Category: Uncategorized

In 2018 as part of a package of bills to make South Dakota’s initiated process better and in hopes of decluttering the ballot, Amendment Z was brought to establish “that a proposed constitutional amendment may embrace only one subject” and required that “proposed amendments to be presented and voted on separately.”

The Constitutional Amendment passed in a landslide with over 62% of the vote.

But now, the backers of measures to legalize recreational pot are threatening to undo this law after their measure ran afoul of the single subject requirements of measures, despite prior warnings that their measure was a mish-mash.

According to an Associated Press Story, in the run up to the court making a decision on the legality of a recreational pot measure which failed a court challenge because of the requirements of amendment Z, the group behind Amendment A is threatening a repeal challenge to that amendment if the Supreme court does not rule in their favor:

Over the July Fourth weekend, South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws announced they’d sent five new ballot measures — all related to defanging criminal laws and civil penalties for marijuana possession — to a legislative research team in Pierre.

But the team behind the push, who also have proposed removing a single-subject test for constitutional amendments, say they won’t bring the measures forward if the five justices in Pierre uphold Amendment A, which legalizes recreational cannabis in the state and voters approved with 54% majority last November.

Read that here.

Interestingly, the single subject problem the recreational pot measure had and which may have ultimately broken the ballot measure’s back in court should not have come as a shock to the measure’s sponsors. Because they were given a warning from the onset before they collected signature 1 by the State Legislative Research Council pointing out that “The Constitution is not a compilation of policy statutes and as such, should not be amended to incorporate what ought to be statutory material.”

They went ahead and did it anyway. Which also earned them this note on the ballot by the attorney general about the measure’s problems:

Judicial clarification of the amendment may be necessary. The amendment legalizes some substances that are considered felony controlled substances under current State law. Marijuana remains illegal under Federal law.

Read that here.

One thing the measure’s sponsors may wish to consider is that while a majority of South Dakotans did pass the recreational marijuana measure with a 54% majority last year, as noted over 62% of state residents were tired of confusing omnibus measures being dumped on voters in the immediately preceding election.

If recreational pot proponents want to bring back the bad old days of ballot measures after they were warned their own measure was a mess, they might not find themselves as successful as they were in 2020.

Office of the Attorney General in Agreement with South Dakota Highway Patrol’s Framework for Implementation of IM26


PIERRE, S.D. – Contrary to current media reports, the Attorney General’s Office agrees with the South Dakota Highway Patrol’s Framework for Implementation of Initiated Measure 26. 

The Highway Patrol Framework sets out in part that Highway Patrol officers, when interacting with a South Dakota resident in possession of no more than three ounces of natural and unaltered marijuana, will not arrest that resident if he or she is an enrolled tribal member with an unexpired medical cannabis card issued by the resident’s tribe.

For non-tribal members, the Framework provides for a process to determine legitimate medical cannabis cases and refers other instances of concern to the local State’s Attorney.  The Attorney General supports the Framework’s approach to ensuring enforcement of all state drug laws, while recognizing that ultimately charging decisions will be left to the local State’s Attorney.

On the issue of law enforcement recognizing tribally issued cards for South Dakota residents who are not enrolled tribal members, the Highway Patrol Framework provides an approach that is consistent with IM 26’s requirements and recognizes the important issues of tribal and state sovereignty. That a tribe is a separate sovereign entitled to issue medical cannabis cards to tribal members is not disputed and is reflected in the Framework. However, the Framework also addresses a very important and separate issue – South Dakota’s jurisdiction over its residents who are not enrolled tribal members. Regardless of its decision concerning marijuana access within its own jurisdiction, a tribal government cannot dictate to a separate sovereign – the State of South Dakota – how the state’s laws apply to its own residents who are not enrolled members of a tribe when they are off reservation land and therefore wholly within the jurisdiction of the State of South Dakota.

A tribe’s medical cannabis card issued to a South Dakota resident who is not an enrolled tribal member is therefore not a substitute for the written doctor’s certification that a resident must produce under the Framework or in the future to receive a medical cannabis card from the Department of Health.  In addition, for the written doctor’s certification to be valid, it must be received as part of a bona fide practitioner-patient relationship by a doctor licensed to practice medicine in the State of South Dakota.

It appears my host might be experiencing some server issues today, so if there’s some server weirdness, my advance apologies.

Gov. Noem Approves Federal Request to Deploy Additional South Dakota National Guard to Southern Border

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem approved the deployment of approximately 125 members of the South Dakota National Guard to the southern border between the United States and Mexico. The deployment will take place later this year at the request of the federal government.

“Our South Dakota National Guard is the very best in the country, and they are prepared for the sustained response the national security crisis at our southern border requires,” said Governor Kristi Noem. “I am hopeful that this mission indicates the Biden Administration is waking up to the devastating situation at the border.”

The soldiers are members of the South Dakota National Guard’s 1742nd Transportation Company, stationed in Sioux Falls and Flandreau. These soldiers will be deployed for up to nine to twelve months and will be in a federal pay status. This deployment is in addition to the state active duty deployment that Governor Noem announced last week.

