Week 4 Legislative Report
by Rep. Tim Reisch

Things are getting interesting in Pierre, and not in a good way. In last week’s column I wrote about members of the House Education Committee having to fight off attempts to force South Dakota taxpayers to begin paying for kids to attend private schools. Well, it’s starting to feel like the “lets pick on public education” session of the SD Legislature. Here are a few examples:

Senate Bill 51 is a measure brought by freshman Senator John Carley of Piedmont, and Representative Phil Jensen of Rapid (and others) that would require a copy of the Ten Commandments be displayed in every classroom of every public school in the state. The bill made it across the Senate floor on a 18-17 vote and advanced through the House Education Committee 8-7. School board members and school administrators who have contacted me regarding this bill unanimously oppose it and I plan to vote against it when it gets to the House floor on Monday.

House Bill 1054 was a bill brought by Representative Al Novstrup of Aberdeen and Senator John Carley of Piedmont that would have required school boards to write policies on how they would utilize chaplains (either paid or volunteers) in their school districts. Again, school boards don’t want or need the state legislature telling them what programs they should be implementing. Fortunately, the bill was killed on the House floor 49-18.

In my opinion, the most outrageous bill introduced thus far was House Bill 1224 brought by Representative Phil Jensen. It would have curtailed all state funding to the Huron School District. It was reported that Jensen was targeting the school district for a policy decision regarding rest room usage. Fortunately for everyone involved, Representative Jensen withdrew the bill hours after he had introduced it.

One of the annual highlights of the legislative session, the National Guard Dining Out, was conducted on Thursday night. Many of the legislators’ spouses make the trip to Pierre to be a part of the formal military dinner. A good time was had by all. Many members of the National Guard in attendance were pleased that Senate Bill 82 had been killed earlier in the week. It was a bill brought by Senator Tom Pischke and Representative Aaron Aylward that would have prevented the South Dakota National Guard from being deployed unless war is formally declared. The problems associated with this measure are too numerous to mention here.

I enjoyed meeting with Madison Mayor Roy Lindsay, Madison School Superintendent Joel Jorgenson, Madison Public Library personnel and others during the week. If you want to get in touch with me during the session, my legislative email address is Tim.Reisch@sdlegislature.gov.

Gov. Rhoden’s Inaugural Address

By: Gov. Larry Rhoden
February 8, 2025

You can find a photo of Governor Rhoden delivering his inaugural address here.

Mr. Chief Justice, honorable members of the Supreme Court, Lt. Governor Venhuizen, senators, legislators, constitutional officers, family, friends, and my fellow South Dakotans:

Good afternoon! Before I begin, I want to thank our people for this honor. Our state is great because “Under God, the People Rule.” It is truly an honor to serve our people as Governor. And as a former Guardsman who served for six years, it is a great honor to serve as Commander-in-Chief of the South Dakota National Guard.

South Dakota has given so much to me and my family. I’m a fifth-generation South Dakotan on my mom’s side and a fourth-generation South Dakotan on my dad’s. My roots are in South Dakota – and I’m never leaving.

About a week ago, I was at Longhorn Steakhouse out in Rapid City. An older rancher walked up to my table and asked, “you Larry Rhoden?” I said, “Yes I am.” He said, “Well, it’s good to meet you. You built me a couple sets of branding irons a few years back, and they work great!” I can think of very few things that he could have said that would have made me feel better.

The truth is, we are all called to serve one another. Everything that we do for each other should be done to the best of our ability. If we work hard and put others first, things tend to work out. If we do a great job, it will stick with people. But we don’t do these jobs to be remembered. We do them because it’s right. Public service requires someone to step up and do the right thing on behalf of the people.

100 years ago, another governor gave his inaugural address to the South Dakota Legislature. Carl Gunderson had grown up a farmer. Before he became Governor, he served five terms in the South Dakota Senate, then as Lieutenant Governor for four years. Does that sound familiar to any of you? When he delivered his inaugural address, he spoke of many things that might be familiar to us. He talked about the ups and downs of agriculture; how property taxes are too high; how we need to find ways to make government more efficient. Some of the specifics are different today, but the basic needs facing our state are very much the same. I want to read you one paragraph from the end of his speech:

“The solution of South Dakota’s problems will not come through legislation. The tendency toward state and federal supervision, inspection, and regulation has resulted in a lessening of the spirit of self-reliance. We look to government for too much aid. We need a revival of the spirit of the ‘covered wagon.’ The spirit that traveled by covered wagon in the early sixties across the prairies of Iowa to the Dakotas; the spirit that made its home temporarily in the ‘dugout,’ the ‘sod shanty,’ and the log cabin along the streams. It was the spirit that came more to give, than to receive; the spirit that served humanity and the future of a great state.”

