A South Dakota judge isn’t messing around when it comes to a lawsuit that former State Democrat Party official Bret Healy has filed against family members over a land dispute that has drug on and on. After one case was heard in federal court last year, and eventually dismissed, the latest battle in court finds Healy and his attorney being spanked ever harder by the South Dakota court system for their lawsuits:
State Circuit Judge Patrick Smith issued a sanction of $240,000 against the plaintiff in the cases, Bret Healy, for violations of a South Dakota law that bars court filings “for any improper purpose, such as to harass or to cause unnecessary delay or needless increase in the cost of litigation.”
The judge also ordered a $10,000 sanction against Healy’s attorney, Tucker Volesky. The judge stated that he was “duty bound” to report Volesky to the South Dakota Disciplinary Board of the State Bar and ordered that Volesky comply with any directive issued by the board.
and..
“Past sanctions have had no effect on Bret Healy, despite totaling over $120,000.00. Mr. Volesky has not been deterred or counseled his client on the wisdom of pursing frivolous actions. It is the intent of this Court to impress upon Mr. Healy that his actions have consequences and should not continue, and the finding of this Court that the doubling of his past sanctions will do so.”
Well, it’s not as if I make candidates say this stuff.
Fresh off of his claims last night that he’s the author of many pieces of legislation, this morning, District 8 State Senate Candidate Rick Weible was telling the Brookings County Commission that his life is in danger, because he claims he’s an election software expert, and because he hacked into a laptop with some election software, the US does not want things to be known..
But don’t take my word for it.. get it from the horse’s mouth.. start at about 5:50:
Rick Weible claims his life is at risk, and it’s a plot by the US Government (start at 5:50)
“The fact is that I’ve now shown you this piece of evidence, I understand that my life is at risk, and that the United States does not want this to be known that this software is available on the dark web..”
Why do I think there’s going to be a pillow guy mini-cyber conference being called for? (Are we going to have to start referring to Rick as the couch-pillow guy?)
DARYL CHRISTENSEN ANNOUNCES BID FOR HOUSE IN DISTRICT 9
Hartford, South Dakota– Daryl Christensen has announced his intent to seek election to represent District 9 in the South Dakota State House of Representatives.
Daryl served District 9 in the SD House of Representatives in the early 2000’s. Since that time, his career path, family and local service opportunities have given him much satisfaction but his passion for government service has never left him. Christensen states, “My desire and the reasons that compel me to seek to return to serving District 9 have not lessened but multiplied as we’ve added three sons-in-law and nine grandchildren in that time! The future is even more evident as I look at my grandchildren. I want to be part of the conversation and make a difference in sound policy decisions that will allow them to experience all that South Dakota affords when it comes to opportunities and quality of living. “
Christensen brings a wide range of business experience and expertise to the position as he has worked both privately and corporately in business development throughout the United States. Coming from a rural background, he understands agriculture and the value of the agricultural community that is the backbone of this state. Having owned businesses and worked many years in the building industry, he knows the economic impact that development has on how we live and work in our communities.
Christensen states, “I will bring a straight forward, common sense approach to tackling issues and policy making. I will listen and work to represent the people of District 9 in a responsible manner along with sharing the bigger vision of bettering South Dakota.”
PIERRE, S.D. – Yesterday, Governor Kristi Noem sent a letter to Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su opposing the Biden Administration’s rule change for Registered Apprenticeship Programs. You can read the full letter here.
“Your proposed rule change would bog down efforts to expand Registered Apprenticeships with more than 800 pages of red tape,” wrote Governor Noem. “South Dakota has thrived because we cut red tape – we do not add it; we encourage workers to develop new skills – we do not put roadblocks in their way; we help businesses by providing the flexibility to navigate their individual circumstances – we do not hamper them with mandates and one-size-fits-all ‘solutions.’”
In the letter, Governor Noem calls on the US Department of Labor to go back to the drawing board before this proposed rule destroys the very blue-collar jobs that it is meant to assist.
Governor Noem has three primary concerns with this rule:
The minimum-hours requirement strips important flexibility from our businesses and will punish high-performing apprentices and businesses;
The proposed rule includes irrelevant – indeed harmful – mandates in the area of so-called “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) that have nothing to do with workforce success; and,
The proposal also requires businesses to provide identical benefits to apprentices that they provide to their full-time employees.
“Workers from around the nation have responded to South Dakota’s aggressive approach to apprenticeships by packing up and moving their families to join our winning workforce,” continued Governor Noem. “This rule would undermine that progress and devastate our state and nation’s blue-collar workers and small businesses.”
Yesterday was filled with a lot of Republican activity. I attended the local GOP monthly lunch, where I listened to Public Utilities Commissioner Kristie Fiegen give an interesting talk on South Dakota’s energy mix, with far more being generated in renewable sources than we actually consume here – which is good news for our state’s economy as the nation becomes more insistent on those sources being renewable.
— South Dakota War College (@SoDakCampaigns) March 18, 2024
But.. it may also pose challenges for us in the future, as some of these sources don’t work so well in the deep winter when we’re living in an arctic hell of our own choosing. Seriously, it can get chilly here. Find out more on our energy mix LIVE at SPP.org, which Commissioner Fiegen drilled into our heads yesterday.
