Thune, Warnock Reintroduce the Promoting Precision Agriculture Act

Legislation would facilitate the adoption of precision agriculture technologies

 WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Sen. Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) today reintroduced the Promoting Precision Agriculture Act, legislation that would facilitate the further adoption of precision agriculture technologies for farmers and ranchers. The bill would encourage the government to work with the private sector to develop voluntary interconnectivity standards and prioritize the cybersecurity needed to support innovation in the agriculture industry.

“Farmers and ranchers are always looking for ways to improve their operations, especially in states like South Dakota where agriculture is the backbone of our economy,” said Thune. “Precision agriculture harnesses the power of technology to provide real-time data that helps producers become even more efficient and productive. I’m proud that South Dakota is leading the way with this next-generation technology, and I will continue to work to ensure that producers around our country have the resources they need to reap the benefits.”

“Technology is an integral part of farming in the 21st century to increase crop yield and reduce waste, which would increase savings and net income,” said Warnock. “It only makes sense that these technologies should work seamlessly together – just as you can easily text an Android from an iPhone. I’m glad to continue working with Leader Thune on this bipartisan legislation. We’re going to fight to get this done.”

“South Dakota is a leader in adoption of precision agriculture technology,” said Dr. Barry Dunn, president of South Dakota State University. “Streamlining inter-connectivity, reducing impediments to adoption of new generations of precision technology, and protecting the rich data streams that drive precision agriculture is good for South Dakota agriculture and the nation.”

“Senator Thune’s reintroduction of the Promoting Precision Agriculture Act is crucial for the future of American agriculture,” said Dr. José-Marie Griffiths, president of Dakota State University. “As precision agriculture evolves, integrating technology and protecting farmers’ data are essential for safeguarding our food supply. At Dakota State University, we focus on agriculture innovation, exploring the intersection of cyber, AI, and next-gen technologies to drive industry growth. Through DSU’s Applied Research Corporation, our partnerships with the NSA and other federal agencies, fellow state institutions, and industry collaborations with corporations including Case New Holland, we are actively advancing STEM and agriculture in South Dakota. We fully support the priorities of this legislation and are committed to addressing evolving demands of tech and agriculture integration facing our nation.”

The Promoting Precision Agriculture Act would:

• Direct the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), in consultation with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), to support the development of voluntary, consensus-based, industry-led interconnectivity standards, guidelines, and best practices for precision agriculture to encourage the adoption of precision agriculture technology. 

• Support the evolving demands of precision agriculture by requiring the USDA, NIST, and FCC to consider the impacts next-generation technologies will have on precision agriculture.

• Prioritize the cybersecurity needs of precision agriculture. As advanced precision agriculture technologies become more readily available, the agriculture industry has increasingly become vulnerable to cybersecurity threats.

Thune, who has helped write four farm bills throughout his time in Congress, will continue introducing farm bill proposals ahead of the current bill’s expiration in September 2025.

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State Senate Committee Approves Attorney General Jackley’s Government Accountability Bills

PIERRE, S.D. – Two Government Accountability bills proposed by South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley were approved Tuesday morning by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Senate Bill 62 would establish mandatory reporting requirements related to crimes, improper governmental conduct, and conflicts of interest, and provide a penalty. Senate Bill 63, which passed unanimously, would establish protections for state employees who report crimes, misconduct, or conflicts of interest

“These bills are designed to address crimes or illegal activity that are occurring in state government and also protect state employees when they report improper behavior,” said Attorney General Jackley. “This is part of my effort to strengthen public trust in our state government agencies and protect taxpayer money.”

Both bills, as amended, now go to the Senate floor for future consideration.

The other two Government Accountability bills introduced by Attorney General Jackley this session already have passed the Senate and are waiting committee hearings in the House.  Senate Bill 60 would expand the access and investigatory authority of the state auditor, and Senate Bill 61 would modify the authority of the Board of Internal Controls.

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US SENATOR MIKE ROUNDS WEEKLY ROUND[S] UP
FEBRUARY 3-9, 2025

Another week, another Weekly Round[s] Up! We had a busy week out in Washington as we continue working to confirm President Trump’s cabinet members. This weekend, I had the opportunity to have dinner with President Trump and most of my Republican colleagues in the Senate at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. It was great to sit down with the President to discuss our legislative priorities for the upcoming year. I had hearings in the Senate Banking Committee and the Select Committee on Intelligence. The best part of this past week was the 12 different meetings I had with groups from South Dakota, with 27 different towns across the state represented. Read more about all of these groups, as well as the rest of the week, in my Weekly Round[s] Up:

South Dakotans I met with: Associated School Boards of South Dakota; Mike Behm, Director of the South Dakota Department of Transportation’s Division of Planning and Engineering; a group of leaders from Special Olympics of South Dakota; South Dakota Association of Rural Water Systems; Troy Wellman, Moody County Sheriff; Erik Gaikowski and Doug DeGroot with AARP South Dakota; Jonathan Kleinjan, Executive Director of the South Dakota Wheat Commission; Tracey LeBeau, Administrator and CEO of the Western Area Power Administration; the South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition; the Community HealthCare Association of the Dakotas; leaders from tribal colleges and universities in South Dakota; and Ivan Giraud, CEO of Bel Brands USA, which has a facility in Brookings.

