I had a former legislator send me a note a week ago, noting that in conversations around the capitol in the past month they were privy to conversations where lobbyists, state department staff, and a few others that regularly testify noted that they are not planning to bring bills next session. Why? As one person apparently stated “this is the most self-focused legislature I have ever witnessed. There is no regard or thought of what is for the betterment of all of SD.”
And that might be the theme of this year’s session: No regards & no thought to the future of South Dakota. I always tell candidates that voters need people to serve in government who are both inspirational and aspirational – those are the ones who stand out when looking at what we are through the lens of history.
As a state even when we don’t realize it we need leaders who have a vision to at the very least try to do big things. Whether it’s carving a mountain, finding a way to turn a hole in the ground into a world-class lab, dedicating a portion of land in every county to help fund schools, creating a funding mechanism to support job development, wiring the schools, the list goes on.
We are here today thanks to the foresight of many who had the vision that our state could be bigger and better than we are today. Unfortunately, in 2025, that wasn’t us. In fact, this year’s session might be best thought of as a steaming pile of scat.
Why do I have this attitude after observing this past legislative session? Well, here are a few examples of what I just witnessed:
Kicking schools when they’re down and failing to live up to prior commitments to education
During session this year, legislators approved a 1.25% increase in State Aid to Education. The problem with that? As noted by KELOland:
State law requires public schools receive a funding increase equal to the consumer price index (CPI-W) or 3%, whichever is lower. This year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics computed an average of 3.25% for the CPI-W.
If we have a state law that says what the minimum for state aid to education is, and we fail to meet it, that’s not good. That’s failing to honor the commitments we previously set in state law.
But, not only did they do that, but a number of legislators collectively said “Hold my beer, while we kick education again.” And they brought a string of “voucher” proposals to strip schools of taxpayer dollars to divert the funds to private religious schools or in some cases, homeschool programs with absolutely NO accountability. Want to “unschool” your kid, and sit them in front of a TV? They could literally get funding to buy the TV, because one proposal said funds could be requested for technology.
Schools are literally being starved out, with teacher salaries once again among the lowest in the nation (49thin the nation), and there were competing proposals to take money from public education on complaints they don’t do a good enough job? Just think about that. Legislators are complaining about education while under-funding it, and starving out teachers paying them almost the least in the country.
There was more legislation to punch down on school funding – let’s not forget Phil Jensen trying to zero-fund the Huron School District – but honoring our commitment to schools and the voucher bills were the big ones.
In any case, this was among the worst legislative sessions for kicking education around.
While trying to starve public schools to benefit church schools, too many zealots were trying to make public schools into church schools.
In the few moments that legislators weren’t trying to strip taxpayer dollars from public schools to send them to private religious academies, they were trying to turn public schools into religious academies.
One measure that immediately comes to mind was Senator “California” Carley’s bill to prominently place posters of the ten commandments in every high school classroom, and to include it in curriculum. While I’m not sure how much kids in swimming or welding classes were going to get out of it, thankfully more sensible heads prevailed in the House or Representatives after it passed the Senate. Unfortunately, it narrowly missed being sent to the governor, only failing on a vote of 31-37.
Another Bill, proposed by Rep. Novstrup of Aberdeen, sought to directly install school chaplains into public schools. Although, it did provide the caveat that chaplains must not be sex offenders or convicted of trafficking in narcotics. That bill did not make it out of the House.
This selective piety of some Republican legislators was nothing new, but what should give constituents pause is the degree to which the 100th legislature gave approval to such proposals, despite the establishment clause of South Dakota Constitution and the same prohibitions against establishing religion in public institutions as contained in the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
Two documents that legislators actually swear an oath to support. Thankfully, a slight majority still recognize that fact.
Sending librarians to jail, and legislators threatening them with bodily harm
This effort might have been one of the most offensive bills to ever be proposed in our State’s Legislature. House Bill 1239, Representative Bethany Soye’s missive as to why as an attorney employed by a bank she should not be allowed to legislate criminal law. Her bill proposed to criminalize librarians checking out books to minors that some parents may consider obscene, sensationalizing the anti-literature missives of some parental groups who have failed in efforts to get some books removed from the library.
