Category: Uncategorized

UPHOLDING THE CONSTITUTION FOR ALL
by Congressman Dusty Johnson
January 19, 2024

Two of my bills to strengthen Second Amendment rights passed the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

My bill, the Tribal Firearm Access Act, would allow tribal members to use their legally issued tribal I.D. as a valid form of identification to purchase a gun. Under current law, you can use a passport from a foreign government such as Russia, but a tribal I.D. is not on the list of approved identification documents. My bill would ensure tribal members can exercise their Second Amendment rights.

Another barrier to obtaining a firearm is the lack of a permanent street address for a home. For many RVers, servicemembers, and their families who lack a permanent street address, it’s difficult to meet that requirement, even if they are law-abiding citizens. My Traveler’s Gun Rights Act would allow individuals to list a P.O. Box as their primary mailing address.

Committee passage is just one step in the process of a bill becoming law, so I’ll keep working to ensure law-abiding South Dakotans can exercise their rights.

BIG Idea

This week, I voted to pass two bills to support and educate expectant mothers and provide resources to mothers and families in need.

• The Pregnant Students’ Rights Act provides necessary support for pregnant students on our college campuses. Women should never feel pressured to make a choice between continuing their education or carrying their child to full term.
• The Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act supports women and families by protecting a state’s right to provide dollars to pregnancy resource centers through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.

My support for pro-life policies earned me an A+ rating on Susan B. Anthony’s Pro-Life Scorecard for my work in 2023. I am proud to defend unborn children’s right to life.

BIG Update

Last month, the Colorado Supreme Court removed former President Donald Trump from their ballot, citing the 14^th Amendment of the Constitution and Trump’s actions on January 6, 2021. Section 3 of the 14^th Amendment bars anyone from office who took an oath to uphold the Constitution but “engaged” in “insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution. This week, I joined 136 House Republicans and 42 Senate Republicans to file an amicus brief opposing Donald Trump’s removal from ballots. President Trump has not been convicted of or charged with insurrection. Using the 14^th Amendment to kick him off the ballot is a massive overreach by Colorado’s highest court.

Three Years In, Are We Better Off?
By Sen. John Thune

As he begins his fourth year in office, President Biden’s approval rating has fallen to a new low. It’s not hard to figure out why. Inflation, spurred by Democrats’ excessive government spending, has strained working families’ budgets. The southern border has been in a state of crisis since the president rolled back border security policies at the beginning of his administration. And we have seen the consequences of the United States failing to demonstrate strength on the world stage as it has grown increasingly unstable. To put it simply, the Biden administration has harmed our economy, our national security, and our standing in the world. 

At the beginning of his term, President Biden and Democrats passed a reckless $1.9 trillion spending bill disguised as COVID relief despite warnings that it could cause inflation. Since that bill passed, Americans have faced higher prices for just about everything from groceries to gas, and it now costs a typical family $11,400 more per year just to maintain the standard of living they enjoyed three years ago.

Paying more and getting less has become the hallmark of the Biden economy. And it’s not just higher bills. The higher interest rates that the Federal Reserve was forced to put in place to help rein in the Biden inflation crisis has meant more expensive mortgages. Combined with higher home prices, this has eroded prospective homebuyers’ purchasing power and put the American dream of owning your own home increasingly out of reach for a lot of hardworking Americans.

For three years now, the crisis at our southern border has grown worse and worse. Customs and Border Protection has had more than 7 million encounters with illegal immigrants trying to cross the border since the president took office. Millions have been let into the country under our broken and overwhelmed asylum and parole systems. And an alarming number of individuals on the terrorist watch list, criminals, and gang members have been stopped at the border. Yet the president still refuses to acknowledge there is a crisis.

Before President Biden took office, his team was warned of the possibility of a migrant surge should he roll back the prior administration’s policies. Nevertheless, the president immediately went about weakening our border security, and the surge came. And while I’m glad that after three years of chaos, the president has finally – finally – agreed to work with Republicans on some policies to actually secure the border, this crisis was avoidable.

Highlighted by the disastrous and tragic withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Biden administration has also failed to demonstrate American strength abroad. Strong national defense often deters threats to the United States from materializing in the first place. In a dangerous world like ours, we can’t afford for defense policy to be divorced from reality. Yet under President Biden, we have seen multiple conflicts erupt, some directly involving U.S. forces, all while adversaries like China ramp up their military investment.