My goodness, those words still ring true today. That same spirit of the “covered wagon” brought my own family west to South Dakota more than 100 years ago. Through the generations, my family passed down that same spirit that “came more to give, than to receive.” Service runs strong in our veins. And it runs every bit as strong in the veins of my own children.

Governor Gunderson’s statue sits out in front of the Governor’s Residence. He’s sitting on a hay bale fixing a wagon wheel. He was a down-to-earth South Dakota man. And when his time serving as Governor was finished, he went back to farming.

Many of you probably didn’t know who Carl Gunderson was. And 100 years from now, folks might not remember who Larry Rhoden is. If we remember that, making the best decisions for our people suddenly becomes a lot easier.

I promise to be a Governor who remembers that the solution to our problems will not come through legislation. Rather, it will come from providing our people the opportunity to do right for their families. I promise to set a tone of civility and respect, and the example will start from the top. I pledge to govern with openness and responsiveness.

My focus will always be to keep South Dakota strong, safe, and free. I want to keep South Dakota strong – strong families, strong businesses, and strong institutions. I want to keep South Dakota safe – with low crime and respect for law enforcement. And I want to keep South Dakota free – freedom will continue to be our calling card as long as I am governor.

I will extend a renewed hand to everyone in our state: East River and West River; small towns and big cities; and yes, our tribal communities. I will be available to discuss the challenges that you face and how we can turn them into opportunities.

I believe that the distinction between challenges and opportunities is largely one of perspective. A challenge is many times an opportunity not yet recognized or realized. Whenever I have a task in front of me, I try not to look at it as an obstacle to be overcome. Rather, if I look at it as an opportunity to achieve something, the task at hand becomes a lot easier.

I want that same mindset to be the foundation of everything that we do during my administration. Five years ago, Governor Kristi Noem declared South Dakota “Open for Business.” That bold stand was put to the ultimate test during COVID. We overcame that challenge and turned it into South Dakota’s greatest opportunity. Now, I want to apply that same approach to all of our work.

I want to keep South Dakota “Open for Business.” But more than that, I want our state to be “Open for Opportunity.” That means opportunity for families to do what is best for their kids; opportunity for our communities to respond to whatever unique situations they’re facing; opportunity for kids graduating high school to go into whatever college or career field is right for them; opportunity for farmers to be able to keep earning a strong living so that they can pass that farm down to their kids; opportunity for every hard working South Dakotan to seek out better and higher paying jobs; opportunity for our businesses to keep growing at a tremendous rate.

When we protect opportunity in South Dakota, we pave the way for better jobs for my children and grandchildren – and yours. We create new educational opportunities that don’t pit this group against that group, but instead allow every child to succeed. We don’t build new prisons just to lock more people up; instead, we use those facilities as an opportunity to get people back on their feet and contributing to our society.

Opportunity is not limited by my vision, or even the vision of anyone in this Rotunda today. It is as broad as the South Dakota prairie and as high as Black Elk Peak. If we all link arms and pledge to chase down opportunities together, our state will be in pretty good shape. And if years from now, someone remembers the work that we did together, then that’s just a bonus.

I want to thank my family for giving me this opportunity to serve. I especially want to thank my wife, Sandy. She has been my most loyal supporter and chief confidant for almost 44 years. I would not be here today without her love and support. I want to thank the Good Lord for putting me in the position to serve as your Governor. And I want to thank the people of South Dakota. Thank you for trusting me with this honor. And thank you for celebrating with me and my family.

Thank you. May God bless you all. And may God continue to bless the great state of South Dakota.

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House Bill 1069, the measure to keep untested and Chinese vaping products with unknown ingredients out of South Dakota hit a snag today when Rep. Tina Mulally invoked Rule 5-17 to push the measure forward to next week.

