Historians say that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. Which is a great introduction into our top ten political stories of 2016! There’s plenty there that might serve as a cautionary tale for the future. There’s also some great stories of triumph, and as always with my top ten list – most all of these set the stage for the future.
So, if you’re unhappy with the news of the day (Seriously, Carrie Fischer AND her mother Debbie Reynolds? Not funny, God.), take a moment and review what we saw as the top political stories for 2016.
#10 – Associated School Boards of South Dakota’s Insurance bomb finally goes off.
This story didn’t receive much attention, but I place it in the top ten political stories because of the fiscal impact it makes.
And really, who would have imagined that the ASBSD could have cocked up their self-funded insurance pool so badly to have to finally admit publicly that they’re insolvent to the point they’re over $13 million dollars in the hole.
There had been rumors of questionable health of the plan for years. In fact, it had hit the media in 2015 in an Argus Leader report:
Harrisburg and 58 other districts in the self-funded insurance pool managed by the Associated School Boards of South Dakota faced a financial shortfall of nearly $10 million. Counting claims not yet processed — known in insurance lingo as “the tail” — the total liability for the protective trust that uses Avera Health as a vendor is estimated at $14 million.
School districts planning to leave the pool would be responsible for their share of the debt, putting taxpayers in the line of fire. For Harrisburg and other area schools such as Canistota, Canton, Dell Rapids, Mitchell and Sioux Valley, that reality arrived like a smack in the face.
Read it here.
ASBSD was making a few efforts to fix their mess as reported in 2015. And in fact, a bill was passed in the legislature unanimously in 2016 – HB1060 – to require certain statements and audits concerning insurance pooling arrangements to be filed with the Department of Legislative Audit.
But, wait a minute. What’s this report on KELO TV in October of this year? Apparently, despite the steps in 2015 at school insurance fund austerity, it’s time to pay the piper:
So now the 53 member districts are being asked to kick in their portion of the debt, depending on how many people they have getting insurance through the fund.
For example, Mitchell owes the most at $1.4 million. Harrisburg owes $1.1 million. Todd County owes more nearly $1 million. Smaller districts owe less. Lead-Deadwood more than half a million. Wagner owes just about half a million and Dell Rapids owes just over $300,000.
“$1.1 million is nothing to laugh about or think it’s not that big, but in a large district when we have so many people on the plan and if you divide it out, it’s going to be one of those things we should be able to handle and handle quite handily,” Holbeck said.
School Districts have two options. They can either pay the money back over the course of four years, plus interest, or pay it in one lump sum by next August.
Read it here.
Does anyone think those school districts have that kind of money on hand? Watch for this issue to possibly show it’s head in the legislature, or at school board meetings in the form of tax increases. It’s an expensive mess, and someone is going to have to fix it.
#9 – Reynold Nesiba and “You don’t need those pants.”
Reynold Nesiba was just coming off of the dual win of a State Senate seat, as well as part of the team that convinced South Dakotans to pass a ballot measure limiting rates on certain types of loans to the point where they were no longer affordable for businesses to offer. So it came as a shuddering shock that in September he may have had unwanted sexual contact with a woman he met on Facebook.
Salacious details were released including…
After asking Nesiba to leave, the victim found him naked in her bedroom. He repeatedly tried to undress her and, at one point picked her up, put her against the wall in a rough manner, carried her to the bedroom, and placed her on the bed. The victim said she felt pain in her ribs.
Nesiba told the victim,” You don’t need those pants,” and began to unbuckle the victim’s pants, court documents say.
Read that here.
When questioned about it, it was reported that now Democrat Senator-Elect Nesiba even went so far as to claim that he thought the victim “was playing hard to get.”
The fallout from this has spun up other actions – Democrats preemptively evicted Nesiba from their caucus of 6 State Senators. Questions have been raised as to whether the Senate will seat Nesiba while his case for unwanted sexual contact is pending. And one of his partners in the payday ballot measure, Steve Hickey, went so far as to question whether the accuser was an evil agent of the payday lenders.
It might be a quiet thing in the media at the moment, but this salacious tale of the college professor who wouldn’t take no for an answer isn’t over yet.
#8 – R.I.P. Medicaid Expansion
Medicaid expansion has been a hot topic for the last several years now. It was a major plank in the platform for the last losing Democrat for Governor (who lost by record margins), and Governor Daugaard saw it as a possible path forward to convince the federal government to pay it’s long overdue share of the bill for Indian Health Services that they are obligated to pay by treaty. As one news story explained it:
His plan calls for the federal government to pay the entire bill for Native Americans receiving care outside the Indian Health Service. In turn, the state – which currently covers half the amount for those patients’ care – would use the freed-up dollars to expand Medicaid for another 50,000-55,000 South Dakotans.
Medicaid expansion would cost the state an estimated $57 million by 2021, the governor said. The $57 million price tag would eat up the state’s projected revenue growth factor of $59 million, leaving little or nothing for current or new programs, he said.
