Category: Uncategorized

Boom. The hammer was dropped on Senator John “California” Carley’s Senate Bill 51 to insert biblical teachings into public schools by posting the 10 commandments in all classrooms and forcing them to add it to school instruction.

The debate was long, and at one point, proponents wavered as a friendly amendment was offered by Rep. Liz May to almost completely water the bill down, by removing the posters from swim class and welding, and being satisfied with curriculum insertion and the 10 commandments just being “prominently posted” somewhere in the school.

But then they called for a vote. And proponents were completely owned:

The vote was a hard NO on a count of 31 to 37, even after being voted down.

In looking at the bills, Senator Carley is starting to rack up some noticeable losses for his first year at bat. And this was a big one.

Rounds Introduces Cybersecurity Bills to Strengthen Penalties for Cybercrimes, Incentivize Cyber Workforce

 WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Cybersecurity Subcommittee, introduced a pair of cybersecurity-related bills. The Cyber Conspiracy Modernization Act would strengthen penalties for cybercrimes. The Providing Individuals Various Opportunities for Technical Training to Build a Skills-Based Cyber Workforce Act of 2025 (Cyber PIVOTT Act) would provide scholarships to students and professionals training in cyber-related fields.

“As cyber technologies continue to rapidly evolve, we need more people working to secure cyberspace as well as harsher penalties for those perpetrating these crimes,” said Rounds. “As Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, I am committed to working on policies that strengthen the United States’ ability to respond quickly and decisively to cyberattacks which have been on the rise.”

 The Cyber Conspiracy Modernization Act would amend the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) to create a specific penalty for the crime of conspiracy under the CFAA. There is currently no crime of conspiracy that is specific to the CFAA, meaning the U.S. Department of Justice charges conspiracy to commit cybercrimes under a general statute rather than under the cyber-specific CFAA. While the general conspiracy statute has a maximum penalty of five years, a CFAA-specific conspiracy charge would be anywhere from ten years to life imprisonment depending on severity.

This legislation is cosponsored by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.).

Click HERE for full text of the Cyber Conspiracy Modernization Act.

 The Cyber PIVOTT Act would establish a scholarship program for students looking to earn a degree in a cybersecurity-related field at a two-year technical school. In exchange for this scholarship, students would commit to working in a cybersecurity position within the federal, state, local or tribal government for two years following completion of the program.

Western Dakota Technical College in Rapid City, South Dakota, would be eligible to participate in this program.

“Western Dakota Technical College (WDTC) supports Sen. Mike Rounds’ legislation to expand the cybersecurity workforce through technical education scholarships for two-year cyber degrees,” said Christine Goldsmith, Acting President of Western Dakota Technical College. “Recognizing the growing demand for cybersecurity professionals, WDTC provides specialized training and has proudly earned two NSA Cyber Defense designations: a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (CAE-CD) and a validated NSA Cyber Defense Program Study for its Computer Science – Information Technology Specialist Program.”

This legislation is cosponsored by Senator Gary Peters (D-Mich.). A companion version of the Cyber PIVOTT Act was introduced in the House of Representatives by Representative Mark Green (R-Tenn.), Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security.

Click HERE for full text of the Cyber PIVOTT Act.

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Thune: Tulsi Gabbard Will Protect All Americans, Safeguard Our National Interests

 “The intelligence community needs to refocus on its core mission – collecting intelligence and providing unbiased analysis of that information.”

Click here to watch the video.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor.

Gov. Rhoden Signs 14 Bills into Law 

PIERRE, S.D. –  Today, Governor Larry Rhoden signed the following 14 bills into law: 

• SB 1 updates references to certain federal motor carrier regulations; 
• SB 2 increases civil penalties for commercial driver violations; 
• SB 5 permits a sheriff to charge a fee for service of process, whether service is completed or not; 
• SB 10 shortens the time before records of a Governor or a lieutenant governor are opened to the public; 
• SB 13 clarifies the enactment and effective date of a measure initiated or referred within a political subdivision; 
• SB 30 removes outdated provisions within the insurance code; 
• SB 36 repeals the oath requirement for an application for a lodging establishment, campground, food service establishment, or mobile food service establishment license; 
• SB 38 modifies requirements for a vehicle approaching a vehicle that is stopped or occupying the shoulder of the highway with warning lights flashing; 
• SB 39 revises the description of highways included in the state trunk highway system; 
• SB 40 revises Department of Transportation regulatory authority regarding aeronautics; 
• SB 41 clarifies the minimum age requirements for a hunting license; 
• HB 1011 revises provisions related to the stenographic recording of certain proceedings; 
• HB 1022 prohibits the misbranding of any cell-cultured protein product; and 
• HB 1049 updates the official code of laws.

Governor Rhoden has signed 15 bills into law this legislative session. 

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The ten commandments bill, Senate Bill 51,  which notes in part the following…

Section 1. That a NEW SECTION be added to chapter 13-24:

The board of a school district shall display the Ten Commandments in each classroom in each school located within the district. The display must be a poster or document that is at least eight inches by fourteen inches. The text of the Ten Commandments must be the focus of the poster or document and must be printed in large, easily readable font.

