Gov. Noem VETOES Special Treatment Under the Law

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Gov. Noem VETOES Special Treatment Under the Law

Pierre, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem VETOED Senate Bill 129, which would treat teachers and school employees the same as law enforcement officers in instances of assault in their official duties. You can find Governor Noem’s VETO letter here.

“South Dakota already has a strong and fair criminal justice system, and school districts have robust disciplinary policies tailored to address behavior within their districts,” continued Governor Noem. “The changes SB 129 would make open the door for additional occupations to ask for special treatment under the law.”

The current statute provides sufficient accountability for anyone who assaults a school employee.

Governor Noem has signed 118 bills this legislative session and vetoed 3.

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5 thoughts on “Gov. Noem VETOES Special Treatment Under the Law”

  1. Kristi really hates teachers, does she know this would have been applicable to private religious schools as well? It is true though, the “inner party” privileges should only apply to those qualified. Dems don’t get those rights, and lots of teachers are dems….

  3. Governor Noem correctly vetoed that bill. Equal protection before the law is one of the key principles upon which this republic was founded. Assaulting a school teacher is no worse than assaulting anyone else, and I write that as a former teacher who was punched in the face by a student in the classroom.

    The same principle, however, needs to be applied to police officers and government officials. Assaulting them is no worse than assaulting anyone else, and all victims deserve the same level of justice. Many of my fellow tough-on-crime, conservatives, and supporters of the police may react negatively to that, but they need to think about First Principles.

    Finally, the same principle also needs to be applied via the rescission of so-called hate crimes. The race of a victim should not mattet.

    Equal protection means equal justice.

    We need to return to that principle in our assault statutes, tax code, government spending, economic regulations, and in many other areas where carveouts, exemptions, grants, etc. have eroded it.

    1. How about when a teacher sucker punches a student? I know of an instance when that happened, the teacher was fired but not charged.

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