If you’ve been watching the link at the left of the page, the Augustana College Republicans just hit $1500 of their $5000 goal to attend CPAC. If you’ve been thinking of it, but haven’t donated yet, Click here to give them some GOP Love, and help send this group to CPAC
November 18-20 the FHA welcomes to Matt Sharp to South Dakota. Sharp, Legal Counsel with the Arizona based ‘Alliance Defending Freedom’. Matt will keynote this year’s four-city SD Religious Liberty Town Hall Tour. He, along with FHA Executive Director Dale Bartscher will speak to this issue in Rapid City (Nov. 18), Aberdeen and Sioux Falls (Nov. 19) and then Mitchell (Nov. 20).
From KELOland, the Governor’s Task Force on Education recommended that sales tax is likely the best tool to raise funds needed for teacher’s salaries:
The task force recommends keeping the education funding the same at three percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is less. But it does call for an additional $75 million in revenue to raise teacher pay to an average of nearly $50,000 a year.
Daugaard was able to raise that same amount to pay for roads during last legislative session.
“It’s a two-thirds vote and the margins for road funding was very thin so we’ll see if there’s a will on behalf of the legislature. And I also have to feel as if there’s true reform being accomplished,” Daugaard said.
The task force provided ways for schools to control expenses and be more efficient, while suggesting that a good source of revenue for raising salaries will be through a hike in the state sales tax.
Read that here. And according to a report in the Argus Leader, retailers are not necessarily opposed:
Shawn Lyons, executive director of the South Dakota Retailers Association, said the group would be receptive to discussing a tax hike. The association represents about 4,000 retailers across the state.
“If we’re going to go down the path of looking at a sales tax increase, the conversation of property tax relief, especially for commercial retailers, is very important to us,” Lyons said.
Though he said retailers that sell more expensive products had reservations about accepting the increase. Lyons said many had expressed concerns about losing a competitive advantage to online merchants that might not be subject to the same taxes.
I’m not sure why they need to offset a tax they collect from others against one they pay themselves right now, but if I were lobbying on the tax, I’d try it too. And they are correct on the internet sales tax.
Quibbling over minutia aside, the most important thing is that if there is going to be a tax increase to fund education, it is important that everyone participate.
Not everyone pays property tax, but all South Dakota residents who consume or purchase goods pay sales tax. It’s what you might term “having some skin in the game.” And in the case of sales tax, everyone does.
The flip side of it, is that if we add a penny or a half penny, this is still going to be a massive tax increase. And as Tony Venhuizen, the Governor’s Chief of staff quipped in referring to what plan the administration prefers, “my favorite is whatever one the legislators will pass.” And he’s quite right.
In an election year, legislators are going to have to balance the demands of their constituents for improved salaries in education against people not wanting to pay more in taxes, and blaming legislators for any tax increase passed. There will certainly be districts on either side of that divide.
It may come down to a district by district vote, with the conservative anti-taxers versus the districts demanding increased teacher salaries.
What do you think? What district are you in, and where do you want your legislators to line up?
Governor Receives Blue Ribbon Task Force Report
PIERRE, S.D. – Gov. Dennis Daugaard met with Sen. Deb Soholt and Rep. Jacqueline Sly today to receive the final report from the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Teachers and Students.
“I thank the members of the Blue Ribbon Task Force for all of their hard work. They put in a lot of time over the last few months in studying how we can improve education in our state,” said Gov. Daugaard. “I will take this report seriously and carefully review each of the recommendations.”
Sen. Soholt and Rep. Sly served as co-chairs of the task force that was established by the Governor earlier this year. The task force also included teachers and administrators, legislators, parents, businesspeople, and executive branch members.
“We are pleased to submit this report, on behalf of the task force, to the Governor and the Legislature,” said Sen. Soholt. “Now is the time to be bold and to find additional ongoing dollars to assure the success of South Dakota’s greatest asset: our kids.”
“The task force has identified the needs and recommended solutions for K-12 funding,” said Rep. Sly. “Solutions for funding education in South Dakota will be a step of courage amongst the public, the executive branch and the Legislature.”
Gov. Daugaard tasked the group with focusing on three goals: a quality system of schools focused on student achievement, a workforce of great educators, and an efficient and equitable funding system.
Last summer, the Blue Ribbon Task Force gathered public input from over 1,300 citizens in meetings throughout the state. The group then held five meetings in Pierre to consider public input, analyze data and discuss ideas for reform. The final report includes numerous recommendations to meet the task force’s goals, including a significant increase in teacher salaries.
Gov. Daugaard and legislators will consider this report as they prepare for the 2016 Legislative Session.
Fred Deutsch, State Representative, and chairman of South Dakota Right to Life is certainly taking his role as head of the pro-life organization seriously.
He’s been making efforts and inroads at our Universities across South Dakota, and here he is at the University of South Dakota with a few gathered to support the cause:
In Advance of Veterans Day, Rounds, Colleagues Introduce New Legislation to Improve Staffing at VA Health Centers
WASHINGTON– U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), along with Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), today held a press conference in the U.S. Capitol to announce the introduction of the Veterans Health Care Staffing Improvement Act, bipartisan legislation to make common-sense changes in staffing policies at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and improve veterans care at VA health care facilities.
“It is our duty to make certain our veterans receive the care and support they have been promised,” said Rounds. “As a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, I am committed to making improvements at the VA to benefit veterans and cut down on the red-tape our vets have to go through to get the health care benefits they were promised. The Veterans Health Care Staffing Improvement Act will let veterans receive health care closer to home by removing bureaucratic barriers for their providers.”
