Weekly Update
from Representative Tamara St. John
Jan 28, 2023
Greetings!
It has been a very busy third week in Pierre! Things kicked off Monday on the House floor, when we debated SB41, which provides $200 Million In grants and loans for workforce infrastructure. This funding is not in addition to the bill that was passed last year- we must appropriate the funds again due to them not being able to be spent during the previous fiscal year. I’ve been a proud supporter of workforce infrastructure for two years now, and these funds will serve our communities in a monumental way as our economy continues to grow in South Dakota. Additionally, we passed HCR 6002. Which encourages the Executive Board of the legislature to continue researching childhood mental health programs. I believe supporting our children in this way is a needed service for our state, and I was happy to support it.
In House Judiciary this week, I was proud to support HB1041, which provides an exception to the definition of drug paraphernalia to allow for the use of Fentanyl testing strips. This bill is not a “green light” for drug use. Addiction and drug use is a serious problem in South Dakota, and this bill will do great work in helping to prevent overdoses in our communities. Committee work continued into House Ag and Natural Resources, where we heard a presentation from the South Dakota Ag Land Trust. In this briefing, they outlined the services and advocacy efforts that they deliver on behalf of landowners in South Dakota. It was great to hear about their work!
One important date that is coming up in the legislature is the bill deadline- after next week, members are no longer able to introduce legislation into the process, which helps make sure we can conduct our business within the time we have. Here are a couple of the bills that I have signed onto:
- HB1124: I am proud to sign onto an act that is prime sponsored by my son, Representative Tordsen. This bill requires labeling on Native American Arts and Crafts that are not produced by a tribal member. I agree that we must preserve authentic Native American heritage, and proudly support my son in this legislation.
- SB136: This is act that I will be co-sponsoring, which provides for a rebuttal presumption favoring the joint custody of children when the separation of parents takes place. This presumption can be overturned with evidence but assumes that it is best for children to see both parents as they grow up. I believe that family is an important value of any child’s life and am happy to see this legislation brought forward.
- SB69: This past week we had a great State Tribal Relations Committee meeting with the Yankton Sioux Tribe. Senator Rohl and I have been working together to bring us closer to where we hope to be as a State Tribal Relations Committee/STRC in the future. We have heard many discussions in the past about making the STRC a Standing Committee that meets regularly during legislative session. To make that happen we need to bring the STRC in line with the standards of a standing committee and SB69 is the first step in doing that. I will be carrying SB69 in the House to make that change.
I will be doing a larger column in the future on the State Tribal Relations Committee is progressing to engage tribal nations and bring tribal leaders and issues into direct conversations with legislators who can possibly help them to make needed changes or impact who we work together in the future. This past week we have a great meeting with the Yankton Sioux Tribe. Senator Rohl and I have been working together find how best to make these connections and meetings happen. I have been working with tribal people and programs who have ongoing relationships with the State of South Dakota such as in the previous agenda with the Attorney Generals Office and the MMIW/MMIP issue, housing and Native Homeownership Coalition, Native American Tourism and others. Senator Rohl has been leading the efforts to schedule one on one meetings with our South Dakota Tribal Nations. It’s my personal belief that continuing both efforts will bring us closer to where we hope to be as a State Tribal Relations Committee in the future. I think we all agree that we need good communication and change in this area. We have heard many discussions in the past about making the State Tribal Relations Committee a “Standing Committee” like every other committee that meets regularly during legislative session. In order to make that happen we need to bring it in line with the standards of a standing committee and SB69 is the first step in doing that and I will be carrying SB69 in the House to make that change.
There is much, much more to come in the weeks ahead! If you would like to contact me about anything in the legislature, you can reach me at [email protected]. I hope that you have a blessed weekend!
SB 136. UGH. When is enough, enough?
When are people going to figure out that if divorcing parents don’t come into family court with a shared parenting plan they have worked out between themselves, having a judge order one isn’t going to work?
Shared parenting requires a level of cooperation and commitment which, if you worked together that well, you’d still be married to each other.
No judge can resolve your personal problems; you have to work that out by yourselves.
“Shared parenting requires a level of cooperation and commitment which, if you worked together that well, you’d still be married to each other.”
Not always the case. Presumptive joint custody is growing rapidly as more fathers are getting more involved with their children’s lives.
I have held joint custody. At the time, my ex and I were informed that judges don’t like it because in a few years, the parents are back in court.
But we got it because we both agreed to it, but less than three years later, we were back in court. Ugh!
it was hard. People have commented on the fact that we spent holidays together so the kids didn’t have to choose, danced together at our sons’ weddings, and attended each others’ daughter’s-from-second-marriages weddings. In many ways it has been like we are still married. Our current spouses have had to put up with a lot. Watching Polygamy TV shows, I realize it would have been easier if we’d lived next door to each other. Anybody who thinks shared parenting is a good idea should plan to model their parenting plan on polygamists’ lifestyles, because that’s what it’s like.
My younger son has a stepdaughter in a shared parenting arrangement and it’s terrible. There is no discipline; he describes how he and her mother will restrict privileges or require certain duties and her father blows them off. It was her father’s objection to the covid vaccine which really irritated my son. They let her father decide she would not be vaccinated, but when she got Covid, it was my son the stepfather who took care of her, when she was in so much pain she was crying, taking her to Urgent Care and the hospital ER, because he is the adult who works from home. Her mother had to work outside the home so she stayed away in another part of the house. Her father didn’t have to do it, all he did was complain because he was required to quarantine and had to cancel a party he planned to host. Having a parent who can make decisions he won’t have to suffer the consequences of really stinks.
No judicial order can resolve these problems because they are your personal problems. You have to figure them out for yourselves. If you want a judge to fix it for you, codified law should allow the judges the leeway to do it as they see fit.
Keep up the great work Representative St. John!