From Austin Goss, via Twitter”

A “confidential” list of Freedom Caucus members is hanging up in the Senate lobby area. Thus far, Freedom Caucus leadership has declined to reveal their membership. pic.twitter.com/JWeEZboQzV

— Austin Goss (@AustinGossSD) February 13, 2023

Click on the tweet to expand, as there are people disavowing the list.

Gov. Noem Signs “Help Not Harm” Bill

 PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem signed HB 1080, the “Help Not Harm” bill, into law. This bill prohibits certain medical and surgical interventions for minors.

“South Dakota’s kids are our future. With this legislation, we are protecting kids from harmful, permanent medical procedures,” said Governor Kristi Noem. “I will always stand up for the next generation of South Dakotans.”

Governor Noem has signed 34 bills into law this legislative session.

###

Here’s a quote from Democrat Erin Healy that you’ll possibly see on a postcard..

Extremist group Family Heritage Alliance said this morning that the safest place for kids are in families that have a married mom and dad. What a dangerous and un-American belief.

— Representative Erin Healy (@RepErinHealy) February 13, 2023

You know, you don’t always end up with a 2-parent family, and I would not presume to say that people don’t try their best with the tools they have to work with.

But I don’t know that I’d say that I’d get on twitter and deride what most people believe is the ideal as somehow “dangerous and un-American.”

Thune Introduces Legislation to Combat Fentanyl Trafficking, Enable Justice for Victims

“Drug trafficking across the southern border doesn’t just affect border states – it affects communities around our country.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) recently introduced the Justice Against Sponsors of Illicit Fentanyl Act, legislation that would amend foreign sovereign immunity and anti-terrorism laws to allow victims of fentanyl and their survivors to bring civil claims against nations, primarily Mexico and China, that enable the continued flood of fentanyl into the United States. The bill would also eliminate certain immunity protections for foreign nations that assist or permit fentanyl trafficking beyond mere negligence.

“Drug trafficking across the southern border doesn’t just affect border states – it affects communities around our country,” said Thune. “I continue to hear form South Dakota law enforcement officials who tell me that they’re seizing drugs that they can trace directly back to the cartels who smuggle them across the border. Right now, fentanyl overdose is the leading cause of death for U.S. adults between the ages of 18 and 45, which is why I’m proud to introduce this bill that would create a new pathway to justice for victims of fentanyl trafficking.”

“Every single day, sheriffs across America are witnessing and dealing with the deadly and heartbreaking impact fentanyl is having on their counties and parishes,” said Mike Milstead, Minnehaha County sheriff. “We are united in our efforts to hold transnational criminal organizations and any foreign governments or officials accountable for their actions or inactions in stopping the unprecedented flow of this deadly drug into our country. Victims and their families deserve justice that doesn’t stop at our border. As a 25-year sheriff and chair of the National Sheriff’s Association Drug Enforcement Committee, I applaud Senator Thune for introducing this legislation and pray that Congress can overcome the current partisan divides to lend their support for this most worthy cause.”

Last year Sheriff Milstead estimated that 90 percent of fentanyl and methamphetamine in South Dakota comes through Mexico. In November 2022, the Roberts County sheriff and Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate tribe made the largest fentanyl seizure in South Dakota history. Officers seized 16.46 pounds of fentanyl and fentanyl-laced pills, valued at $2 million in street value. The amount seized was enough to kill 3.69 million people.

The Justice Against Sponsors of Illicit Fentanyl Act mirrors the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, which amended the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act to permit civil claims for physical injury to a person or property or death that occurs inside the United States as a result of an act of international terrorism. The bill was enacted after Congress voted to override a veto by President Barack Obama in 2016, the only veto override of his presidency.

###

After being amended to encompass all statewide offices, with the exception of Lt. Governor, who will be picked by the Governor, Senate Bill 40 passed Senate State Affairs committee this morning to revise the process for nominating candidates for statewide office, moving lower offices from being selected at state party conventions into being selected as part of the primary ballot.  Those running below the level of Governor would have to collect half the number of signatures of the gubernatorial candidate to be placed on the ballot

Testifying that the bill would bring true grassroot representation to nominating statewide elected officials, State Senator David Johnson, presented the bill as an expansion of the number of people who would participate in the process. Proponents provided examples of how many people selected the candidate for governor, versus the number who selected candidates in the convention process, comparing tens of thousands to fewer than 100 in some counties.

