Gov. Noem Announces Two Pro-Life Bills

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, as tens of thousands of pro-life Americans participate in the annual March for Life in Washington, DC, Governor Kristi Noem announced the text of two pro-life bills to protect unborn lives. The first will ban abortions once a child’s heartbeat can be protected; the second will ban telemedicine abortions in South Dakota.

“Every human life is unique and beautiful from the moment it is conceived. Every life is worthy of our protection, worthy of the right to live,” said Governor Kristi Noem. “We hope that this year’s March for Life will be the last and that the Supreme Court will finally protect every unborn life. But until that comes to pass, these bills will ensure that both unborn children and their mothers are protected in South Dakota.”

Governor Noem previewed her heartbeat legislation last year when she directed her Unborn Child Advocate to review South Dakota laws and ensure that we have the strongest pro-life laws on the books in South Dakota.

Governor Noem blocked telemedicine abortions via executive order last year. This procedure happens when a woman is prescribed a pill to perform a chemical abortion over the phone or internet. Chemical abortions are a dangerous procedure that are four times more likely to cause the woman getting the abortion to end up in the emergency room.

Over the last decade, abortions have declined by approximately 80% in South Dakota. Last year, Governor Noem signed eight pro-life bills into law, including a ban on abortions based on a diagnosis of Down syndrome and a bill to protect children born alive, regardless of the circumstances of that child’s birth.

You can read the draft heartbeat legislation here. You can read the draft telemedicine abortion ban legislation here.

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If you hadn’t heard, long time telecommunications lobbyist Greg Dean passed away suddenly this week:

“Kind of hard to believe,” Schoenbeck says. “You can even see in the hall when I came in this morning. There’s a real damper. It’s sort of top of mind with everybody here. It’s a community here, amongst the legislature and Greg was a really fine member of it.”

Bill Van Camp is a fellow lobbyist and friend of Dean’s. He says Dean was a straightforward and honest guy.

“Easier to deal with, even when you were on the other side of the aisle from him,” Van Camp says. “Just a hell of a great guy. A great dad. A real pillar of the Pierre-Fort Pierre community and he will be sorely missed. Just a great guy.”

Read the entire story here.

It’s one year into a Joe Biden presidency, and Americans are worse off. pic.twitter.com/lTmKY35zUx

— Senator John Thune (@SenJohnThune) January 20, 2022

While I’m in Florida this week, here is the latest From Sanford Health for the latest Covid figures:

Caroline Woods, spouse to Family Heritage Alliance director Norman Woods, and a Noem staffer for a time, came out in the Rapid City Journal this past week with an editorial that took a surprising swipe at her former boss for taking a more measured approach on last years’ transgender participation in sports issue:

First, let’s start with last year’s women’s sports bill that promoted fairness in women’s sports. The South Dakota legislature put this strong bill on Gov. Noem’s desk prohibiting biological males from competing in women’s sports. It protected girls in K12 sports and college. She tweeted that she was “excited” to sign the bill. Well, she quickly changed her mind. She reversed course after getting woke pressure from people including Matt McCaulley, who double-dips as a Sandford Health lobbyist and a paid advisor to Gov. Noem, and D.C. elitist, Corey Lewandowski, who is just plain creepy.

Read the entire column here.

The entire column just popped up out of the blue without any prior indication of criticism on the issue from Woods, especially given the harsh tone. Which the mainstream media ate up, because of its anti-Noem tone.

But the coverage also afforded the Governor’s people the opportunity to clap back hard:

In a statement to Fox News, Noem communications director Ian Fury described Thorman Woods as a “disgruntled former staffer.”

“This op-ed is filled with misinformation and outright lies. It comes from a disgruntled former staffer that moved to SD [South Dakota] from DC and only worked in the governor’s office briefly,” said Fury. “This op-ed reflects more work than she did in her seven short months working here. Her DC agenda did not reflect SD values, and we were happy to see her go.”

And..

“Given HB 1217’s problematic provisions, there was a higher risk of the entire bill being enjoined if South Dakota were to be sued by the NCAA. If that had happened, no girls in South Dakota would have been protected (at K-12 or collegiate level),” he said. “Now that other states have linked arms, as Gov. Noem urged at the time, she is excited to protect girls’ sports at both the K-12 and collegiate level, just as she’s done with her executive orders.”

