As sent by a reader – as State Rep. Van Diepen introduces the Huron Mayor, a member of the city commission and a representative from the Huron schools — everyone — But Phil Jensen stands.
Do you think he’s having a bad Huron day? Phil keeping it classy as usual.
Rounds Leads Legislation to Increase Timber Sales in the Black Hills National Forest
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) today reintroduced the Timber Harvesting Restoration Act in the 119th Congress. This legislation would require the United States Forest Service (USFS) to improve timber sales numbers in the Black Hills National Forest. Rounds originally introduced this legislation in the 118th Congress in March 2024.
In recent years, timber sales in the Black Hills National Forest have steadily decreased, putting a significant strain on manufacturers of timber products. USFS has been unable to justify these harvesting shortfalls in the Black Hills National Forest. To accommodate for the shortage and keep up with demand, local timber businesses must pay additional shipping costs to bring in timber from farther away.
“Timber manufacturers in the Black Hills area are being negatively impacted by harvesting shortages in the Black Hills National Forest,” said Rounds. “They should not have to bring in timber from long distances to meet the demand for lumber, especially when there’s no reasonable explanation offered by USFS for these shortfalls. In addition, timber harvesting is necessary to keep the Black Hills healthy, prevent wildfires and preserve its beauty for generations to come. I’m pleased to once again introduce this legislation that takes steps toward getting our timber production back up to normal levels.”
“We appreciate this legislation from Senator Rounds which would help the US Forest Service succeed and the communities depending on that success,” said Ben Wudtke, Executive Director of the Black Hills Forest Resource Association. “The US Forest Service has recognized a tremendous need for treating an additional 20 million acres through their Wildfire Crisis Strategy. Recognizing the need is the first step. This legislation is a logical next step that would help better position individual national forests for accomplishing those goals through development of tailored plans where needed.”
Specifically, the Timber Harvesting Restoration Act would:
· Require superintendents of National Forest System units (individual national forests) to submit harvesting improvement reports to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary) if they have historically fallen well below annual Allowable Sale Quantity numbers laid out in forest plans.
· Require superintendent reports to identify any of the following actions: 1) forest areas that could be used to help meet harvesting targets 2) any actionable steps that may help meet harvesting targets, including expediting environmental review processes, and increasing the use of Good Neighbor Authority when applicable.
· Require superintendents to consult with private industry, advisory committees, local, tribal and state governments and relevant stakeholder groups when drafting improvement reports.
· Require superintendents to submit improvement reports to the Secretary within 180 days of enactment of the Act.
· Require superintendents to demonstrate actionable steps towards improving timber sale numbers within one year of enactment. If a forest supervisor does not increase timber sales from the preceding year, they will be required to submit another improvement report within 180 days after the actionable step deadline.
· If a superintendent does not demonstrate harvesting improvements one year after submitting a harvesting improvement report, the Secretary is directed to take any reasonable steps to improve harvesting outputs. This may include providing additional personnel, expanding the use of Good Neighbor Authority and finding any feasible actions to expedite environmental review processes.
Click HERE for full bill text.
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Anti-marijuana crusader and State Representative Travis Ismay apparently doesn’t like paid petition circulators, as he’s introduced a measure to ban them:
HB 1267 by Pat Powers on Scribd
The problem he faces with that? Like it or not, it’s unconstitutional:
Meyer v. Grant is a key decision of the United States Supreme Court asserting the right of proponents of ballot measures to pay circulators to collect signatures. It was decided on June 6, 1988, on an appeal from a decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. The ruling was unanimous; the court’s decision was written by Justice Stevens.[1]
and..
The highest court agreed with the Tenth Circuit that the Colorado statute “abridges appellees’ right to engage in political speech in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments.”[1]
Rounds Leads Bill to Ease Regulatory Burden on Local Banks and Credit Unions
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, today reintroduced the Taking Account of Institutions with Low Operation Risk (TAILOR) Act. This legislation would require federal regulatory agencies to take risk profiles and business models of institutions into account when crafting regulations.
“During the Biden administration, financial institutions across South Dakota were negatively impacted by burdensome, unnecessary regulations due to disproportionate compliance costs, with consumers ultimately paying the price,” said Rounds. “This bill would ease the regulatory burden on smaller financial institutions so they can focus resources on taking care of their customers. I am pleased to reintroduce this legislation in the 119th Congress to codify changes that will allow small financial institutions to serve their customers instead of bureaucrats.”
Original cosponsors include Senators Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).
Specifically, the TAILOR Act would:
· Require regulatory agencies, such as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to take into consideration the risk profiles and business models of individual financial institutions and shape those regulations accordingly.
· Require the regulatory agencies to provide an annual report to Congress outlining the steps they have taken to adjust their regulations as well as a report on the modernization of bank supervision.
· Require regulators to conduct a review of all the regulations issued by the agencies since the 2010 passage of the Dodd-Frank Act. If the review finds that the regulations issued since 2010 do not conform to the TAILOR Act, the agency would be required to revise the regulations.
· Direct regulatory agencies to reduce burdensome reporting requirements for community banks.
Click HERE for full bill text.
