the community” when they invested and grew these small businesses. And now, it doesn’t appear that those investments will pay off for her or her neighbors.

But the impact of this decision goes beyond even the communities directly next to the proposed pipeline route. The pipeline would have helped every family in South Dakota because it would have saved them money on gas for their car, or their gas bill at home. Instead, citizens across South Dakota – and Americans nationwide – should expect to see their gas prices increase in the months and years to come as a result of the Biden administrations actions on oil and gas policy.

We all remember the days when gas was three dollars-per-gallon or higher. Thankfully, that hasn’t happened since 2014. But it appears that we can expect far higher gas prices in the very near future.

Cancelling the pipeline is the wrong policy on national security. It’s the wrong policy on jobs. But it’s also the wrong policy on the environment.

Opponents of Keystone claim that they’re supporting the environment. But the pipeline would have made it safer to transport oil from an environmental standpoint. The alternative is to transport it by truck or train – far riskier methods of transit. And the pipeline itself would have been Net-Zero emissions from the day it began operations, according to TC Energy.

Congressman Dusty Johnson is taking the lead on legislation that would get the Keystone XL pipeline reauthorized, and he has my support in this endeavor. We’ll continue to fight to defend South Dakota communities from federal overreach. And I promise to work every day to help South Dakota small business owners like Laurie Cox.

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People Over Partisanship
By Sen. John Thune

President Biden pledged to be a president for all Americans. He reiterated that sentiment at his inauguration, stating, “On this January day, my whole soul is in this: Bringing America together, uniting our people, uniting our nation.” But it’s not enough to talk about unity. It has to be matched with action. And too many of the president’s actions so far have been more calculated to appeal to the far-left wing of the Democrat Party than to unite Americans.

In his first two weeks in office, the president has signed off on a long list of executive actions, many of which read like a wish list of liberal priorities. In a nod to the far-left environmental wing of the Democrat Party, the president issued a moratorium on new oil and gas leasing on federal lands and called a halt to the Keystone XL pipeline. On day one of his presidency, President Biden effectively fired 2,000 pipeline workers and told another 9,000 to never show up.

Then, of course, there’s the president’s order halting construction of the wall on our southern border. The Biden administration has plans for sweeping immigration reform, but does not seem to be placing much of an emphasis on border security. Instead, they’ve reduced the wall to a symbol of the Trump administration and chose to satisfy immigration activists by halting construction – without offering alternate ways to secure our borders against a flood of illegal immigration or drug and human trafficking and other criminal activity.

Then of course there’s the president’s decision to overturn the Mexico City policy, which prevents taxpayer dollars from being used to fund abortions in other countries. The majority of Americans do not believe in unrestricted abortion, yet the president has acted to ensure that American tax dollars can go to fund overseas abortions – whether Americans want them to or not. In addition, this administration has given every sign that it intends to pursue a radically pro-abortion agenda that is out of step with the views of the majority of Americans.

And most recently, the president teamed up with Senate Democrats to push through a partisan budget resolution designed to pave the way for a partisan COVID relief measure – despite the fact that Congress has produced five prior COVID relief packages and appropriated trillions of dollars on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis.

Now is the time for President Biden to show whether he really intends to live up to his inaugural pledge and unify our nation. That means not just talk, but action. It means working with lawmakers of both parties to develop legislation – not pushing exclusively Democrat measures. It means urging Democrat congressional leaders to actually negotiate with Republicans, instead of trying to force through an agenda that lacks the support of half or more of the country. And it means focusing less on checking off the priorities of the far left and more on actually representing the views of a majority of Americans.

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