South Dakota towns represented: Aberdeen, Arlington, Beresford, Britton, Brookings, Canistota, De Smet, Egan, Fort Thompson, Howard, Huron, Kimball, Kyle, Lake Andes, Madison, Miller, Mission, Mobridge, Pierre, Rapid City, Sioux Falls, Sisseton, Tea, Toronto, Watertown, White River and Woonsocket.

Other meetings: Peter Pham from the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center; Gabriel Schulze, Co-Head of Cerberus Frontier; Ronald Gidwitz, former United States Ambassador to Belgium; a group of cadets from the United States Military Academy at West Point; Michael Duffey, nominee for Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment; Elbridge Colby, nominee for Undersecretary of Defense for Policy; David Arons, CEO of the National Brain Tumor Society; and Robert Cook, President and CEO of FINRA. I also met with several groups of leaders from countries in Africa, including leaders from Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya and Rwanda.

I attended our weekly Senate Bible Study. Instead of our usual Senate Prayer Breakfast this week, we had the annual National Prayer Breakfast. This was hosted in Statuary Hall in the Capitol with leaders from across Washington. We had many readers and musical guests, but our main speaker was President Trump. You can watch his remarks here.

Hearings: I attended three hearings this week. Two of them were closed hearings in the Select Committee on Intelligence. One of these hearings was in the Senate Banking Committee, where we heard from witnesses and discussed debanking issues. We even had a South Dakota connection at that hearing – Nathan McCauley from Anchorage Digital headquartered in Sioux Falls was one of our witnesses. You can watch a clip of my questions here.

Votes taken: 20 – we continue to work on getting President Trump’s cabinet confirmed. This past week, we confirmed Chris Wright to lead the Department of Energy, Pam Bondi to serve as Attorney General, Doug Collins to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Scott Turner to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Russ Vought to lead the Office of Management and Budget. For those keeping track at home, we confirmed five cabinet members in one week, bringing the total to 13. We had only confirmed six cabinet nominees three weeks into President Trump’s first term in 2017 as well as President Biden’s term in 2021.

Legislation introduced: I led the Timber Harvesting Restoration Act, legislation which would require the United States Forest Service to improve timber sales numbers in the Black Hills National Forest. In recent years, timber sales in the Black Hills National Forest have steadily decreased, putting a significant strain on manufacturers of timber products. In addition, timber harvesting is necessary to keep the Black Hills healthy, prevent wildfires and preserve its beauty for generations to come. Read more about this legislation here.

I also introduced the Taking Account of Institutions with Low Operation Risk (TAILOR) Act. This legislation would require federal regulatory agencies to take risk profiles and business models of institutions into account when crafting regulations. Read more about this bill here.

Inauguration resolution: I introduced a resolution to honor the personnel who worked to support the ceremonies and events for the 60th Presidential Inauguration that took place on January 20, 2025. Read the full resolution here.

My staff in South Dakota visited: Aberdeen, Fort Pierre and Rapid City.

Steps taken: 50,847 steps or 25.54 miles.

Video of the week: I joined Stuart Varney on Fox Business to discuss U.S. relations with China, as well as more of President Trump’s cabinet nominations:

The GOP Confederate group is having another secret SDGOP Chair forum tonight where they are purposefully excluding any state elected officials, legislators, county elected officials, etcetera, because.. well… because.

The forum will feature the currently announced candidates Ezra Hayes from Amendment H, Jim Eschenbaum who was Hand County GOP Chair for a couple of months, and “honest” Lee Qualm who lost his last two races, when he wasn’t busy being sued by family members.

Was that my outside voice? Sorry.

While they don’t mention it in their super-secret e-mail, Ezra Hays has left it to the Central Committee for whomever his VC will be.  Eschenbaum supposedly has Janet Jensen as his running mate, and Qualm’s is Marli Wiese.

If you had any curiosity, I would tell you they don’t want you to know about how to log into to their secret zoom meeting with the following codes..

Time: Feb 11, 2025 07:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Zoom Meeting – https://zoom.us/j/98211776523?pwd=qEgcDXkaqIgOuglXfBiH2tadaBbY7r.1 
Meeting ID: 982 1177 6523
Passcode: 029927

or via telephone.. 

