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.

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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.

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So soon? Just ignore those candidates behind the curtain…

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

Austin Goss is reporting more new employees rolling into the Secretary of State’s office after the last group ..departed. In addition to Adam Miller whom I had mentioned a while back, the SOS has filled another vacated position:

Johnson confirmed the addition of Reggie Rhoden and Adam Miller to the office. Rhoden will be the Elections Coordinator and Pistol Permit Administrator for the office….

And….

Rhoden previously worked for the state at the Department of Labor and Regulation (DLR). According to his LinkedIn, he most recently served as a Regional Consultant for Northpoint Data Security.

Read the entire story here.

Joe Sneve from the Dakota Scout is pointing out on Twitter that Democrat Rep. Kameron Nelson’s plan to “make South Dakota one of the queerest states in the nation” might be a hard sell to most voters.

Will remarks like this help Dems’ chances of winning anywhere in South Dakota outside of District 15 in Sioux Falls? https://t.co/qKrrSgGWYL

— Joe Sneve (@DakotaScoutJoe) February 11, 2023

The last time a political activist proposed something like this, they were foiled by bears.

The experiment was called the “Free Town Project” (it later became the “Free State Project”), and the goal was simple: take over Grafton’s local government and turn it into a libertarian utopia. The movement was cooked up by a small group of ragtag libertarian activists who saw in Grafton a unique opportunity to realize their dreams of a perfectly logical and perfectly market-based community.

and..

There’s a lesson in this for anyone interested in seeing it, which is that if you try to make the world fit neatly into an ideological box, you’ll have to distort or ignore reality to do it — usually with terrible consequences.

Read how the Libertarian plan to take over a community was foiled by bears here.

Sometimes the things that sound good when you’re playing for the press at the podium just have unintended consequences.

HB 1169 needed to clarify law and to hold the line against proposed constitutional amendment 
by State Senator Erin Tobin
District 21

I am in my 3^rd year as a State Senator and I have learned many valuable things along the way. I have learned things about people, my constituents, and constituents outside of my district. I have learned a lot about my colleagues and how to negotiate. I have learned about politics, sometimes things that frustrate me, and how to work through disagreements and varying opinion.

This leads me into my discussion of the overturning of Roe V Wade and the decision of abortion going back to the States. This is both a huge accomplishment for America and a huge responsibility for State legislatures. We need to have the difficult conversations and we need to be advocates for life, everyone’s life, from birth to natural death.

The situation Republicans are in now is different than we have ever been in, as we have been on the defense for so long and have been defending life against the Supreme Court’s previous decision. Now we are on the offense. We, Republicans, have the ball in hand. The situation we are in could be compared to leading a football game by one point with a few minutes left, having the ball, and not making any bad decisions that could lead to a turnover. We need to keep our pro-life team educated, aware, and on task. There is so much more to lose than a football game. If we lose the ball, it is the end game, the final countdown, and everything is at stake.

HB 1169 provided clarification to protect the life of the mother and keep pro-life Republican women protected in our legislative efforts. I and my colleagues, Representative Rehfeldt and Senator Davis, worked diligently on this task. We had discussions with our Governor, with SD Right to Life, Senate and House leadership, the Senate Republican caucus, healthcare, legislators from other states, National Right to Life, Susan B Anthony, constituents; no ground was left uncovered. We had a plan, and we were moving forward as a team, but at the 11^th hour some backed out. Some went back on their word and began to spread rumors that this bill was not Pro-life. This is very upsetting for the bill’s sponsors, Republicans, and all women.

I encourage everyone to reach out to their legislators. Talk to them about personal pregnancy issues and ask if our current law is clear enough to protect them if something goes wrong. We need to hold the line against the proposed constitutional amendment in 2024. We need to promote families and help women feel safe as they bring children into this world. We need to protect women because if they die, we lose mothers, babies, and families. This is too important to ignore.

We will be bringing back HB 1169 next session. The time is now.

Senator Erin Tobin
District 21
Chair, Senate Health and Human Services

Gov. Noem Declares Disaster for Counties Impacted by Winter Storms

PIERRE, S.D. – Yesterday, Governor Kristi Noem signed Executive Order 2023-03, which declares a disaster in counties impacted by the severe winter storms this past December.

The order declares a disaster to exist in the counties of Bennett, Brookings, Clark, Day, Deuel, Hamlin, Jackson, Jones, Kingsbury, Mellette, Oglala Lakota, Potter, Roberts, Stanley, Todd, and Tripp. The order also states that federal resources are needed to help with the impacts of the storm for state, tribal, and local governments.

