Gov. Noem Going to Warzone at Southern Border

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem announced that she will be going to the warzone at the southern border to stand with Texas and the National Guard and tell them that the nation is with them. She made the announcement on “Hannity” on Fox News.

“This is about our Constitution. This is about us standing united… I’m going to be at the border tomorrow to tell the Texas National Guard… that we’re not only with them, that we have continued to be with them for the last several years. South Dakota has deployed our National Guard to support them and stand alongside them three separate times,” Governor Noem said on Hannity. “I’m so proud of what Texas is doing to defend itself. We’ll be right there beside them. We’ll do everything we can to make sure that this invasion stops.

Earlier today, Governor Noem joined 24 Republican governors in supporting Governor Abbott’s efforts to secure the Southern Border.

When Hannity asked if Governor Noem is willing to send South Dakota National Guard troops to the border, Governor Noem responded: “I already have three times… I am willing to send National Guard down there to stand alongside them. I want it to be different arrangements this time. If we’re going to enforce Texas law – and if I’m going to have the ability to use these soldiers in a way that’s effective – that will be absolutely fantastic.”

Governor Noem was the first governor to send National Guard soldiers to help defend the Southern Border nearly three years ago. Last summer, she sent once again sent 50 South Dakota National Guard soldiers to Texas to help them secure the border.

This past August, Governor Noem also participated in a press conference at the Southern Border and viewed the warzone from the air in a helicopter. A video can be found here.

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Gov. Noem and Colleagues Support Gov. Abbott’s Efforts to Secure the Southern Border

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem and 24 of her fellow Republican governors sent the following statement supporting Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s efforts to secure the U.S. Southern Border:

“President Biden and his Administration have left Americans and our country completely vulnerable to unprecedented illegal immigration pouring across the Southern border. Instead of upholding the rule of law and securing the border, the Biden Administration has attacked and sued Texas for stepping up to protect American citizens from historic levels of illegal immigrants, deadly drugs like fentanyl, and terrorists entering our country.

“We stand in solidarity with our fellow Governor, Greg Abbott, and the State of Texas in utilizing every tool and strategy, including razor wire fences, to secure the border. We do it in part because the Biden Administration is refusing to enforce immigration laws already on the books and is illegally allowing mass parole across America of migrants who entered our country illegally.

“The authors of the U.S. Constitution made clear that in times like this, states have a right of self-defense, under Article 4, Section 4 and Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution. Because the Biden Administration has abdicated its constitutional compact duties to the states, Texas has every legal justification to protect the sovereignty of our states and our nation.” 

Governor Noem was joined by the following Republican governors in issuing the statement:

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy, Arkansas Governor Sarah Sanders, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, Idaho Governor Brad Little, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves, Missouri Governor Mike Parson, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte, Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen, Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, Utah Governor Spencer Cox, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice, and Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon.

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Have an unusual request for our legislators, lobbyist corps, and others who might have been at the Ramkota last night.

There’s a coat missing that is actually a sentimental item for the person now left coatless. It’s a navy blue mens topcoat (panel inside on the lower side is John Wanamaker) that was on a chair at the Community Support Providers event in the Lake Francis Room at the Ramkota. Given that navy blue wool dress coats are not uncommon, the owner believes that someone might have just mistaken it as their own. (Because it’s the Ramkota, and their coat check is the equivalent of throwing coats on a massive bed)

The gentleman who it belongs to is trying to locate it, as it was also his father’s coat, and he’s worn it and kept it nice for a number of years, and he’s genuinely hoping to get it back because of the memories it holds for him.

If you’re finding that you have an unfamiliar coat of this type, drop me a note, or give me a call, and we can reunite the coat with it’s owner.

*UPDATE*

Good news!  The coat was located and returned to the owner. Thanks all!

Found out some more interesting info this noon hour.

Had a nice note from the plaintiff’s counsel providing the memorandum decision, and very politely letting me know that when I heard through another party that the case was dismissed and over… no, it’s not over.

And while not delving into the merits of the case, the plaintiffs have a right to respond to the memorandum decision by the judge before it becomes final, and intend to do so. (Details in the memo).

66civ23-000155 Memorandum Decision by Pat Powers on Scribd

So, just when you think it’s over.. maybe not.

My biggest takeaway from the memo for me was the judge’s statement that…

Here, the Yankton County Republicans are asking for a judicial interpretation of the expenditure limitation clause in Section VIII, Subsection 3 of the by-laws of the South Dakota Republican Party. While the court understands that it can construe by-laws under contract principles, these are the by-laws of a political party. Additionally, the Plaintiff is asking that the court find that the individual defendants have breached their fiduciary duty owed to the Yankton County Republicans and/or that these persons have otherwise improperly taken funds belonging to the Yankton County Republicans. The only way these determinations could be made is to hear evidence as to the internal workings of the Yankton County Republicans and/or the practices of that and other county Republican central committees. None of these matters are justiciable by the court and, therefore, this court lacks subject matter jurisdiction.

and..