I’m guessing she’s fronting for the vape shop people who want more time to try to convince legislators that their illegal Chinese vape products are not full of unknown and untested chemicals and are most definitely – most definitely – not designed for kids.

 

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A post shared by Richard Mallard (@vapingwithtwisted420)

Gov. Rhoden Signs Ban on Sanctuary Cities  

PIERRE, S.D. –  Today, Governor Larry Rhoden signed SB 7, which bans sanctuary cities in South Dakota.    

“This bill reiterates South Dakota’s respect for the rule of law,” said Governor Larry Rhoden. “Our state has been negatively impacted by the unlawful and uncontrolled illegal immigration. Thankfully, President Trump is putting a stop to that. This bill is a step in the right direction towards keeping South Dakota strong, safe, and free.”  

The bill provides protections for law enforcement officers carrying out immigration enforcement actions.   

You can find video footage of Governor Rhoden signing SB 7 here.  

You can find a picture of Governor Rhoden signing SB 7 here.  

This is the first bill that Governor Rhoden has signed into law this legislative session.  

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After the passage of Senate Bill 12 on the 5th, Senator Michael Rohl and Representative Tim Reisch’s campaign finance bill to close the loophole of unlimited loans to campaign committees from George Soros types, It took our own “South Dakota Soros” a couple days of sputtering to get to the point where he finally put out a coherent sentence about what happened from his point of view.  And Toby “dumpster-fire” Doeden certainly did that.

As riddled with nonsense and double-speak as it is:

• “Corrupt, establishment Politicians in Pierre did exactly what we thought they would yesterday when they voted to pass a bill to effectively shut down my PAC, Dakota First Action”

Well, no.  Toby should look up the definition of corrupt. Many of the people who were voting against the passage of SB12 were people who had been recipients of money from the PAC. The people who voted for campaign finance reform were the legislators who WERE NOT beholding to the PAC.

And how is his PAC shut down? Is it so unstable that it can’t survive without him dumping unlimited cash into it?

• “The bill they passed is highly unconstitutional”

Again, no, and this boob should get better attorneys if that’s what they’re telling him.  Campaign finance limits, in this case limiting what an individual can loan a political action committee, have been legal as long as they’ve been around. Trust me, if someone thought they could do away with campaign finance limits, it would have been done long before Toby voted in his first and only Republican Primary last year.

• “To the feckless politicians that weaponized your position in government and voted to silence our voice“

Toby is forgetting the poison pill amendment inserted into the measure in House Committee, keeping the original language but adding a limit on federal to state transfers. After which all but one of his sycophants voted to pass the bill. So.. is he calling all of his people who voted to pass it in committee as amended feckless? Because it contained the same language.

And nobody’s voice is silenced at all. The end result is that wealthy people just can’t make unlimited loans as a dodge to campaign finance limits.

Doeden’s response to the people passing legislation to fix something they missed twenty years ago is just a plain temper tantrum.

The owner of the property (the people) simply went out and fixed the fence to keep the fox from going in and killing any more chickens. Nothing more, nothing less. The difference here is that the fox had sent a lobbyist to Pierre to try to stop campaign finance reform. And he could not stop that from happening.

Senate Bill 161 is scheduled to be heard on the floor of the Senate tomorrow. And while I certainly like the sponsor, this bill is just another awful attack on schools that will ultimately hurt them in the long run, and it does nothing for raising teacher salaries.

As noted on South Dakota Searchlight,

Sioux Falls Republican Sen. Sue Peterson told the state Senate Education Committee she introduced Senate Bill 161 to close the gap between the average salaries of teachers and administrators in South Dakota.

And..

The legislation would cap administrative salaries at three times a district’s average teacher salary.

And..

There is no nationwide ranking for average administrator pay by state through a professional organization like the National Education Association teacher salary listing, according to Rob Monson, executive director for School Administrators of South Dakota.

Monson, who spoke with South Dakota Searchlight after the committee hearing, also said he does not have complete data to compare the state’s administrative and teacher salaries.

Read the entire story here.

Close the gap? it does anything but.

So the comparison between teacher salaries and administrator salaries is anecdotal at best, and nobody has any real ranking of where administrator salaries really are.