One tap mobile
+16694449171,,98211776523#,,,,*029927# US
+16699009128,,98211776523#,,,,*029927# US (San Jose)

Dial by your location • +1 669 444 9171 US • +1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose) • +1 719 359 4580 US • +1 253 205 0468 US • +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) • +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) • +1 646 558 8656 US (New York) • +1 646 931 3860 US • +1 689 278 1000 US

• +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC) • +1 305 224 1968 US • +1 309 205 3325 US • +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) • +1 360 209 5623 US • +1 386 347 5053 US • +1 507 473 4847 US • +1 564 217 2000 US

If you’re the nosy type, I’d log in with just your phone. Tougher to tell if you’re not a part of the secret club. I would also venture there’s going to be some worthy soundbites, given the last one of these.

As the Republican Party continues to fall behind Democrats in fundraising and basic donor interest, and the confederate county GOP groups who are putting this meeting on have completely stopped contributing to the state GOP as bylaws require, they do offer in this secret e-mail they want to quiz the candidates about important items such as “Your leadership philosophy” and “The first three significant items/issues (not administrative) on which you will focus.”

However, at the bottom of the e-mail in a second list of possible questions, they do allude to the elephant in the room, as item #9 on a list of 10 more suggested questions asks “What are your fund-raising plans? How will the Party budget be spent? Who decides how the money will be spent?”  As in we didn’t contribute anything during the past two years, but we want to know how you’re going to raise money, and are we going to get to tell you how to spend the money we didn’t help you raise?

Oh my. It’s going to be a long two years.

Hot off the press, and I hadn’t heard about it until now. But apparently State Representative Brandei Schaefbauer was on Facebook praising former TV newsreader Shad Olson for his testimony for her bill HCR 6009:

 

(You can’t see it, but my jaw dropped when I read this, iIf you missed my earlier post on Shad today).   I have to find this audio, because for the life of me, I can’t imagine in what way, shape or form Shad Olson would be an expert on anything.  Was he testifying as an expert on how to read words off a teleprompter? Was he testifying as an expert on the conditions inside the Meade County Jail and what colors clash with jailhouse painted blue cinderblocks? Or might he have been an expert on how to have women bail him out of jail?

Or, maybe Brandei was seeking someone to testify on how to get charges reduced from a felony Domestic Abuse Aggravated Assault/Strangulation down to Class 1 misdemeanor Domestic Abuse Simple Assault/Recklessly Causes Bodily Injury?

Seriously, I would guess that Brandei hasn’t read the Argus Leader story on Shad if she’s praising him on facebook.

The victim expressed she felt lucky she was thrown on a carpeted floor, because the alleged assault did not leave her with broken bones.

“[The victim] said she was having a hard time breathing and its [sic] hard to talk as she touched the side of her stomach,” the report reads. “[The victim] said she was still aching and described the assault as an animal killing an animal and that Shad isn’t human.”

The victim then told the officer she “thought she was going to die,” but she was able to escape the house. The officer asked if Olson said anything during the alleged assault, but his girlfriend said he only repeated the “crazy [expletive] insult.”

and..

From there, the victim said Olson chased after her as she ran away from her home. They had been living together from some time, but she told the officer “she pays for everything in the home while Olson worries about the country,” the documents read.

The officer asked the victim if Olson had assaulted her before, with her replying “yes.”

The victim said Olson, who runs his own far-right, eponymic podcast, is “stressed over politics,” which influences his drinking. She then told the officer Olson blames his political frustrations on her.

As Olson’s chase continued, the victim said her boyfriend began to tell her “not to ruin his reputation and continued to follow her,” the reports state.

Brandei should really read this story here.

I wasn’t thinking anything this legislative session would surprise me anymore.  But, here someone goes again and manages to come up with something crazier than I could imagine.

In House Education which picked up after session ended today, an amended form of House Bill 1201 which removed gay thought reporting and but retained having school employees as mandatory reporters – public or private – requiring that they notify parents if questions regarding “a student’s gender confusion or gender dysphoria are discussed with a student” come up and notes:

A school nurse, school counselor, teacher, administrator, or any other staff member employed by a school district or accredited nonpublic school may not:

(1) Provide any instruction or presentation to a student with the purpose of studying exploring, or informing the student about gender identity, gender expression, or the concept that a student’s gender may be inconsistent with the student’s biological sex at birth;
(2) Encourage or coerce a student to withhold from the student’s parent, legal guardian, or other custodian the fact that the student’s perception of the student’s gender or sex is inconsistent with the student’s sex; or
(3) Withhold from a student’s parent, legal guardian, or other custodian information related to a student’s perception that the student’s gender or sex is inconsistent with the student’s sex.

The measure passed to the House floor on a vote of 8-7 after amending.