In light of the lack of subject matter jurisdiction, the court is not required to examine the other issues raised by parties, but it will do so in the future in the event the court reconsiders this jurisdictional issue upon further briefing by the parties, or if an appeal is filed and the South Dakota Supreme Court determines that the claims presented in the Amended Complaint are justiciable.

There seems to be an incredible amount of grey area which the court doesn’t seem eager to get into. But it also appears that even if the judge makes an official ruling one way or the other – or declines to – the matter could continue up to the South Dakota Supreme Court for a request whether it can be addressed.

This ball appears to be ready to continue rolling on.

But, does it help with the mission of the GOP? No. Not really.

Johnson Earns A+ Pro-Life Rating 

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) earned an A+ rating on Susan B. Anthony’s Pro-Life Scorecard for his votes and actions in 2023.

“Every life should be protected, no matter how small,” said Johnson. “Unfortunately, the Biden administration wants to do anything it can to promote access to abortion. I’m committed to defending even the tiniest of humans and prohibiting taxpayer dollars from funding abortion services.”

Johnson took nine votes in 2023 to protect life. View the scorecard here.

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Senate Committee Approves Child Pornography Bill That Includes Attorney General’s A.I. Legislation

PIERRE, S.D. – Senate Bill 79, which revises various levels of child pornography crime and which also includes the Attorney General’s Office’s bill that would make Artificial Intelligence-generated child pornography a crime, was unanimously approved Tuesday by the State Senate Judiciary Committee

The bill clarifies and strengthens the sections of the crimes of possession, distribution, and manufacturing of child pornography. The legislation, which is a combination of other bills on the same issue, was introduced by Sen. David Wheeler of Huron and Rep. Fred Deutsch of Florence.

Included in SB 79 bill is language first proposed by the Attorney General’s Office in Senate Bill 25 That bill would revise certain definitions to the current child pornography laws and criminalize the possession, manufacturing, or distribution of child pornography to include Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated image and videos. That would include “deepfake” images or videos of an actual child that have been manipulated to make it look like the subject is a child engaged in prohibited sexual acts and AI-generated images that do not depict any actual person but are created to look like a child engaged in prohibited sexual acts.

“This legislation strengthens and further clarifies South Dakota’s child pornography protections,” said Attorney General Marty Jackley, who spoke in support of SB 79. “With this legislation, those protections would include Artificial Intelligence-generated child pornography, and I applaud Sen. Wheeler and Rep. Deutsch for their work in strengthening our laws.”

The bill now goes to the full Senate.

Senate Bill 79 can be found here: https://sdlegislature.gov/Session/Bill/24991

The House might have to draw the line in the sand against breakaway caucuses..

Just say No to Bow!

(Signed, Not a bow tie guy.)

WEEKLY ROUND[S] UP
JANUARY 8-21, 2024

Welcome to the first Weekly Round[s] Up of 2024! I was grateful to be back home in South Dakota for a couple of weeks, making visits to Mission and Sioux Falls and spending time in the Pierre and Fort Pierre area with family for Christmas. Now that the Senate is back in session, we’re continuing to work on fixing the big issues that are at the top of everyone’s mind, specifically our southern border. Due to the policies of the Biden administration, the border has become a national security and humanitarian crisis. Senate Republicans are requiring real steps toward fixing it as part of a supplemental funding package for Ukraine and Israel. As we continue to focus on border security, we keep busy with meetings, hearings, votes, briefings and more. Here’s my Weekly Round[s] Up:

Meetings this past week: Molly Phee, Assistant Secretary for African Affairs at the Department of State; Karim Sadjadpour, Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Jake Loosararian, CEO of Gecko Robotics; Sam Altman, CEO of Open AI; Alex Wang, CEO of Scale AI; Andrew Ng of AI Fund; Bill Gassen, CEO of Sanford Health; Aidarus al-Zoubaidi, Vice President of Yemen; Sabastian Niles and Eric Loeb of Salesforce; and Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda. I also had our Senate Bible Study, where our verses of the week were Romans 12:19 and Romans 13:4.

Over the long weekend, I went on a CODEL trip to visit with our NATO allies in Europe. We traveled to Poland and visited with government officials, including President Andrzej Duda, Minister of Foreign Affairs Radoslaw Sikorski, Deputy PM & Minister of Defense Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz and US Ambassador to Poland Mark Francis Brzezinski. We also traveled to Slovakia, where we met with President Zuzana Caputova, Prime Minister Robert Fico, Defense Minister Robert Kalinak, Foreign Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar and US Ambassador to Slovakia Gautam A. Rana. In addition, we went to Liechtenstein to meet with Prime Minister Daniel Risch and H.S.H. Hereditary Prince Alois. I also spoke on an artificial intelligence panel at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Switzerland.