The guard members will provide non-law enforcement support to U.S. customs agents as part of the government’s Southwest Border mission. The Southwest Border mission involves security along the Mexican border in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. The request for South Dakota guard members came from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the National Guard Bureau. About 3,000 Guard members from several states are involved in this federal mission. For security reasons, additional information about the guard members’ duties will not be provided.

###

Except for parade and festival activity by incumbents over the 4th of July weekend, during this off-year the summer has been fairly devoid of political activity.  And it’s leaving those of us who consume such news with excitement and zeal… well, it’s boring.  There really hasn’t been much going on.  But I have caught whiff of a few things in the wind that are worth reporting on for the primary election, even if just for the sake of mild amusement.

So what am I hearing?

In the US Senate, the Mark Mowry campaign called my phone today and his wife/campaign manager left a message asking if I was interested in getting involved in the Mowry campaign. Wait, what?

Yes. that actually happened.  I’m guessing they don’t read the political “internets.”

Aside from the fact I’m happy to support US Senator John Thune and appreciate all he’s done to get Republicans elected during his time in office, there’s also the part where his opponent Mowry alleges a January 6 conspiracy, claimed that the Nashville bombing was done to hide fraud with Dominion voting machines, and even more egregious, was on facebook telling people that mass shootings “sure could be” orchestrated to get people to accept gun control.

So, am I interested in getting involved in the Mowry campaign? How about NO!, in case I have not been clear enough about my opinion.

In the Congressional race, Congressman Dusty Johnson can apparently do no wrong as he continues to be buoyed by the very positive SDSU poll (which also tells us we love Sen. Thune and Gov. Noem), and earning high marks as the most effective Republican Congressman on Ag issues. I’m hearing that State Rep Liz May is said to be passing on taking another solid shellacking at Dusty’s hands.

But then there’s the chatter that the hard right is said to be teeing up someone else.

In conjunction with the Sioux Falls “America First” rally at the Farmer’s Market featuring Gays for Trump leader Scott Presler, a group trying to gin up a Dusty opponent was on Facebook declaring that State Representative Taffy Howard is also going to be speaking at the event.

That’s awfully interesting, as Howard has been a fairly vocal critic of Governor Kristi Noem over the past couple of years, and there has been speculation that she might have been a primary opponent for the Governor.

Howard had previously attacked the Governor over a series of grants to expand rural broadband access in South Dakota. And more recently, Taffy had attacked the Governor claiming that her appointments to the Board of Regents weren’t sufficiently conservative – an attack that earned Howard a rebuke from Pennington County GOP Committeeman Ed Randazzo, who claiming that Howard’s “victim mentality is a cloak.”

But as opposed to taking on Governor Noem, the rumor mill has been that recently  Representative Howard’s name is more associated with a challenge to Congressman Johnson than Governor Noem.  I was speaking with one correspondent today who indicated that he’d heard there may be some calling around trying to drum up support for her.  And with this one appearance she’s already going to Sioux Falls more than Liz May ever did in her campaign.

Is Taffy going to try giving a statewide campaign a spin? We’ll see.

As for primary campaign activity in the Gubernatorial race.. Don’t kid yourself. There’s no one who seriously thinks they could challenge Governor Kristi Noem in a GOP primary.

There was talk at one time that State Rep. Steve Haugaard might be looking at it. And he is termed out after this election.

But that was dicey even before Kristi became one of the county’s GOP success stories for holding her state together during COVID.  Yes, yes, Democrats are going to complain and disagree. But they’re chattering in an echo chamber when it comes to that issue, which might be why they seems to be throwing anything else they can at the Governor.

Intra-party, at this point, I’m doubtful that any Republican challenge to the state’s first woman Governor is going to happen. And even Lora Hubbel who has switched parties back and claims that she’s going to run against the Governor (in the midst of saying other goofy things on facebook) sounds as if she’s going to run as an indy in the general versus trying to get party members to select her in the GOP primary.

A GOP Challenge to the person in the big chair on the second floor? Not going to happen, or at the least, if it does it will be last minute and won’t be anything serious.

That’s what I’m hearing tonight in early July.

Stay tuned for more.

TAR Camp is coming up in a couple of short weeks. If you have a teenager (12 and over) you’d like to send to camp, click on the image above to find out more, or e-mail School & Public Lands Commissioner Ryan Brunner at ryan.brunner@gmail.com.

Rural America Deserves a Reliable Connection
By Sen. John Thune

South Dakotans and other Americans who live in rural areas deserve the same internet access as people living in urban areas. Expanding internet access in rural America has long been a priority for me, and building and maintaining reliable networks across the United States has never been more critical.

The pandemic highlighted the importance of the internet more than ever before. As the nation locked down, the internet became more vital to everyday life. Reliable broadband networks are an essential component to help rural Americans stay connected, and expanding broadband will spur 5G deployment in the small-town communities that have unfortunately lagged behind their big city counterparts.

5G mobile broadband technology has the power to change the way we interact with the internet. 5G will be 100 times faster and support 100 times as many devices, enabling massive breakthroughs in health care, transportation, agriculture, and other key industries. I’ve been supportive of this breakthrough technology from the beginning. In fact, working alongside local leaders, we made Sioux Falls one of the first cities in the country to install 5G networks.