Rest assured, my Republican colleagues and I are doing all we can to fight the disastrous policies that are creating these crises and mitigate the damage from the Biden administration. We’re working to rein in the spending impulses of the president and his Democrat allies in Congress. We’re working on policies that will substantially improve border security. And we’ve worked to secure steady investments in our defense capabilities. But we can only do so much without presidential leadership, and it’s long past time for the president to face reality and start working with us to get this country back on track.

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Freedom to Be Healthy: A Story of Heroism
By: Governor Kristi Noem
January 19, 2024

In South Dakota, we value living a healthy life, no matter where you live. Every South Dakotan should have the Freedom to live where they want – but they shouldn’t have to choose between a rural way of life and good health outcomes.

In our rural communities, emergency responders are sometimes the only local healthcare providers. Growing up on a rural farm, we always knew that emergency services were our closest healthcare lifeline. And when my dad had a tragic accident, EMS personnel showed up. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to save him – but I saw firsthand how hard they work, how much they care, and how dedicated they are to serving the people of South Dakota.

My Department of Health has been working to advance EMS access across our state to ensure that every South Dakotan has the Freedom to Be Healthy. We put brand new state-of-the-art LIFEPAK 15s in the back of ambulances, we worked with Indian Health Services to get these devices to ambulance crews in Eagle Butte and Pine Ridge, and we just completed a comprehensive analysis of the current state of EMS in South Dakota to learn how we can best continue to expand these services.

South Dakota was the first state in the nation to implement Telemedicine in Motion. We use telemedicine to connect physicians, nurses, and paramedics with EMS personnel in the field. Nearly 60 ambulance services throughout the state have installed Telemedicine in Motion – and it is saving lives.

One of the first major calls to Telemedicine in Motion came last December. Jim Lutter, rancher from Gann Valley, was out caring for his buffalo when he was attacked by one of his animals. His injuries were life threatening – dozens of injuries from the horns and hooves of the animal, multiple broken ribs, lungs filling with blood, broken neck, and more.

After pulling himself into a front-loader and driving back home for help, Jim was picked up by the local EMS agency who connected with the Avel team via telemedicine. A board-certified physician and nurses were on camera to help stabilize the rancher, coordinate with the receiving hospital, and activate the care flight team to expedite the transfer of the patient to Sioux Falls.

Once the EMS crew arrived at the hospital, Avel maintained their support of the patient since Avel Emergency was installed in the hospital’s ER. After Jim recovered, he shared feedback with the care team, saying, “they held my life in their hands and gave it back to me, something that I will be forever grateful for.”

It was my privilege to honor Ed Koenechne, Dr. Katie DeJong, and nurse Casie Hunter, the team that saved Jim’s life, with the Governor’s Award for Heroism during my State of the State Address. Ed is a volunteer with Kimball Ambulance Services, and Dr. Katie and nurse Casie are on the Avel team. Together, thanks to telemedicine, they took incredible action to save Jim’s life.

I am proud that folks who choose to live in remote parts of the state can sleep a little easier at night thanks to our EMS expansion efforts like Telemedicine in Motion. Thank you to all of our healthcare providers for giving every South Dakotan the Freedom to Be Healthy.

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Word out of the Brookings GOP meeting this morning is that Matt Wagner, who had declared his candidacy for District 8 House for the open seat, has suspended his campaign for the office. This leaves incumbent Tim  Reisch, former Lake Co. Sheriff  Tim Walburg, and election truther Rick Weible competing for 2 seats in the Republican primary.

Also coming out of the meeting is that apparently former State Rep. Doug Posr announced he is running for a seat on the Brookings County Commission.

More to come.

 

Attorney General Jackley Requests SCOTUS To Reverse Colorado Ballot Disqualification of Trump

PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley has joined an amicus brief requesting the U.S. Supreme Court reverse the Colorado State Supreme Court ruling that kept former President Donald Trump off the ballot for that state’s Presidential Primary election.

The originating lawsuit was filed by six Colorado voters who insisted Trump is disqualified from office under a Civil War-era insurrection clause in the 14th Amendment because of his alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 incident at the U.S. Capitol.