Read it all here.

After some policy disagreements over the past year, House and Senate Leadership are at least publicly telling reporters that they are trying to get along better this session, according to the Argus Leader:

To some House Republicans, Schoenbeck has been the architect of the Senate’s success in policy differences with the House.

Schoenbeck said he and Gosch are trying to set a new tone this session.

“There were obviously some bumpy roads last year,” he said. “I would tell you that this year has absolutely started off on a different foot. We’ve been texting each other, but I’m not saying we’re dating.”

Unlike the fractious Republican caucus in the House, Schoenbeck said Senate Republicans have been cohesive and fearless.

Read it all here.

Year-over-year inflation reached 7 percent in December – its highest level in 40 years. That’s seven straight months in which inflation has been higher than 5 percent. As South Dakotans struggle to keep up with steep increases in grocery prices, fuel prices, and heating bills, this record-high inflation is taking a major toll on the pocketbooks of families and those living on a fixed income. Despite growing wages throughout 2021, Americans have now experienced a de facto pay cut as they watch their wage growth get eroded by rising costs. 

Families aren’t the only ones on the receiving end of the inflation pain. According to the National Federation of Independent Business, high inflation is a top concern of small business owners across the nation, likely due to the fact that annualized inflation for wholesale goods increased by a staggering 9.7 percent, which affects business owners and families alike.

At its most basic level, inflation is created when there are too many dollars chasing too few goods in the economy. What we’re seeing today is a textbook example of it. When Democrats took office last January, inflation was at 1.4 percent. That was well within what most economists would consider to be an acceptable range – what’s commonly called the target inflation rate. And it could have stayed there had Democrats not decided to pass a massive multi-trillion-dollar government spending spree under the guise of COVID relief – passing it mere weeks after Congress had just approved a major COVID relief bill targeted toward actual COVID needs. That unnecessary government spending, of course, had serious economic consequences: a soaring inflation crisis with no clear end in sight.

Any level-headed person would think that the economic pain Americans continue to experience after months of rising prices would give Democrats pause. They would be wrong, though, because Democrats actually spent most of last year trying to double down on their reckless tax-and-spending strategy that helped lead to the inflation crisis we’re seeing today.

President Biden and congressional Democrats seem to believe that they can’t be bothered to pay attention to a real crisis – one that has real economic consequences for South Dakota families. Instead, Democrats in Washington are focused on passing their radical agenda that is full of heavy-handed and government-knows-best policies. I am hopeful that the shocking inflation numbers that were just released will resonate with Democrats and help redirect their attention to issues that are draining Americans’ pocketbooks.

It’s time for Democrats to recognize that families, small businesses, and our broader economy cannot afford any more reckless government spending.

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Sunday night, New York City passed a law that will allow noncitizens (green card holders and DACA recipients) the right to vote in municipal elections. More than 800,000 noncitizens will now be eligible to vote. This is a serious mistake. 

Nor is this an isolated incident. San Francisco passed a similar measure back in 2018 to allow noncitizens, including those without legal status, to vote in school board elections.  Additionally, College Park, Maryland; Montpelier and Winooski, both in Vermont, have allowed noncitizens to vote in municipal elections as well. 

Voting is a sacred honor, and we should vehemently protect the voting rights of legal citizens. But allowing non-citizens to vote waters down the value of citizenship. If we allow everyone to vote, we diminish the hard work of those who spent years becoming a naturalized citizen. Why should we give citizens of other countries power in setting the policies of American governments?

Free, fair, and accountable elections are vital to the survival of our democracy, and lawful American citizens should never be denied the right to vote. I believe in protecting election integrity, and laws and policies like that of New York City, threaten that objective. Simply put, only Americans should vote in American elections. 

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Flags at Half-Staff at State Capitol in Honor of Former Supreme Court Justice Richard Sabers

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem ordered that flags be flown at half-staff at the State Capitol from sunrise until sunset on Monday, January 17 in honor of former State Supreme Court Justice Richard Sabers.

A funeral mass for Richard will take place at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Sioux Falls at 11 am on Monday, January 17.

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