At the Lunch, they reminded us of the GOP Women’s forum that evening, with a number of candidates speaking.. which, except for being Mr. Mom, I didn’t have much going on in the evening. I had to run to WalMart, because my 10 year old printer finally died, but I wanted to hear what they had to say. So I attended, and just got something on the way via Amazon.
And I’m glad I did. While it wasn’t an eye opener with a couple of these candidates, it was an exclamation point which yelled – “HOLY BUCKETS, there are a couple of people we REALLY don’t want to elect to office.”
First off, District 7 Legislative Candidate Jeff Struwe went further into depth from his diatribe at last weekend’s GOP meeting, where he declared he wanted to “take porn books” out of schools (those porn books including Diary of Anne Frank, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Glass Menagerie, etc.). Last night, literally his entire speech was him explaining that he got involved in politics because of “Moms for Liberty,” but because the School Board didn’t do what he wanted, he feels the need to replace the entire Brookings School Board. And because it would take too long over several election cycles to replace them all, he just decided that running for the legislature was faster than running for school board:
Apparently we should all be excited for the nanny-state zealots to take over.
After we heard from Jeff, who wants to run to force his will on us all, we got to hear from snake-oil salesman and Elkton resident Rick Weible, who is running against the Senate Majority Leader in District 8.
And according to Weible, he would have you believe that the only reason Secretary of State Monae Johnson won was because of him (ignoring her complete disavowal of him), and that – working with South Dakota Canvassing – he’s personally responsible for writing 99 bills, with over 60 bills that made it through both Houses of the legislature, and 14 that were signed by the Governor:
I can’t help but call shenanigans on this claim. He didn’t offer which bills they were. He didn’t say how they were passed into law or who sponsored him. He just threw some numbers at the crowd, and expected us to believe them because he was holding a microphone in his hand.
I’m guessing there would be a number of legislators who would disagree… or at the least would completely deny that they fronted a Weible bill. It’s literally like he just pulled random numbers out of the air and told the crowd in attendance I did that.
Because lacking the legislators standing up and personally giving him credit, there’s a lot of smoke being blown here.
We also heard from Justin McNeal, candidate for Congress who moved to South Dakota in 2021. He had flyers talking about how his grandparents lived in the state, so he’s connected with South Dakota. Congressman Dusty Johnson’s campaign Representative Hayley Halverson appeared on the Congressman’s behalf, as Dusty was delivering & pinning medals to Vietnam War era Veterans in another town and could not attend.
All in all, it was a good event, and well worth attending in April when many of the GOP candidates who will actually win the election in Districts 7 & 8 will be in attendance.
Versus those we heard from last night, Struwe & Weible, whom we should sprint away from.
Attorney General Jackley Joins Amicus Brief For SCOTUS In Support of Second Amendment
PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley has joined a group of 26 Attorneys General in filing an amicus brief requesting that the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Illinois’ ban of AR-15 rifles.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that the Illinois gun ban was constitutional. The court stated that the plain text of the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution does not include AR-15’s because the term “Arms” does not include “militaristic” firearms.
“This law violates the Second Amendment and common sense because it is based upon a gun’s appearance,” said Attorney General Jackley. “This is another effort to take away individual rights that are protected by the Constitution.”
Attorney Generals who also have joined the brief are from the states of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming and the Arizona and Wisconsin Legislatures.
PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem signed HB 1224, which provides for the creation of an informational video and other materials describing South Dakota’s abortion law and medical care for a pregnant woman experiencing life-threatening or health-threatening medical conditions. A photo of Governor Noem signing the bill can be found here.
“This year, we did a fantastic job of keeping our focus on people, not government programs. The primary role of state government should always be to care for the people,” said Governor Noem. “These bills ensure the people of South Dakota are safe, healthy, and secure.”
Governor Noem also signed the following 10 bills to take care of people into law:
SB 64 revises provisions related to the regulation of emergency medical services and associated personnel;
SB 80 improves technology equipment for providers of elderly care and to make an appropriation therefor;
SB 136 expands the scope of a physician wellness program;
SB 170 repeals and replaces an appropriation regarding the South Dakota women’s prison;
SB 171 makes and changes an appropriation related to the construction of the new state public health laboratory;
SB 198 authorizes school districts and nonpublic schools to acquire and administer nasal glucagon;
SB 209 makes an appropriation for grants to assisted living centers and nursing facilities for costs related to telemedicine;
HB 1093 makes an appropriation to provide a grant for the construction of a facility to provide certain health facilities and services;
Ill-advised Referendum Is Anti-Landowner and Anti-Agriculture
(Pierre, SD) A new ill-advised campaign committee was formed this week to launch a campaign to refer SB 201 passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Noem. The referendum is anti-landowner and anti-agriculture.
“Senate Bill 201 is a major victory for landowners, but if a referendum is successful the landowners will ultimately lose and Summit Carbon will still win because pipelines already preempt county ordinances,” said Jason Glodt, founding member of the SD Ag Alliance, “The bottom line is that a referendum can only kill the Landowner Bill of rights, it can’t stop federal preemption over county ordinances.”