And that’s where shifting all Native American health costs to the federal government comes into play, he said. The state paid $67 million for Native American health care last year, so freeing up those dollars would make Medicaid expansion affordable for South Dakota, he said.
“We’re just asking the federal government to honor its treaty obligations (for providing Native Americans with health care),” Daugaard said.
Read that here.
It made fiscal sense if the figures held. In fact, as projected, it could possibly have resulted in a net gain. But there were always those nagging concerns.
Nagging concerns such as “The Federal Government always pays as promised, doesn’t it??” And “why are we putting 50,000 able bodies working people on public assistance?” And lest we forget, Medicaid expansion did have aspects of Obamacare tied to it.
It was too big of a pill to swallow for the 2016 legislature, especially without a promise from the federal government who was dragging out approval. So it went dormant. In fact, it went dormant long enough for two things to happen – a much more conservative State Senate to be elected, and the election of Donald Trump with a Republican Congress.
The more conservative State Senate spelled doom on the home front, and with a promised dismantling of Obamacare at the Federal level, the nails were being driven in the coffin. As noted at the Modern Healthcare website:
South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s decision to abandon plans to seek Medicaid expansion could be because Vice President-elect Mike Pence cast doubt over the future of federal matching funds through the Affordable Care Act.
On Tuesday, Daugaard, a Republican who had been supportive of expanding Medicaid eligibility in his state, said he would not recommend it to the state’s Legislature this year after hearing the incoming administration’s plans for repealing or reforming the ACA.
Daugaard’s office had not responded to a request for comment before deadline.
Brian Blase, senior research fellow at the conservative Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Virginia said Daugaard may believe that consistent with campaign promises, Congress will repeal the federal match for expansion population.
and…
Others agreed with Horton. “Given the current uncertainty, Medicaid expansion could be premature or a waste of time for a state,” said Dean Clancy, a tea party-aligned former White House and congressional aide, and current partner at Adams Auld, a consulting firm.
“The real question right now is not whether Medicaid will be reformed, but how dramatically.”
Read that all here.
As far as South Dakota is concerned, it looks like that ship has sailed.
#7 – US Senator John Thune returns for another 6 year term of office. Was there an opponent?
South Dakota’s Senior US Senator easily and handily sailed to victory in his second election since his initial defeat of US Senator Tom Daschle. Not that he had an election last time, with Democrats choosing to give the Senator a bye.
In 2016, it appeared that Democrats might just have provided the Senator a bye again, with Dem Chair Ann Tornburg spending all of 2015 failing miserably in her mission to find someone to take on Thune for the opposition party.
It was not looking good for her at all, until a rumor that had been floating around in the background – about a Democrat party member who had allegedly announced at a Democrat meeting that “If no one else will do it, I will” – came to fruition. And the Democrats had an opponent for Thune. Albeit, a really, really bad one.
As noted when Williams announced in February:
The road to Washington D.C. might not be easy for a candidate with little name recognition.
“He’s also challenged in that he’s run twice as I understand it for legislative seats in Yankton and not won. If you can’t win on the local level, it’s probably really challenging to win on a statewide basis, in a race packed with money from the other side,” Brown said.
Read it here.
“Challenging to win” is probably an understatement for the quixotic Jay Williams. He campaigned on a platform that we need to pay more in taxes, we need to end fossil fuel use, legalize pot. And the list goes on. Williams was literally one of the worst candidates that Democrats have ever fielded in the state… and he let his freak flag fly. He was a hard core liberal democrat representing for his party, and didn’t care who knew.
Thune reported around 11 Million raised for his race, and truth be told, he probably dedicated more money and effort into electing Republicans around the country than he probably did in his own race. Because he didn’t need to.
Thune has always been popular in South Dakota. Because he’s a genuine, affable person. You can’t help but like him, because he’s a good guy. And it shows that Democrats recognize this by either giving him a pass – which was highly unusual – or by putting up the quality of candidate that they did in Jay Williams.
Thune crushed Williams 72% to 28% – on an almost 3-1 basis.
Clearly, Senator Thune is not going anywhere anytime soon. Not that the Democrats have anything to say about it.
#6 – The opening salvo in the battle over Same-Sex School Bathrooms & Showers.
Former School Board member & Watertown-area Chiropractor Fred Deutsch is about one of the nicest people you’d ever meet. He’s a devout Catholic, and a son of a holocaust survivor. Truly a salt-of-the-earth person who just spent the last two years in his first legislative session after being elected to office. You can’t help but like Fred. He’s good people.
Having been chair of the pro-life group South Dakota Right-to-Life, Fred wasn’t one to shy away from tougher issues, such as pro-life advocacy that might be contested a bit, because it was about doing the right thing.
And in the second year of his first term of office, Fred dropped a bill in the legislative hopper which was assigned the number House Bill 1008 – A measure to restrict access to certain restrooms and locker rooms in public schools. And from there, the first legislative measure of it’s nature in the nation took off like a rocket in terms of public attention and publicity.