Votes taken: 8 – Most noteworthy was my vote on the continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government funded past the January 19 and February 4 deadlines, which were set by the previous CR. I voted yes to keep the government open and funded through March 1 and 8, giving us more time to complete the necessary appropriation bills for FY2024.

Hearings: I attended one hearing in the Select Committee on Intelligence. I also attended one hearing in the Senate Banking Committee, titled “Stopping the Flow of Fentanyl: Public Awareness and Legislative Solutions.”

Classified briefings: I attended two classified briefings this past week as part of my work on the Senate Armed Services Committee: one on Israel and one on the Indo-Pacific region.

Amicus brief: I joined my Senate Republican colleagues in filing a Supreme Court amicus brief challenging the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to keep former President Trump off of the ballot. The Colorado Supreme Court’s decision is wrong. The former president has not been convicted of any crimes and should not be kicked off the ballot for political reasons.

Letter to Secretary Vilsack: I sent a letter with Senator John Thune (R-S.D.) to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai asking them to begin discussions on updating trade agreements to allow for potential usage of a highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) vaccine. The avian influenza outbreak has impacted more than 5.3 million birds in South Dakota and has cost the federal government nearly $1 billion. You can read more about this, along with the full text of the letter, here.

Legislation introduced: I introduced bipartisan legislation with Senator Angus King (I-Maine) to allow combat veterans to enroll in their health care benefits program before officially transitioning out of active duty in order to make certain that service members don’t experience a lag in coverage. The Combat Veterans Pre-Enrollment Act would eliminate the lapse in care that many service members face when transitioning from the military to civilian life, and make certain that service members have timely access to the health care services they need upon separation from the military. You can read more about this legislation here.

Headline of the week: U.S. Senator Mike Rounds helps secure first Native American veteran charter – SDPB

My staff in South Dakota visited: Aberdeen, Brookings, Pierre, Sioux Falls, Vermillion and Watertown.

Steps taken this past week:        Week 1: 60,169 steps or 29.81 miles.

Week 2: 46,605 steps or 23.22 miles.

Video of the week: Earlier this month in Sioux Falls, I had the opportunity to present Joel Greene with his father Harry Greenstein’s lost military service medals, including a Purple Heart. Harry was a WWI veteran who immigrated to the United States from Russia and served in France with the United States Army. More information in this clip from Keloland:

Making an Impact for South Dakota
by State Senator Casey Crabtree

MADISON–It was the second week of the Legislative Session and the Senate was firing on all cylinders. I’m focused on policies that make communities safer and make our economy strong. This week we worked on bills related to health care, ethanol, public safety, and education.

On Thursday, the Senate Commerce and Energy Committee approved my plan to incentivize gas stations to sell E15 to consumers. By encouraging gas stations to carry E15 at their pumps we can keep our homegrown fuels closer to home and closer to consumers which will increase profits for corn growers and reduce fuel costs for consumers. The full Senate will consider this measure in Week 3.

Another victory this week was a bill to revise which newspapers can publish legal notices. After disagreement between newspapers like the Dakota Scout and the SD News Media Association last year, the groups came together over the summer and worked with lawmakers to reach an agreement. It goes to show that in South Dakota we are often able to work out our differences, and it also highlights that work never ends for legislators. We are continually working on a handful of issues throughout the year.

Legislators are here to tackle the toughest challenges, and only have 38 legislative days to do that. Legislators came prepared this year and the pace of the 2024 Session has been moving fast with thoughtful and diligent debate and consideration.

There were a lot of familiar faces in the Capitol this year. Folks from our tourism industry, Brookings community, SDSU, ABATE, 4H, FFA, and homeschool families all made their way to Pierre and met with lawmakers. Thank you everyone who visited! We also hosted the head of the Irish Senate, Mark Daly. He is on a tour of a handful of states and made South Dakota a priority visit.

Finally, on Thursday, the Legislature held our annual memorial service for former legislators that passed away during the past year. I’m grateful that we take time to remember these public servants who made an impact while on this Earth. It also reminds us of all of our mortality and the short window we have to make a positive impact for our neighbors, communities and state. Each day in the Capitol, your legislators are making the most of our time to make all of our lives better, just like the Lake County leaders we remembered this week–Jerry Lammers, Dick Belatti, and Bill Johnson. I’m thankful for their service and honored to carry on with the torch for our region.

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