About the only thing I can tell you is that the pool of competent administrators is not more and more plentiful. It is shrinking as fewer people have any interest in going into education in South Dakota. And when you see legislation like this, can you really blame them?

If I learned anything from being married to my wife  (Dr. Powers) who rose up through the ranks from being a teacher in special education, and eventually became a school administrator for a number of years, it’s that if you have good teachers, most often that’s because they were fostered and mentored by good administrators.

A School Administrator isn’t someone who says “this teacher goes here and this teacher goes here.” It’s far more complex than this legislation remotely gives administrators credit for.

In my wife’s role as a special ed administrator, I know she supervised well over 100 employees across 6 or 7 schools, and dealt with complicated issues with both teaching staff, professional specialties such as therapists, school psychs, etc. and complex students with everything ranging from mild learning disabilities to those receiving end-of-life care, but who were still eligible for a free and appropriate public education that needed to be delivered while they were receiving nursing care. And working to ensure compliance with both state and federal law in an attempt to keep the school district from being sued or found liable for civil rights violations.

Oh, most of these staff being supervised? They have masters level or doctoral degrees, as is required of the administrators.

If you are at the superintendent level, you absolutely have to have a doctoral degree, and you do all those things plus you are leading several hundred employees in a district the size of Brookings, you have to be a construction/project manager, public affairs director, you formulate and set a $75 million budget, and you are on call 24 hours a day. And I am quite sure I am leaving out massive parts of what they are responsible for.

Administrators are paid what the market rate in the region is, and that’s if the school district can find an administrator willing to do the job. Superintendents in this current environment are lucky if they can spend five or six years at the same position before the political environment demands a change. There is no guaranteed longevity and retirement after 20 years in a town at an administrators position, especially at a time when state politics are toxic towards educators. They know they are going into a short-term gig, but they also are going to be required to fully set up roots in the community. That does affect what they will go to work for.

What will happen if this legislation passes, and districts are unable to find a qualified administrator? There is a reason many school districts contract with search firms to find a superintendent. They don’t grow on trees, and as noted the market is shrinking.

I would venture a district who can’t find a leader at the price this legislation would hamstring them to will have to contract with an outside co-op or other organization for short-term district management for the district at a higher price then they would pay on a regular two-year contract basis. Alternatively, they might find somebody willing to do it on the cheap. Hoping they aren’t setting themselves up for mediocrity.

If Senator Peterson and other legislators want to find a way to improve  teacher salaries, they need to pay attention to the adage that “you don’t build a house by pulling down someone else’s,” because that is all this legislation does.

If we agree we want to pay teachers more in comparison to administrators, start in the budget by keeping teacher salaries in pace with inflation.  And find them more money.

Knuckle down and give them an existing revenue source or add new ones. Dedicate solar or pipeline revenues to education on top of existing sources. Do something besides give it lip service.

On this and other measures that legislators claim will make education better, legislators should quit trying to blow up the school for fireplace kindling, and then try to claim it will somehow be a victory because we have firewood to use.

Vote no on Senate Bill 161 tomorrow. For your local school’s sake.

(Update – The bill failed on a vote of 13 yea, and 22 nay votes.) 

State Representative Phil Jensen is in the Argus today expressing absolutely no regret over being removed as vice chair from the House Ed committee as the dust settles after his attempt to defund the Huron School District over “a tip” he claims he received for the district hundreds of miles from his own:

A South Dakota lawmaker who sought to introduce a bill to defund a school system outside his legislative district was removed from his committee leadership position.

It’s a result Rep. Phil Jensen, R-Rapid City, said he has “no regrets” about.

Jensen was demoted from his vice-chair position on the House Education Committee to a regular committee spot Wednesday.

and..

“I wanted to make them come to the table,” Jensen added. “It’s my style of being a lawmaker.”

Read that here.

It’s my understanding that House leadership announced today that Jensen will remain on the House Education Committee after their wrist slap. My question is why would they leave Jensen on House Ed at all?

At this point, they’re just encouraging his behavior, as Jensen is preening around as if his actions were something to be admired.

Thune Welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the U.S. Capitol

 “I want to thank Prime Minister Netanyahu for meeting with us, and assure him of the United States’ continued support for Israel.”

 

Click here to download high-resolution photos and here to watch the video. 