Opponents to the measure testifying online were Rick Weible and Matthew Monfore, who had to be reigned in a bit on keeping it on topic.

The measure passed on a vote of 6-3 in committee, with Wheeler and Tobin opposing, as well as Democrat Reynold Nesiba, who was seeking an alternate nomination process for Democrats who failed to fill offices (which tells you how bad off Democrats are).

*update*

I did have a legislator ask me where they can find the votes from this last convention, which I do have posted here.  (as originally found here)

After my report last week of the Julie-Frye Mueller allied “Not One Step Back PAC” going after Steve Kolbeck, the Dakota Scout website added their own story of State Senator Dave Johnson being similarly target and attacked by the same group…

The flyers are being hand delivered. Mirzayants declined to say how many had been produced or if more senators are being targeted.

“This accountability project is ongoing, and concerned citizens continue to sign the petition that is on the literature,” Mirzayants said in an email.

Senate President Pro Tempore Lee Schoenbeck said he was aware of only Kolbeck and Johnson being targeted.

Read the story here (subscription required).

Now this morning, I’m receiving multiple reports that described a “group knocking on doors Saturday with anti Tyler Tordsen flyer. Claims he is anti Second Amendment. Flyer says Paid for by Not One Step Back PAC.”  And not just Tordsen, because on Saturday I had a similar report of flyers being distributed against State Representative Tim Reisch who also found himself a victim of the group’s hit job tactics:

I’ll post the Tordsen flyer if I happen to come across a copy, but assume it is identical.

Update..

With this expansion of hostilities towards Republicans, it seems the activities of this attack PAC is much less about defending the heinous actions of Julie Frye-Awful, and more about just attacking the enemies of the hard-right in a pre-emptive attack to soften them up for the next election.

 

MADISON–It was halftime in the Legislative Session this week, and the people of South Dakota are ahead on the scoreboard. We have completed 21 days of the 38-day session for 2023. For District 8, I have been busy reviewing the 221 Senate proposals and 259 House proposals and helping advance an agenda that propels South Dakota forward with advancements in education, economic development, workforce, fiscal responsibility, and election integrity.

My highlight of Week 5 was welcoming District 8 residents to the Capitol. School groups from Lake Preston, Oldham-Ramona, and De Smet visited the Senate this week. On Tuesday it was Madison Day at the Capitol, and we welcomed city leaders, Chamber of Commerce officials, and DSU President Griffiths. If you are able to visit the Legislature before the session wraps up, be sure to let me know.

The Appropriations Committee has made great progress setting the state’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year. With state agency budget hearings complete, the committee will take up special appropriation bills for one-time spending proposals in Week 6.

The Stronger and Safer for 2024 legislative package to strengthen election laws has advanced with widespread bipartisan support. We hope to deliver the entire package to the Governor’s desk soon. These proposals will further strengthen South Dakota’s election integrity and help our state to continue leading the nation. It will also help strengthen voter confidence in our democracy.

I was proud to support two projects on the floor of the Senate for DSU this week. SB 34 authorizes DSU to sell unneeded land in Madison and SB 93 helps fund the campus’ new athletics events center. Both passed with overwhelming support. The Senate also passed legislation to cut red tape when it comes to licensure for new residents as well as a bill that addressed criminal sentencing for violent criminals. HB 1080 also passed the Senate in Week 6. The bill bans irreversible transgender surgeries and procedures for youth in South Dakota. This was an emotional discussion for both sides of the issues and I appreciated the feedback from those of you that reached out to me.

As always, thank you for the opportunity to serve District 8. Your South Dakota Legislature is working hard for our residents, and I’m working hard for all of you. As we wrap up the second half of the Legislative Session, continue to reach out to me with your thoughts on the important matters for District 8 and South Dakota.