“A referendum of SB 201 makes no sense because it would only hurt landowners by killing the Landowner Bill of Rights,” said Rob Skjonsberg, founding Member of the SD Ag Alliance. “If the referendum is successful Summit will just sue in federal court and win and landowners will get nothing.”
The large majority of landowners across South Dakota support the carbon capture pipeline project. Nearly 75% of the landowners on the proposed route have already signed voluntary easements and polling shows strong support across the state with Republican voters.
Last month, the South Dakota Ag Alliance released poll results showing a majority (55%) of Republican primary voters support carbon capture pipelines when landowners are given further protections and additional compensation.
When asked the question, “Would you support carbon capture pipelines in South Dakota, if the legislature provided for more protections and additional compensation for South Dakota landowners?”, Fifty-five percent of Republicans said yes. Twenty-two percent said no and twenty-three percent were undecided.
The poll was conducted by Co/efficient, a national research and analytics company that has done work in all 50 states. The poll included 1,017 likely Republican Primary voters. It was conducted on January 30th and January 31st, 2024, using mobile text message responses and landline phone interviews. It has a margin of error of +/- 3.06%. A poll memorandum is attached.
Senate Bill 201 passed the Senate 24-10 and the House 39-31. The legislation includes the most significant sections in Landowner Bill of Rights with extensive protections for landowners and millions of dollars of reoccurring payments for both landowners and counties. The package does not change local control over zoning.
Landowner Bill of Rights
Compensation for Landowners: Requires carbon capture pipelines to pay landowners $500 to access their land for surveying (HB 1185) and at least .50 cents per linear foot of pipeline through their property in the form of property tax relief (SB 201)
Compensation for Counties: Allows counties to collect $1.00 per linear foot of pipeline that runs through their county. At least 50% of the surcharge must be used for property tax relief for landowners on the route. The remaining revenue can be spent by counties at their discretion. (SB 201)
Indemnity for Landowners: Requires pipeline companies to indemnify landowners for liability. (SB 201)
Minimum Burial Depth: Requires pipeline to be buried at least 4 ft deep, exceeding federal regulations of 3 ft (SB 201)
Disclosure of Dispersion Models: Requires carbon pipeline companies to make dispersion modeling public. (SB 201)
Lifetime Drain Tile Repairs: Requires pipeline companies to repair any damage to drain tile (SB 201)
Impact Mitigation: Requires pipeline companies to file an impact mitigation plan. (SB 201)
Leak Liability: Makes carbon pipeline companies liable to the landowner for any damage caused by leaks. (SB 201)
Land Surveyors Must be from SD: Requires land surveyors be South Dakota residents. (SB 201)
Easements Terminate if Not Used in 5 years: Easements for pipelines terminate if pipeline does not receive PUC permit in 5 years and terminates after 5 years of non-use. (HB 1186)
Bans Perpetual Easements: Limits easements to a maximum of 99 years (SB 201)
Information Disclosure: Requires carbon pipeline companies to report linear footage of pipes in counties and disclose if they claim a tax credit. (SB 201) Landowner will also receive results of survey and examination and contact information for person in charge of inspection. (HB 1185)
Mortgage Limitations: Protects landowners by restricting mortgages held by an easement holder so the mortgage only attaches to the easement holders rights and not to the land or obligate the property owner. (HB 1186)
Easements Must Be Written: Requires companies to put easements in writing. (HB 1186)
Survey and Access Limits: Landowners reserve right to challenge the right to survey in circuit court. Landowners must be given 30 days written notice and include details about date, time, duration, location and contact information. (HB 1185)
A new group has formed to oppose Senate Bill 201, the landowner bill of rights, passed by the South Dakota State Legislature and signed by Governor Kristi Noem recently:
South Dakota Property Rights and Local Control Alliance, which calls itself “an alliance of local citizens, property owners, and leaders at the county, township, and state levels,” announced its formation Friday.
The newly-formed group is opposed to South Dakota Senate Bill 201, a bill that allows counties to impose a $1 per linear foot annual surcharge on pipelines and establishes a “Landowner Bill of Rights.”
This group wants to repeal the surcharge on pipelines, and the newly passed Landowner Bill of Rights by blocking the implementation of the measure and having people sign petitions to put it to a vote?
Two-time Sioux Falls area legislative candidate Cole Heisey is apparently switching gears in pursuit of public office, and instead of running for the State Legislature, Cole has decided he’s going to run for Minnehaha County Commission instead. Heisey, a former Neal Tapio for US House campaign worker, will be running for the at-large County Commission seat against Commission Chair Dean Karsky and Commissioner Jean Bender have terms ending in 2024.
Heisey’s record of a candidate is a bit rough. After his loss for House in the District 15 general election in 2020, placing 3th out of 4, Heisey was in District 12, where he fared even more poorly, placing 4th out of 5 in the District 12 Republican Primary.
PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley has joined a group of 26 Attorneys General in filing an amicus brief requesting that the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Illinois’ ban of AR-15 rifles.