U.S. companies are already building out 5G networks, but there’s more work to be done. We need to remove regulatory and permitting hurdles and ensure that companies have access to the spectrum they need to build strong networks. We’ve already seen progress after my MOBILE NOW Act became law in 2018. Despite these important steps, we must continue to pass smart and effective legislation to keep America leading the race to 5G and help rural America stay connected.

My Telecommunications Skilled Workforce Act, for example, would help address workforce issues by helping increase the number of workers enrolled in 5G training programs and identify ways to grow the telecommunications workforce to meet the demands of 5G. My STREAMLINE Act focuses on updating current law to speed up the permitting of 5G-required antennas called “small cells,” while still respecting the role of state and local governments in making deployment decisions.

There is another significant part of the 5G technology equation, and that’s broadband networks. We cannot have a successful deployment of 5G without reliable broadband. Simply put, if we don’t build out broadband in rural America, these areas will be excluded from access to 5G. I believe in making smart investments in this area and not making the mistakes that happened under former-President Obama’s stimulus package, where Congress attempted to spur broadband deployment by providing large sums of funding with little to show for it. Lack of coordination, bad mapping, and a host of other factors led to wasted funds.

I recently helped lead a Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband hearing on building resilient broadband networks, and a South Dakotan joined the panel of experts. Denny Law, the CEO of Golden West Telecommunications in South Dakota, spoke on the specific challenges of deploying broadband in rural areas. By listening to the advice of these experts, including Denny, Congress has an opportunity to get it right and properly support the deployment of reliable and resilient networks without wasting taxpayer dollars.

There’s no doubt that reliable, fast internet is an essential element of our nation’s infrastructure. Like roads and bridges and railways and airports, strong internet networks keep our economy going. However, the race to 5G is also an issue of global competitiveness. We must stay ahead of countries like China that are also working to implement this technology.

The recent surge in cyberattacks in industries like energy and meatpacking has spotlighted how integral technology will be to modern homeland security. 5G has a big part to play in our technology future, and we should be laser-focused on building out 5G networks and keeping America at the front of the pack with this technology. This will be vital to our national security for years to come.

I’ll continue to work to advance nationwide 5G deployment and fight for our rural communities that deserve to have the full benefits of the 5G revolution. This is a race that we cannot afford to lose.

###

Independence
By: Governor Kristi Noem

On July 4, 1776, our Founding Fathers signed a transformational document full of beautiful principles that would come to define our great nation. “We hold these truths to be self-evident,” Thomas Jefferson famously wrote before outlining those principles.

Looking back, it’s easy to forget how controversial those ideas were at the time. After all, throughout our nation’s history we’ve embraced those transformational concepts. They’ve elevated America to unprecedented heights. But today, we see numerous challenges to those fundamental principles. While other parts of the country are tearing up the Declaration, South Dakota is working to defend the inspirational ideas laid out by our Founding Fathers.

“All men are created equal,” Jefferson continued, outlining the founding ideal of the American experiment. Though it took some years before our nation lived up to this ideal, we have made great strides in advancing and preserving the equality of all human beings.

Unfortunately, today some seek to sow division in our nation, rather than emphasizing the equality that makes America so special. Misinformed ideas like critical race theory are incorrectly re-framing American history as a story of “us versus them” rather than “We the People.” They seek to replace 1776 – when the Declaration was signed – as the year of our nation’s founding with the lie that it actually occurred in 1619.

In South Dakota, we are not allowing critical race theory and other similar ideas to infiltrate our schools. Instead, we will teach our true, patriotic history. Our students will learn of America’s triumphs and mistakes alike. And from both, they will achieve a greater love and appreciation for our principles and our history.

Jefferson continued his list of guiding principles with, “…That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” South Dakota is certainly standing for these rights.

South Dakota is working to protect the right to life of all of our people, born and unborn. Most recently, I signed legislation to protect the right to life even of unborn children who have been diagnosed with Down syndrome, and I also had the opportunity to sign 5 other pro-life bills. This past year, our state saw the fewest abortions of any year since the devastating Roe v. Wade decision. And to our knowledge, my office is the only governor’s office in the country that has a preborn child advocate who wakes up every day looking for ways to defend life. South Dakota will continue to build a culture of life as our Founding Fathers intended.

Over the last year, South Dakota has received attention because we’ve defended our people’s right to liberty. Our Founding Fathers were clear. Benjamin Franklin, who worked alongside Jefferson to draft the Declaration of Independence, famously stated, “Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Unfortunately, 2020 showed leaders across our country infringing on the liberty of their people in the name of safety. South Dakota took a different path, and we are strong today as a result. That is how we will continue to operate for as long as I am governor.

I will continue to defend the principles of the Declaration of Independence. After all, our state honors Thomas Jefferson at Mount Rushmore, our Shrine of Democracy. This Independence Day, take some time with your family to reflect on our Founding ideals. America is the greatest nation on earth because our Founding Fathers took the time to articulate them, fight for them, and secure them for all of us.

###