..proposing to post the ten commandments in every High School swim class and welding class is up for debate today, and I’m already listening to proponents try to pooh pooh the fact that they will have to teach this in every class.

We can hope they get rid of this nonsense and leave schools alone – via local control – to decide what’s in the curriculum of our local schools.

Someone had mentioned this in a prior post, but it brings up a good point about what legislators are doing in Pierre this year, versus how they talked about following the Republican Party platform in the last election:

4.0 Education and Cultural Affairs

4.2 Local Control – We support returning control of the school curriculum to the parents and communities that fund it. We support the elimination of all federally mandated requirements.

(From the SDGOP 2024 platform.)

So, when legislators are trying to force items on to local school districts such as posting the 10 commandments in every classroom, are they going to give themselves a de-merit for not giving community school boards local control?

The domestic abuse case against former Black Hills area TV news anchor and Neal Tapio campaign staffer Shad Olson appears to be winding to a close almost a year to the day after allegations first arose from his girlfriend who had called police:

If you recall when the arrest was first made, according to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader:

Olson, 51, was arrested last Sunday after an alleged altercation two days prior in Rapid City, where he “slammed” his girlfriend down on the ground multiple times and chased her around the house, a probable cause affidavit states.

Olson previously served as campaign counsel to Tapio, a Republican candidate who lost to U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson and then-Secretary of State Shantel Krebs in a bid to win the incumbent congressman’s district during the state’s 2018 House of Representative’s election.

and..

The report continues that Olson then “flipped her over and picked her up and threw [her] down on the floor” four or five times.

The victim expressed she felt lucky she was thrown on a carpeted floor, because the alleged assault did not leave her with broken bones.

Read that entire story here.

Olson was charged with felony assault charges, and which left him unable to bond out of jail and petitioning for a court-appointed attorney on the basis of his inability to afford counsel. Until Olson was bailed out of jail on a $5000 cash bond by former District 34 State Legislative candidate Jodi Frye at the end of February.

Moving forward, in November of 2024  in a surprise move the Meade County State’s Attorney dropped the felony charges, leaving the former TV anchor facing two class 1 misdemeanor assault charges.

Olson had requested a jury trial on the misdemeanor charges which had been set for February 6th, however according to court records the hearing that was supposed to happen last week has now been changed to a Change of Plea/Sentencing hearing at the defendant’s request, set to take place on March 13th:

Set your calendars ahead to March 13th, which also happens to be the last day of the regular run of the legislative session.

It looks like crazy will be in full force in House Education Committee in the AM, with an awful slate of legislation on deck.  Here’s what legislators – including Phil Jensen, whom House leadership left in place after his embarrassing bill to defund the Huron School District – will be judging the worthiness of to continue to the House Floor:

BILL HEARINGS

• HB 1177       require an employee of a school district, the Board of Regents, or the South Dakota Board of Technical Education to receive permission of a parent or guardian of an unemancipated minor student before addressing the student with a name other than the student’s legal name and to prohibit the compulsory use of gendered language inconsistent with sex (Introduced).  Introduced by: Representative Rice
  This bill would make School Districts liable for damages is a teacher calls a student by a nickname, such as Bubba, if that was not the child’s proper name, without written parental permission. And it gets into other stuff.
• HB 1201       establish requirements for school counseling services (Introduced) Introduced by: Representative Manhart
  This is Logan Manhart’s mandatory gay thought reporting bill to make janitors or lunch ladies potentially forced to fill out a report and notify authorities if they have  an interaction with a kindergartner where a girl says “they wish they were a boy.”
• HB 1180       require that a candidate for election to the board of a school district disclose the candidate’s party affiliation on a declaration of candidacy (Introduced) Introduced by: Representative Rice
  Because she does not believe people are capable of looking it up, Rep. Rice wants to pass a law to add party to nominating petitions for school board.
• HB 1182        provide for the recall of a member of a board of a school district.  Introduced by: Representative Rice
  As noted. Not sure why we would be able to recall school board members and not the people in the Legislature.
• HB 1183       amend the other revenue base amount available to certain school districts (Introduced).  Introduced by: Representative Gosch
  Rep. Gosch seems to be messing with the school funding formula for small, sparse schools, possibly making them non-sparse.  This will likely be referred to appropriations.
• HB 1171       require that a school curriculum include human growth and development within the health curriculum (Introduced) Introduced by: Representative Randolph
  Per Rep. Randolph, Anti-abortion propaganda will be included in all school health curriculum.
• HB 1172       require that a high school health curriculum include human sexuality and human development within the womb (Introduced). Introduced by: Representative Randolph
  Again, per Rep. Randolph, starting in the 9th grade, High School Students will have to watch videos of babies being ripped apart via abortion, like in a Faces of Death video from back in the 1980’s.

Like many South Dakotans, I find this legislative session just painful to watch at this point.