The Executive Order is part of a request for public assistance and a Presidential Disaster Declaration request. An estimated $2,413,949 in qualifying costs were incurred during the December storms in those counties listed.

In December, much of South Dakota experienced hazardous travel conditions, road closures, damage to power infrastructure, and unexpected costs for snow removal. The disaster order will last for three months unless extended by a subsequent order.

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Rounds to Serve as Top Republican on Cybersecurity Subcommittee

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) today announced his leadership role on the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, where he will serve as Ranking Member during the 118th Congress.

“The SASC Subcommittee on Cybersecurity plays a critical role in the defense of our nation,”said Rounds. “As our near-peer competitors, like China, continue to improve their cyber capabilities, it is important we make sure our men and women in uniform are equipped with better tools and more resources than our adversaries. The cyber domain is involved in every aspect of our nation’s defense – air, land, sea and space – and continues to rapidly evolve. We have seen incredible technological advances over the past several years. New technologies are a good thing, but they also pose new challenges. We must continue to increase and improve our nation’s defensive and offensive cyber capabilities, as cyber-attacks are an existing and dangerous threat to our national security. The threat is not going away, and we must continue to understand and utilize Artificial Intelligence for national security and defense purposes. Additionally, we must hire highly-skilled cybersecurity professionals to help improve the cybersecurity efforts of our armed forces. Dakota State University has been at the forefront of cyber-related research for years, which adequately prepares the cybersecurity workforce for the challenges and opportunities to come. I look forward to continuing my role on the subcommittee as we continue developing our cyber forces, operations and capabilities.”

In addition to his leadership role on the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Rounds will also serve on the Subcommittee on Personnel and the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces.

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Did you ever play a board game with an older sibling when you were a kid.. where your older brother or sister suddenly changed the game rules in the middle of the game because you figured out a strategy that had you beating them?

That’s a lot like what’s going on in the South Dakota Legislature this year where opponents of pipelines, in this case carbon sequestration pipelines, have found allies in the legislature who are willing to help them change the rules in the middle of the game. Rules that the ethanol producers have invested millions in following, just like every other organization that has proposed a pipeline in the past.

Except, because they’re transporting something that they would normally release in the atmosphere, and the process has “carbon” in the name,  there are those who think it’s appropriate to change the rules.

In case you haven’t noticed, ethanol production has been under fire in the House of Representatives this session with bills that are directed expressly at the industry’s ability to transport the byproducts of it’s production. A number of bills have been brought, solely from the House, with Senate sponsorship of these measures few and far between.  While the measures are introduced under the auspices of reforming eminent domain, if you look at the way they are written, they are less about talking about the legal issues and notices than attacking the ethanol industry for moving forward with projects under existing law.

Think about it. They’re trying to change the rules for a value added agriculture project conceived under long-standing law.  And they’re trying to kick over the checker board.

Take House Bill 1133 for example, a bill up on the House floor today that was allegedly introduced to “define a commodity for the purpose of qualifying as a common carrier.”  It seemingly adds language to the law saying that everyone is a common carrier.. except you guys.  Where the new definition they’ve created says… For purposes of this section, the term, commodity, means a product that is intended for commerce and is being transported to a point of distribution, consumption, or processing, within or outside of this state. The term does not include a product that is disposed of in geological storage…

How is that not a targeted attack on the ethanol industry’s effort to keep up with their market, and do “something” with the carbon dioxide other than just release it in the atmosphere?

For all the talk in the legislature about adding value to our agricultural products for our state’s #1 industry, there is an awful lot of legislation that has been introduced to hamstring a homegrown energy industry. In capturing carbon dioxide and transporting it, the ethanol industry is trying to keep pace with the marketplace and respond to a regulatory environment as well as purchasers that demand that their energy production methods meet certain standards to be salable outside of the state.

As one observer remarked after the passage of House Bill 1233, “Why would we be harder on our own product – ethanol – than on gas and oil?“  These arguments against pipelines were not brought up when the keystone XL pipeline was being worked on.  So why on earth is the legislature trying to kick over the checkers board in the middle of the game now?

And it’s a good point. Energy production is big business that pays off in huge revenues to states that produce them.  Unfortunately, we don’t have the petroleum reserves that our neighbor to the North has.  We have open space and our farmers have the ability to grow things.

If you look at what has been introduced in the legislature this year regarding adding value to South Dakota ag products, only one bill was introduced regarding meat and meat products.  And that was withdrawn. But when it comes to stopping pipelines that are for the purpose of improving the return on a value added ag product, there are no fewer than six bills trying to change the rules in the middle of the process.  

The legislature – especially Republicans – need to take a step back, look at the big picture, and renew our commitment to value added agriculture in South Dakota.