A state district judge ruled the insurrection clause does not apply to the presidency and allowed Trump to be on the ballot.  Then the Colorado Supreme Court issued a ruling barring Trump from the GOP primary ballot under the 14th Amendment.

“Congress, not the Colorado State Supreme Court, has the authority to decide whether to disqualify a person from running for office under Section 3 of the 14^thAmendment,” said Attorney General Jackley. “This decision violates the U.S. Constitution and deprives voters of their fundamental right to decide elections.”

The 24 other Attorneys General who joined the brief are from: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming. The Arizona State Legislature and the legislative leadership of North Carolina also joined the brief.

The brief can be found here: https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/INAG/2024/01/05/file_attachments/2737840/23-719%20tsac%20Indiana%20West%20Virginia.pdf

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Johnson Opposes Removing Trump from Ballot 

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) joined the filing of the amicus brief opposing the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to remove former President Donald Trump from the Colorado ballot.

“Donald Trump hasn’t been convicted of or charged with insurrection,” said Johnson. “Using the 14^th amendment to kick him off the ballot is a massive overreach by Colorado’s highest court.”

In December 2023, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled the former president is ineligible for presidency because of his actions on January 6, 2021, citing Section 3 of the 14^th Amendment. The Amendment bars anyone from office who took an oath to uphold the Constitution but “engaged” in “insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution.

The amicus brief is led by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX). 136 House Republicans, and 42 Senate Republicans joined the brief. Read the amicus brief here.

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Attorney General Jackley Requests FCC To Restrict Use of A.I. In Marketing Phone Calls

PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley and 25 other Attorneys General are asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to restrict the use of artificial intelligence by telemarketers.

In November, the FCC posted a Notice of Inquiry requesting input on the implications and usage of A.I. technology in consumer communications and how the technology fits under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). Specifically, the FCC inquired about the potential ability of A.I. technologies to act as the functional equivalent of a live agent.

Pursuant to the TCPA, robocalls are those calls made using an artificial or prerecorded voice. Such calls are generally prohibited unless the calling party obtains the prior express written consent of the consumer.

“These calls manipulates consumers by sounding like a real person,” said Attorney General Jackley. “Scammers are always looking for ways to harm consumers, and the federal government needs to act.”

Other Attorneys General on the bipartisan letter are from states of Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Washington D.C., Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont, and Washington.

A copy of the comment letter can be found here: 

Johnson Bills Strengthening 2^nd Amendment Rights Pass Committee

Washington, D.C. – Today, two Second Amendment bills led by U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) passed out of the House Judiciary Committee. The bills allow tribal members, RV-ers, and active-duty military families to exercise their Second Amendment rights to obtain a firearm.

The Tribal Firearm Access Act, led by Johnson and Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK), protects tribal sovereignty and lists tribal governments as eligible entities to issue identification documents for the purposes of transferring a firearm. U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) leads companion legislation in the Senate.

The Traveler’s Gun Rights Act, led by Johnson, allows law-abiding RV-ers, active-duty military, military spouses, and others who rely on a P.O. Box for their primary mailing address to obtain a firearm. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) leads companion legislation in the Senate.

Johnson testified in the House Judiciary Committee in November 2023 to advocate for his bills. View his remarks here.

“The Second Amendment is only as effective as it is obtainable for all citizens to purchase firearms,” said Johnson. “My bills will ensure more law-abiding individuals can practice their Second Amendment rights, without running into unnecessary red tape.”

“The Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe expresses its gratitude to Rep. Dusty Johnson and his team for the passage of the Tribal Firearm Access Act out of the House Judiciary Committee. The important legislation fills a gap that many Native Americans face as it pertains to access to firearms and provides credence to Tribes and our tribally issued identification card processes. The Tribe further appreciates the consultation that Rep. Johnson’s office has with it on multiple occasions regarding this legislation,” said President Tony Reider, Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe.

“On behalf of the NRA’s millions of freedom-loving members nationwide, we applaud Rep. Dusty Johnson for championing the right to bear arms through the introduction of the Tribal Firearm Access Act and the Traveler’s Gun Rights Act. These crucial bills expand access for law-abiding Americans to purchase firearms for self-defense and any lawful purpose, upholding the principles of the Second Amendment,” said Randy Kozuch, Executive Director of the NRA-ILA.