As noted by the South Dakota Library Association, Soye’s bill proposed to apply the same class of punishment applied to hiring a prostitute and committing simple assault, with a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $2,000 fine.
This bill showed surprising support among legislators making it through the House of Representatives, and only stalling in some of the last moments on the Senate floor where some legislators rightfully believed threatening librarians with jail time to be too much of a stretch in the culture wars.
In an even more troubling development, some legislators advocated for violence against librarians as part of the debate, with Rep. Travis Ismay of Newell declaring that “If a librarian rented this out to my son or daughter, you’d be lucky if you got hauled out of there in handcuffs.” In the Senate, the rhetoric wasn’t any more elevated, with Sen. Taffy Howard of Rapid City declaring that if someone had given objectionable material to her children, she’d “want them strung up from the nearest tree.“
There’s no way that this debate could be considered part of a “good session” in anyone’s book.
South Dakota is NOT open for business. We’re nailing the door shut and sending them North
With a very loud voice this legislature, South Dakota literally declared that if you follow the rules that have been set down, and invest hundreds of millions of dollars in adding jobs and making South Dakota a world leader in value added agriculture.. Well, we might just change the rules mid-stream, and kick you out of the state. That would be the message from House Bill 1052, which was a bill brought to expressly prohibit the exercise of eminent domain for a pipeline that carries carbon oxide.
The bill was introduced as a rebuke against Summit Carbon Solutions who was mid-process in building a 9 billion dollar pipeline which would have crossed South Dakota, and picked up carbon dioxide emissions from nearly twenty South Dakota ethanol plants which would be captured instead of being passed into the air as they are now in order to improve their carbon score and make the fuel additive more attractive for purchase in the world marketplace in comparison to competing ethanol plants who are already providing a reduced carbon product.
Also looking to attach to the pipeline was the 2 billion dollar GEVO bio-jet fuel plant proposed outside of Lake Preston community, a small town that was slowly dying but was turned-around and buoyed by plans for the development of the plant which was considered “the largest economic development project in South Dakota history.”
Fueled by anti-green energy hype and issues that had nothing to do with the science of the project, the pipeline played a factor in 2024 Republican primary elections among the few who bothered to vote, swinging the number of people who supported ag development out of office or underground, forgetting the project they had previously supported. House Bill 1052 sailed through both houses, and was signed by Governor Rhoden on March 6th.
Investment Monitor, a business analysis website pointed out in 2022 that in a number of measures, South Dakota could really be doing better when it comes to business. We are among some of the lowest states for foreign direct investments, 46th in economic activity, 48th in salaries, etc.
I have often noted that we do have many things going for us. But it’s not like we can afford to slack off on trying to bring business and development to South Dakota. Yet what have we managed to accomplish in this year’s 3 month session?
The CEO and Founder of ethanol company Gevo is considering bringing an ethanol and jet fuel plant to North Dakota after issues with carbon dioxide pipelines in South Dakota.
And..
Gruber is concerned about going ahead with plans with the Lake Preston plant because of some people’s disdain for carbon dioxide pipelines in South Dakota and new laws potentially being made in South Dakota’s Legislature on them. He’s considering building an ethanol plant in North Dakota instead, but Gevo would have to get a permit from the U.S. Department of Energy to do so.
“North Dakota is set up for it, the wells work, it’s well-proven, it’s environmentally friendly. It’s a business-friendly environment here,” Gruber said.
Read that here.
North Dakota being described by the CEO of our state’s largest economic development project in history noting “It’s a business-friendly environment here” as he discusses options to move his project to the other Dakota? Ouch.
Our wonderful 100th legislature has managed to take the largest economic development (and value-added ag development) project in state history and have it’s investors looking to go to our neighbor to the North.
Thanks, Pierre. What’s your next trick? Sending Mt. Rushmore to Nebraska?
When I observe on social media that some legislators try to slather themselves with praise over what the legislature did this year, it’s like someone dumping strawberry preserves over burnt toast to mask the bitterness. I can’t help but roll my eyes and take the view that they just spent three months trying to shortchange public schools and create a theocracy. That they tried to throw librarians in jail. And, they actually may have accomplished sending our jobs and ag development to North Dakota.
Good job? Absolutely Not.
This might be the worst legislative session I’ve experienced in 35 years of politics.
And the voters of the state need to pay close attention.