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From Breitbart comes a story on South Dakota Senator and Majority Leader John Thune that the senate is moving at a rapid pace to confirm the entire cabinet for President Donald Trump:
“At the moment at least, and this is despite the Democrat delays and stalling, the Senate is currently confirming nominees at double the pace of 2017 and 2021,” Thune told Breitbart News late Wednesday morning. “As of this morning, we’ve confirmed 11 and this afternoon we’ll vote on Scott Turner’s nomination, which will be the 12th confirmed Cabinet-level nominee. On this day in President Trump’s first term and in President Biden’s term for that matter, they only had six Cabinet nominees in place so, you know, Senate Democrats have slow-walked the process unfortunately and they’re choosing to do this the hard way and dragging it out but I think Senate Republicans have demonstrated we are serious about getting the president’s nominees confirmed as quickly as possible.”
and
“In most cases we’ve been able to grind the Democrats’ resistance down and we’re going to continue grinding until the president’s cabinet is in place and as you saw this week as you pointed out there were a couple of markups coming out of committee this week with Tulsi Gabbard getting reported out of the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Senate Finance Committee reported out RFK,” Thune said.
State Senator Steve Kolbeck is bringing back the conversation about sports betting via mobile app – this time with the state’s taxes on mobile phone sports betting to go towards property tax relief.
SportsBetting_MobileApp Resolution by Pat Powers on Scribd
This voluntary tax might be the only proposal that doesn’t involve a tax shift bill.
What are your thoughts – would a new sin tax for allowing sports betting via your cell phone be a vaild source of revenue for South Dakota Property Tax relief?
The Dakota Scout is repotting that Phil Jensen is claiming his actions to defund the Huron School District were related to “a tip” he got from a Huron parent, despite representing a district hundreds of miles away:
The bombastic lawmaker, who is no stranger to throwing himself into controversy across his long legislative career, said he withdrew the bill. Its origin came from a tip he got from a Huron parent, who said that biological boys were using girls’ restrooms in the district.
and..
Jensen’s decision to pull the bill came after a meeting with House leadership Wednesday morning. In addition to pulling the bill, he’s agreed to step down as the vice-chair of the House’s Education Committee after being asked to do so.
What was I saying about a slap on the wrist? If he’s still on that committee, and all he did was “step down,” that’s all he received.
Attorney General Jackley Announces Former Prison Employee Sentenced To Prison For Sexual Contact with Prison Inmate
PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley announces that a former state prison employee has been sentenced to 90 days in prison after earlier pleading guilty to one count of a Prohibited Sexual Act Between a Prison Employee and Prisoner.
Cassandra Jelsma, 36, was sentenced Tuesday in Bon Homme County Circuit Court. She also received a sentence of two years in prison, which was suspended.
“This behavior is unacceptable and reflects poorly on the vast majority of good employees who work in our correctional facilities,” said Attorney General Jackley.
The incident happened between Nov. 1, 2022, and June 22, 2023, with an inmate at the Mike Durfee State Prison in Springfield. The defendant was a prison employee at the time.
South Dakota’s Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) and the South Dakota Department of Corrections Office of the Inspector General investigated the case. The South Dakota Attorney General’s Office prosecuted the case.
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This is interesting.
Remember yesterday when I pointed out one of the many stupid bills being introduced this session, this one from Rep. Kaley Nolz from Mitchell which would have discouraged hiring women and minorities in law enforcement and risked running afoul of the EEOC?
The bill notes in part:
(8) Except as required by federal law:
(a) Advance or adopt any policy or procedure designed to influence the composition of the law enforcement agency’s workforce on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin; or
Whaaat? “Except as required by federal law?” That portion of the bill seems to be less about DEI practices, and more about inching towards an EEOC violation. And yes, there are still federal laws on hiring women and minorities.
Awful legislation. So, that was yesterday. And, then, like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly, something changed overnight when no one was looking.
Wait.. Representative Nolz is no longer on the bill at all. Not even as a sponsor, much less priming the legislation. Instead the new prime sponsor is Disc Jockey and State Representative Dylan Jordan, who doesn’t like good legislation or seat belts.
Does that mean this wasn’t legislation that she felt strongly about and had strong convictions that this was a needed change in South Dakota Law?
Or maybe it’s just someone’s boiler plate from a special interest group that they just swapped out whoever was going to push it try to use it as a talking point in the next election?
Guessing I know the answer to that one.
The controversy regarding Phil Jensen’s sponsorship of a bill to strip the Huron School District of funds is supposedly rising to the level where House Leadership may address it.
What I’m hearing is that something is going on, as this has the potential to really bite the caucus in the tail.
Aside from the fact it’s a ridiculous act, I’m being told various reasons as to why the bill was brought, none of which have been confirmed by the author yet.
One source is saying it’s a shared transgender bathroom issue that Phil was trying to use the power of the purse to go after the district, others are saying that it might be because of multiculturalism at the school that he doesn’t like. But again, that’s all rumor and conjecture and not confirmed.
I do note that the District is one of – if not the most culturally diverse school district in the state…
And given Phil that has said stupid and racist things in the past that should have disqualified him from being in office, that might be why people are going there. But we don’t know the why at the moment.
The question is what is House Leadership going to say, and more importantly, what are they going to do? Are they going to slap him on the wrist and say “bad Phil,” or are they going to censure him? They should remove him from office, but I doubt the House has the intestinal fortitude to do that, since there is at least 1 member of leadership who was at the Doeden rally featuring alleged Black Nazi Mark Robinson.
Stay tuned. There will be more to come.