“NSSF commends the U.S. House Judiciary Committee for advancing Congressman Dusty Johnson’s bills that improve the ability for all Americans to exercise their Second Amendment rights while ensuring the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is accurate. Congressman Johnson’s Tribal Firearm Access Act ensures tribal government identification is valid for the purposes of an FBI NICS check when purchasing firearms, and his Traveler’s Gun Rights Act ensures the Second Amendment rights of Americans would not be denied simply because they choose to use a post office box address instead of a physical address. These are no-nonsense bills that preserve fundamental Constitutional rights for all Americans while preserving the necessary safeguards to ensure firearms remain out of the hands of those who should not possess them,” said Lawrence G. Keane, Senior Vice President & General Counsel for NSSF, The Firearm Industry Trade Association.

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Interesting bill that popped up in the South Dakota State Legislature this week. As noted in the Dakota Scout:

Sen. Tim Reed, R-Brookings, supported the bill on the Senate floor Wednesday. Reed said he currently serves as president of his HOA and keeps track of bylaws and covenants. Five people sit on the HOA board out of 92 total members.

“Five people could do this,” he said. “That’s why I think this bill is so important.”

Sen. Reynold Nesiba, D-Sioux Falls, said the issue pits two values against each other: property rights and gun rights.

Read the entire story here.

Led by Senate Democrat Leader Reynold Nesiba, a majority of the Democrats in the State Senate voted against limiting the power of HOA’s to stop the second amendment at the entrance to South Dakota’s gated communities.

Voting to allow HOA’s to give themselves the ability to grab guns were three of the four Democrats in the State Senate, Senators Nesiba, Liz Larson, and Shawn Bordeaux. Democrat Red Dawn Foster voted with the Republican Majority to prevent any such overreach.

Rounds, King Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Fast-Track Combat Veterans’ Access to Health Care Benefits

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Angus King (I-Maine), members of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, introduced bipartisan legislation to allow combat veterans to enroll in their health care benefits program before officially transitioning out of active duty in order to make certain that service members don’t experience a lag in coverage.

The Combat Veterans Pre-Enrollment Act would create an opt-in program allowing transitioning service members to access VA health care services on their first day as a civilian. Currently, transitioning service members must wait until they have left the military and received their official separation paperwork, which can take months, to apply for Veterans Health Administration health care and other services, creating a period where veterans do not have access to the health care benefits they have earned.

Rounds and King are joined by Senators Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.).

“Veterans represent the best of our country. Our men and women in uniform have made incredible sacrifices so that we can be free, and we have a responsibility to fulfill our commitment to them once their service is complete,” said Rounds. “The Combat Veterans Pre-Enrollment Act would eliminate the lapse in care that many service members face when transitioning from the military to civilian life, and make certain that service members have timely access to the health care services they need upon separation from the military.”

“Our combat veterans continually put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms and they deserve our utmost support and care, they have retired the uniform,” said King. “The Combat Veterans Pre-Enrollment Act is another way in which we can guarantee our servicemembers experience a warm handoff in their transition to civilian life. By eliminating this bureaucratic lag, we can deliver VA benefits to our men and women who served, the moment they return to civilian status.”

“The Combat Veterans Pre-Enrollment Act, S. 3560, is essential to the type of service and support our Service Members immediately need when they transition from the military,” said Marty Pennock, Disabled American Veterans Department of South Dakota Adjutant. “It clearly focuses in on one of the most important areas that arise upon discharge from their Service, and that is in their health. This legislation clearly is founded by those that understand the needs of our military and the importance of getting to the resources and linking our Service Members to VA as early as possible.”

“As Service members make the transition to civilian life it can be a very stressful time,” said Rick Williamson, Department of South Dakota Veterans of Foreign Wars Legislative Chairman. “Making sure that they have healthcare, medications, and benefits is a great start to assuring them the stability they deserve as they enter the next chapter of their life. The Department of South Dakota, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States proudly supports this legislation and congratulates Senators Rounds and King for doing the right thing.”

“Transitioning service members face challenges post separation. Making sure these veterans enroll in the healthcare and benefits they have earned will help ease that transition,” said Pat Murray, Legislative Director for Veterans of Foreign Wars. “VFW supports the Combat Veterans Pre-Enrollment Act of 2023 in order to make transition easier for the men and women who served our country.”

Read the full text of the bill HERE.

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