This wasn’t a measure which generated a spark of media notice. It was more like a nuclear blast on an issue which coincided with a hot button national debate on gender identity, only 6 months after Olympian Bruce Jenner publicly announced he was now a woman named Caitlyn.
As noted in the act after it had been amended a couple of times,
ENTITLED, An Act to restrict access to certain restrooms and locker rooms in public schools.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA:
Section 1. That chapter 13-24 be amended by adding a NEW SECTION to read:
The term, biological sex, as used in this Act, means the physical condition of being male or female as determined by a person’s chromosomes and anatomy as identified at birth.
Section 2. That the code be amended by adding a NEW SECTION to read:
Every restroom, locker room, and shower room located in a public elementary or secondary school that is designated for student use and is accessible by multiple students at the same time shall be designated for and used only by students of the same biological sex. In addition, any public school student participating in a school sponsored activity off school premises which includes being in a state of undress in the presence of other students shall use those rooms designated for and used only by students of the same biological sex.
Section 3. That the code be amended by adding a NEW SECTION to read:
If any student asserts that the student’s gender is different from the student’s biological sex, and if the student’s parent or guardian consents to that assertion in writing to a public school administrator, or if the student is an adult or an emancipated minor and makes the assertion in writing to a public school administrator, the student shall be provided with a reasonable accommodation. A reasonable accommodation is one that does not impose an undue hardship on a school district. A reasonable accommodation may not include the use of student restrooms, locker rooms, or shower rooms designated for use by students of the opposite biological sex if students of the opposite biological sex are present or could be present. A reasonable accommodation may include a single-occupancy restroom, a unisex restroom, or the controlled use of a restroom, locker room, or shower room that is designated for use by faculty. The requirement to provide a reasonable accommodation pursuant to this section does not apply to any nonpublic school entity.
Read it here.
The act provided that bathrooms were for those who were of the appropriate biological sex, and if a person disagreed with the law, that reasonable accommodations would be made.
And in taking on the issue in Schools, South Dakota kicked off a battlefront in what might be one of the biggest cultural wars of our time.
This measure sailed through the legislature with little to no opposition. But when it hit the Governor’s Desk, the firestorm grew to national levels with Time Magazine, CNN, The New York Times, USA Today, NPR, and many, many more all coving the measure.
South Dakota became a focus of lobbying from both sides of the measure (on a national basis) which went on for several days until the Governor’s veto of the measure on the basis of it being a local concern, and not something that rose to the level of State Concern:
Dear Mr. Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives,
I respectfully return to you House Bill 1008, with my VETO.
House Bill 1008 does not address any pressing issue concerning the school districts of South Dakota. As policymakers in South Dakota, we often recite that the best government is the government closest to the people. Local school districts can, and have, made necessary restroom and locker room accommodations that serve the best interests of all students, regardless of biological sex or gender identity.
This bill seeks to impose statewide standards on “every restroom, locker room, and shower room located in a public elementary or secondary school.” It removes the ability of local school districts to determine the most appropriate accommodations for their individual students and replaces that flexibility with a state mandate.
If and when these rare situations arise, I believe local school officials are best positioned to address them. Instead of encouraging local solutions, this bill broadly regulates in a manner that invites conflict and litigation, diverting energy and resources from the education of the children of this state.
Preserving local control is particularly important because this bill would place every school district in the difficult position of following state law while knowing it openly invites federal litigation. Although there have been promises by an outside entity to provide legal defense to a school district, this provision is not memorialized in the bill. Nor would such defense eliminate the need for school or state legal counsel, nor avoid expenses relating to expert witnesses, depositions and travel, or other defense costs. Nor does the commitment extend to coverage over settlement or damage expenses. This law will create a certain liability for school districts and the state in an area where no such liability exists today.
For these reasons, I oppose this bill and ask that you sustain my veto.
Respectfully submitted,
Dennis Daugaard
Governor
Read that here.
Within weeks, Other states announced their own measures, such as Tennessee and North Carolina. And the Obama administration entered the fray a few short months later in may by directing schools across the nation to provide transgender students with access to facilities — including bathrooms and locker rooms — that match their chosen gender identity.
The battle ignited in part in South Dakota continues to rage across the nation with more proposals, threats and legal actions. Within the state, proposals for a new transgender bathroom bill have already been noted as coming in the 2017 legislative session. And, a “student privacy” ballot measure submitted for review which could be circulated for signature in the coming months.
Biology and bathrooms was a big issue in South Dakota this past year. And will continue to be so in 2017.
(Stay Tuned for Part 2!)
Marty Jackley was a busy man this past year. Not that he lounges around otherwise, but 2016 brought some of the highest profile politically involved cases.
While some are still in the murky territory of rumor, shortly after Noem’s announcement, 
Thankful for a Happy and Healthy 2016