At many VA health centers around the country, veterans face wait times of weeks or even months for an appointment. These severe roadblocks to providing timely and quality health care to veterans stem in part from a shortfall of tens of thousands of medical staff. The Veterans Health Care Staffing Improvement Act would reduce bureaucratic obstacles to make it easier for the VA to boost staffing at VA health centers and reduce wait times.
The legislation would make it easier for service members who have served in medical roles to transfer directly into the VA system, make it easier to transfer or share medical staff and services across VA facilities, and allow Advanced Practice Registered Nurses and Physicians Assistants to provide a wider range of health care to patients, helping expand care in rural areas.
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Words alone cannot express the gratitude we have for our veterans and we can never say "thank you" enough. pic.twitter.com/bxHJKjm1NT
— South Dakota GOP (@sdgop) November 11, 2015
Celebrating America’s Heroes
By Sen. John Thune
Sacrifice means different things to different people. For the brave men and women in our armed forces, sacrifice oftentimes means putting life – and the lives of their families – on hold for training, travel, and deployment. It means missing Christmas dinners, birthdays, weddings, and life’s other important milestones. True sacrifice is realized day in and day out by our troops and their families, and it’s important for the rest of America to not only recognize what our troops have done for the safety and security of our nation, but celebrate it.
There’s one veteran in particular that my family celebrates every day: my dad, Harold. Like thousands of young men his age, my dad answered the call of duty, and in 1942 enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He fought on the USS Intrepid in the Pacific theater during World War II and flew important escort missions that covered dive bombers and torpedo bombers responsible for attacking the enemy fleet. He served through the end of the war and returned home to his friends and family in Murdo, South Dakota. Although we use the term frequently, the “Greatest Generation” almost seems inadequate to describe what these heroes endured.
With each new generation of Americans comes a new generation of veterans. Today’s veterans – the thousands of young men and women returning home from the Middle East – need a different system of support than our parents and grandparents once required, and it’s our job to make sure that the system meets their needs.
The Senate recently passed important legislation to fund veterans’ health services and benefits, military housing and family support, and hospital and health facilities construction. The bill not only provides for the veterans themselves, but boosts quality of life for their families too. I introduced an amendment to this legislation that would further streamline care for tribal veterans receiving care at Veterans Administration facilities to ensure that access to care is as seamless as possible for all our nation’s veterans.
Earlier this year, Congress passed and the president signed the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act, important legislation that takes a step toward giving our heroes the mental health resources they need when they return home. We also made several changes to the Veterans Choice Program, changes that will give more veterans access to health care in their own communities.
While America will never be able to fully repay what our veterans are owed, we should start with a simple “thank you” and continue our work to ensure our heroes receive the care they have earned.
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Senate Passes Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill
Includes $23 million construction project for new dormitory at Ellsworth, prevents funding to close GTMO
WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee, today released the following statement on the Senate’s passage of its first appropriations bill for Fiscal Year (FY) 2016, H.R. 2029, the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (MilCon/VA). It passed 93-0.
“I am pleased that the Senate is finally doing its job to pass appropriations bills, especially the Military Construction/VA bill to support our veterans, service members and their families,” said Rounds. “We have a duty to take care of our men and women who wear the uniform of the United States, during and after their service. This bipartisan appropriations bill recognizes the needs of a changing veteran population by providing specific funding for health care for female veterans, care for Iraq and Afghanistan vets and treatment for traumatic brain injury. It also includes specific funding provisions for construction and renovation of VA facilities and prevents the Department of Defense from using funds to close the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Defense Department construction portion of the bill includes a project at our own Ellsworth Air Force Base.”
The Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act is one of 12 appropriations bills that are needed to fund the government in FY 2016. It passed out of committee earlier this year by a bipartisan majority vote of 21-9. In October, Senate Democrats blocked this bill from being openly debated and amended on the Senate floor. The bill includes $23 million to construct a new dormitory at Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City.
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Attorney General Jackley and Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribal Leaders
Attend Government-to-Government Consultation on Marijuana Grow Operation
PIERRE, S.D. – Attorney General Marty Jackley confirms that he has met with Flandreau Chairman Anthony Reider, Tribal Council members and leaders, regarding the marijuana operations of the Santee Sioux Tribe. As with the previous government-to-government meetings with tribal authorities, the meeting was both professional and important to gain each other’s continued perspective.
“As Attorney General, it remains my desire to work with Tribal authorities to avoid placing either Indian or non-Indian persons unnecessarily at risk from state or federal prosecution. The federal government has unnecessarily created uncertainty with its lack of uniformity with enforcement of existing law and its unresponsiveness to both State and Tribal authorities. While it remains my belief that the Tribe’s suspension of its grow operation is in the best interest of public health and safety, I will continue to work with Tribal leadership and the Flandreau community in order to ensure a mutual respect and compliance with both Tribal and State laws,” said Marty Jackley.
On July 31, 2015, Attorney General Jackley wrote to US Department of Justice Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates requesting guidance from the Department of Justice regarding its enforcement inconsistencies on marijuana. Specifically requesting that the United States Attorney General clarify to what extent, if any, its various memorandums apply to jurisdictions such as South Dakota wherein marijuana use and possession is a violation of both federal and state law. Finally, Attorney General Jackley made clear any guidance from the Department of Justice should take into consideration well established legal principals including the United States Supreme Court’s determination that State courts have jurisdiction over crimes committed by non-Indians within Indian country.
As of today’s date, the Department of Justice has not provided the requested guidance.
Link to letter: http://atg.sd.gov/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=49rOBKfsA54%3d&tabid=442
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