Our country continues to face serious challenges. Inflation is straining family budgets, especially at the grocery store. The prices for electricity, gas, and home heating have increased. Record numbers of illegal immigrants have come across the southern border. Lax law enforcement has caused crime to spike in cities. And rogue nations like Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea have been emboldened to test America’s resolve. But if you listened to the president’s State of the Union address, you wouldn’t have heard much, if anything, about these crises.

Over the past two years, Democrats have pushed through more than $4 trillion in new spending. The $1.9 trillion spending spree they passed in March 2021 helped create our current inflation crisis, which is costing South Dakota families nearly $750 a month. And the hundreds of billions of dollars Democrats have passed in tax hikes will further increase prices, especially on utility bills. Democrats’ spending has also contributed significantly to our rising national debt, yet what I heard from the president was proposals for even more spending, more taxes, more government, and more dodging Republicans’ good faith efforts to rein in out-of-control spending.

The president’s speech was also strikingly light on a vision for our national defense, despite China’s recent blatant violation of U.S. airspace and continued trouble abroad, including Russia’s war in Ukraine and North Korea’s recent unveiling of an alarming number of ballistic missiles. And despite record numbers of illegal border crossings over the past two years, the president, during one of the longest addresses to Congress in American history, spent just one minute talking about our nation’s border crisis. He made no mention at all – not a single word – of the rise in violent crime we’re seeing in cities across the nation.

Throughout his speech, the president seemed to want to have it both ways. He wants to bring down inflation, but increase the spending that causes it. He celebrates American innovation, but wants to raise taxes and impose price controls. He wants to be tough on China, but lets the Chinese Communist Party get away with increasingly brazen actions. But he can’t have it both ways. We can’t spend our way out of inflation. We certainly can’t bury businesses in taxes and then expect them to lead the way in innovation.

Republicans have solutions that can actually help bring down inflation, strengthen our economy, unleash the power of American innovators, and improve our nation’s security at home and abroad. We want to rein in spending to get inflation under control, unleash American energy production to bring down energy costs, and ensure our military, border patrol, and law enforcement have the resources and support they need to keep Americans safe. Any bipartisan work we do needs to move away from the failed policies of the last two years, and I hope the president will work with us to find consensus.

Forty years ago, another American president addressed Congress at a time when our nation was facing serious challenges. President Reagan worked to build consensus with Democrats and made real progress on solving the problems that our nation was facing. I believe this bipartisan approach can work again now. The president just has to be willing to pursue it.

###

We learned this week that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) lied to America and the rest of the international community about the route and purpose of their balloon. The House voted yesterday to criticize their actions. I can’t say that I am surprised by the lie—in reality, the balloon is just one incident of surveillance that likely didn’t gain them much more data. The CCP has been surveilling us for much longer than two weeks, and by many standards, much closer to the ground than a balloon—close enough that they’re in your pocket.

It’s a much more subtle threat—TikTok—and millions of Americans have it downloaded on their cellphone alongside their most personal information. A spy balloon, viewable by most of America, is an easy physical object to call out for surveillance, but TikTok may pose a much more real and present threat to Americans.

TikTok gathers personal and private data on your life—your face ID, voice recognition, passwords, text messages, Google searches. You name it, the CCP probably has access to it. More than that, the content the CCP promotes on TikTok user devices in China is vastly different than the content promoted on American user devices. An article from Forbes details the educational videos seen on China-based accounts and the videos promoted for American users stirring up divisive political views or encouraging violence, theft, and self-harm. After months of pushing my Block the Tok bill to my colleagues, Congress understood the threat TikTok poses to national security and banned TikTok on federal devices. This is a step in the right direction, but far from the end goal.

China has been surveilling and collecting data on America and other countries for decades. Their government doesn’t honor personal freedoms or the right to privacy. We know they are always watching, and even though the spy balloon last week was a very overt surveillance technique, we need to remain vigilant in addressing the threats the CCP poses and combatting their influence over American citizens, supply chains, and our government.

That’s why the Select Committee on China is so important. This week, we had our first official meeting—great timing to start laying out our priorities and plans for this Congress, addressing the 360-degree threat the CCP poses. I am honored I get to work with the Select Committee to keep America safe.

###

So soon? Just ignore those candidates behind the curtain…

Not sure that they can paint over that kind of failure.