Boom. The hammer was dropped on Senator John “California” Carley’s Senate Bill 51 to insert biblical teachings into public schools by posting the 10 commandments in all classrooms and forcing them to add it to school instruction.

The debate was long, and at one point, proponents wavered as a friendly amendment was offered by Rep. Liz May to almost completely water the bill down, by removing the posters from swim class and welding, and being satisfied with curriculum insertion and the 10 commandments just being “prominently posted” somewhere in the school.

But then they called for a vote. And proponents were completely owned:

The vote was a hard NO on a count of 31 to 37, even after being voted down.

In looking at the bills, Senator Carley is starting to rack up some noticeable losses for his first year at bat. And this was a big one.

Rounds Introduces Cybersecurity Bills to Strengthen Penalties for Cybercrimes, Incentivize Cyber Workforce

 WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Cybersecurity Subcommittee, introduced a pair of cybersecurity-related bills. The Cyber Conspiracy Modernization Act would strengthen penalties for cybercrimes. The Providing Individuals Various Opportunities for Technical Training to Build a Skills-Based Cyber Workforce Act of 2025 (Cyber PIVOTT Act) would provide scholarships to students and professionals training in cyber-related fields.

“As cyber technologies continue to rapidly evolve, we need more people working to secure cyberspace as well as harsher penalties for those perpetrating these crimes,” said Rounds. “As Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, I am committed to working on policies that strengthen the United States’ ability to respond quickly and decisively to cyberattacks which have been on the rise.”

 The Cyber Conspiracy Modernization Act would amend the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) to create a specific penalty for the crime of conspiracy under the CFAA. There is currently no crime of conspiracy that is specific to the CFAA, meaning the U.S. Department of Justice charges conspiracy to commit cybercrimes under a general statute rather than under the cyber-specific CFAA. While the general conspiracy statute has a maximum penalty of five years, a CFAA-specific conspiracy charge would be anywhere from ten years to life imprisonment depending on severity.

This legislation is cosponsored by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.).

Click HERE for full text of the Cyber Conspiracy Modernization Act.

 The Cyber PIVOTT Act would establish a scholarship program for students looking to earn a degree in a cybersecurity-related field at a two-year technical school. In exchange for this scholarship, students would commit to working in a cybersecurity position within the federal, state, local or tribal government for two years following completion of the program.

Western Dakota Technical College in Rapid City, South Dakota, would be eligible to participate in this program.

“Western Dakota Technical College (WDTC) supports Sen. Mike Rounds’ legislation to expand the cybersecurity workforce through technical education scholarships for two-year cyber degrees,” said Christine Goldsmith, Acting President of Western Dakota Technical College. “Recognizing the growing demand for cybersecurity professionals, WDTC provides specialized training and has proudly earned two NSA Cyber Defense designations: a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (CAE-CD) and a validated NSA Cyber Defense Program Study for its Computer Science – Information Technology Specialist Program.”

This legislation is cosponsored by Senator Gary Peters (D-Mich.). A companion version of the Cyber PIVOTT Act was introduced in the House of Representatives by Representative Mark Green (R-Tenn.), Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security.

Click HERE for full text of the Cyber PIVOTT Act.

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Thune: Tulsi Gabbard Will Protect All Americans, Safeguard Our National Interests

 “The intelligence community needs to refocus on its core mission – collecting intelligence and providing unbiased analysis of that information.”

Click here to watch the video.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor.

Gov. Rhoden Signs 14 Bills into Law 

PIERRE, S.D. –  Today, Governor Larry Rhoden signed the following 14 bills into law: 

• SB 1 updates references to certain federal motor carrier regulations; 
• SB 2 increases civil penalties for commercial driver violations; 
• SB 5 permits a sheriff to charge a fee for service of process, whether service is completed or not; 
• SB 10 shortens the time before records of a Governor or a lieutenant governor are opened to the public; 
• SB 13 clarifies the enactment and effective date of a measure initiated or referred within a political subdivision; 
• SB 30 removes outdated provisions within the insurance code; 
• SB 36 repeals the oath requirement for an application for a lodging establishment, campground, food service establishment, or mobile food service establishment license; 
• SB 38 modifies requirements for a vehicle approaching a vehicle that is stopped or occupying the shoulder of the highway with warning lights flashing; 
• SB 39 revises the description of highways included in the state trunk highway system; 
• SB 40 revises Department of Transportation regulatory authority regarding aeronautics; 
• SB 41 clarifies the minimum age requirements for a hunting license; 
• HB 1011 revises provisions related to the stenographic recording of certain proceedings; 
• HB 1022 prohibits the misbranding of any cell-cultured protein product; and 
• HB 1049 updates the official code of laws.

Governor Rhoden has signed 15 bills into law this legislative session. 

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