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:

Thune’s remarks below (as delivered): 

“Mr. President, earlier this morning I met with Prime Minister Netanyahu here in the Capitol. 

“We had a good discussion about Israel’s security and about the imperative of the return of the rest of the hostages, who have been held in Hamas captivity for well over a year. 

“I enjoyed a candid personal discussion with the prime minister and was pleased that both Republican and Democrat colleagues were later able to join for a bipartisan conversation. 

“After a number of my Democrat colleagues boycotted Prime Minister Netanyahu’s address to Congress last year, it is good that Democrat leaders chose to attend this meeting. 

“It would have been even better if Democrats had chosen to support the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act, and we had been able to tell Prime Minister Netanyahu that the Senate had passed this legislation in response to the International Criminal Court’s illegitimate targeting of Israeli leaders. 

“But unfortunately two weeks ago all of my Democrat colleagues – all, all of them, save one – voted to block this bill. 

“The Democrat leader actually celebrated the fact that Democrats had blocked this legislation – even though allowing the ICC’s rogue actions to go unchecked could put not only Israelis but Americans in the ICC’s crosshairs. 

“That’s right, Mr. President. 

“Responding to the ICC’s illegitimate targeting of Israeli leaders is not just about protecting our ally Israel, it’s also about protecting our own citizens – our own servicemembers in particular. 

“Just a few years ago, the ICC opened an investigation into American servicemembers – despite the fact that, like Israel, the United States is not party to the ICC and thus is not under its jurisdiction. 

“It was good to hear this morning that President Trump will impose sanctions in response to the ICC’s targeting of Israeli leaders – and to protect American servicemembers. 

“I am grateful that we have a president who will stand up for our citizens – and for our ally Israel, as he has made clear already, including with his decision to prohibit funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. 

“This agency not only has a history of anti-Israel sentiment, but has a number of workers with ties to terrorist groups, and actually, if you can believe this, had workers participate in the October 7, 2023, attack. 

“I was also pleased by President Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the so-called Human Rights Council at the United Nations, which unfairly targets Israel. 

“And I’m grateful that President Trump is taking a strong stand against one of the greatest enemies of peace in the Middle East, Iran. 

“Iran has spent decades fomenting unrest and terror, including providing funding and training to Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. 

“And the president’s recent national security memorandum was a welcome statement that Iranian aggression will no longer be tolerated. 

“The president has restored the maximum economic pressure campaign to bankrupt Iran’s nuclear ambitions and its terrorist proxies. 

“Mr. President, it’s good to see this kind of leadership.

“I want to thank Prime Minister Netanyahu for meeting with us, and assure him of the United States’ continued support for Israel. 

“And I look forward to working with President Trump to defend our allies and to protect our nation.” 

###

Yesterday Rep. Phil Jensen was trying to defund Huron Public Schools, and today Sen. Tom Pischke and friends were trying to defund the National Guard.

I’m not sure anyone is safe while the legislature is in session this year.

Senate Majority Leader Jim Mehlhaff is speaking to the media in an article at South Dakota Searchlight today, and is noting that the Senate has no appetite for education savings accounts this year:

Based on discussions with the governor, Mehlhaff said, “we decided we just don’t want to go down that bunny trail over in the Senate this time.”

“We’re going to move on to other priorities,” the majority leader said during a legislative leadership press conference on Thursday at the Capitol in Pierre.

and..

Support within the Senate Republican caucus is slim, Mehlhaff said.

“There was zero love for it,” Mehlhaff said, citing budget constraints and competing priorities. “We’re cutting PBS, we’re cutting the state library, we’re cutting maintenance and repair on our public buildings, we’re cutting veterans service officers — we’re cutting all over the place.

Read the entire story here.

This might be one of the weirdest sessions I’ve ever seen with legislators’ unnatural fetish towards schools with a group of legislators who claim they favor local control but whose actions illustrate anything but; 10 commandments in classrooms, shoving religious chaplains down their throats, trying to place ceilings on what they can pay key employees. It’s as if they just want to send a list down, and tell districts how they believe we should run our schools without ever having walked in their shoes.

The fact that there’s little appetite in the Senate for taxpayer dollars going to private schools gives some hope that the madness may come to an end. But, we still have a number of days to go.