Weekly Legislative Report by State Rep. Tim Reisch

Weekly Legislative Report
by State Rep. Tim Reisch

We’ve got five weeks down and four to go in this, the 100th session of the South Dakota Legislature. Several committees are having to reconvene following adjournment in the afternoons because their number of assigned bills is so high. Monday afternoon I was a member of two committees (State Affairs and Military & Veterans Affairs) that were meeting at the same time! This caused me to miss votes on three bills that were heard in State Affairs, but sometimes that’s unavoidable.

On Tuesday afternoon both sides of the prison construction bill (House Bill 1025) were given the opportunity to present their positions and field questions in a private caucus setting. In my opinion, Ryan Bruner from the governor’s office made the most compelling case for why the legislature should support the bill. The proposed prison facility is exactly what was recommended by an independent group of corrections experts that conducted a study of South Dakota’s prison system three years ago. During the 2024 legislative session, the Department of Corrections (DOC) was appropriated money to purchase the necessary land and to pay for design and engineering costs. This year’s bill would authorize the construction of the 1,500-bed facility south of Sioux Falls in Lincoln County. The total cost of the project including the land purchase, design, engineering and construction is $825 million.

On Wednesday, the prison construction bill was considered by the House State Affairs Committee. The SD Sheriffs’ Association and SD Chiefs of Police Association both testified in favor of building the new prison but didn’t want to take a position on the site the DOC had selected. The governor’s office and DOC personnel restated the arguments they’d effectively made the day before. Individuals who testified against the measure largely argued that it was being built in the wrong location or that the state was not following county zoning ordinances. No one argued that the 144-year-old penitentiary didn’t need to be replaced. I made it clear that I believed that the site selected by the DOC was a good location, and that we should authorize construction this year. Having previously served as Secretary of Corrections and having gone through the site selection process for a prison facility in Rapid City, I know first-hand that it is impossible to find a site that everyone is in favor of. Delaying the construction of the new prison for just one year is estimated to cost an additional $40 million or more.

The prison bill will next be considered by the House Appropriations Committee and then taken up by the whole House the next legislative day. Because it is a spending bill, it will require a 2/3rds margin to pass. We are very fortunate to have all the needed money set aside to pay for construction of this new facility, and I plan to vote in favor of it. If the measure fails to get the 2/3rds required for passage, legislators need to resist the temptation to spend those dollars on other pet projects. The cost for a new prison will continue to climb by an estimated 4% or more every year, and the need to replace the old penitentiary will not go away.

I enjoyed meeting with Madison Mayor Roy Lindsay, DSU President Jose-Marie Griffiths and Eric Hortness from the Madison Chamber of Commerce last week. I also enjoyed spending time with the Lake Preston and Sioux Valley senior high school classes while they were visiting the Capitol. If you want to get in touch with me during the session, my legislative email address is Tim.Reisch@sdlegislature.gov.