RHODEN UNVEILS HOMEOWNER TAX RELIEF PROPOSAL

PIERRE, S.D. (Todd Epp / SDBA) – Governor Larry Rhoden announced a new plan Monday to help South Dakota homeowners pay less in property taxes.

The proposal would allow counties to add a small sales tax to offset lower property taxes.

“The people of South Dakota deserve a real property tax cut,” said Governor Rhoden at a press conference on March 31. “We’re not done yet.”

Called the Homeowner Tax Relief Program, the plan would give each county the choice to add a sales tax of up to 0.5 percent. All money from this tax would go directly to reduce property taxes for homeowners in that county.

The plan includes several key points:

• County commissioners would decide whether to add the sales tax
• Voters could request a public vote on the plan
• All money would go into a Property Tax Reduction Fund
• The funds would first reduce taxes for owner-occupied homes
• If all homeowner taxes are paid off, leftover money would help other property types

With this plan, homeowners in Pennington County who own a $325,000 home would save about $917 per year. In Minnehaha County, the same-value home would save $967 annually. This represents about 21-22 percent of the total tax bill for these homes.

“I wanted to take more of a rifle shot approach,” Rhoden emphasized. “We had over 20 pieces of legislation dealing with property tax relief. In my view, the problem with most of those bills is they were proposing a statewide solution to a five-county problem.”

The governor highlighted that this approach would capture tourism dollars to help local homeowners. “I wanted to make sure this was 100% property tax relief,” he emphasized. “I feel like we had a good session, you know, given the cards that we were dealt.”

Rhoden will present this proposal to the legislature’s Property Tax Relief Task Force, which was recently formed to study tax relief options. The governor has appointed Kirk Chaffee as his representative on the committee.

The plan comes after lawmakers passed Senate Bill 216 earlier this year, which Rhoden called a “stopgap” measure. This new proposal aims to provide more meaningful and long-term property tax relief.

“I’ve been in their shoes for 16 years,” Rhoden reflected about lawmakers. “You organize a task force, and you find yourself at a loss for coming up with a starting point. I think it was kind of a relief to some of the legislators that I talked to that they had something they could run with right off the bat.”

The task force will work on the proposal throughout the summer and fall, before the next legislative session.

 

SENATE SUSTAINS GOVERNOR’S VETO OF HB 1169

PIERRE, S.D. (SDBA) — The South Dakota Legislature failed Monday to override Governor Larry Rhoden’s veto of House Bill 1169, a measure that would have changed how citizens propose amendments to the state constitution.

While the House voted 50-18 to override the veto, reaching the required two-thirds majority, the Senate deadlocked 16-16, falling short of the votes needed to override. The governor’s veto was sustained with a tie vote in the Senate.

The bill would have required petition signatures from all 35 state Senate districts to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot. Petitioners would have needed signatures equal to at least 5 percent of the votes cast for governor in each district during the last election.

“Please support this. Please give rural South Dakota a voice,” said Sen. Tom Pischke, R-Dell Rapids.

Governor Rhoden vetoed the bill on March 28, expressing concerns about its constitutionality.

“I am concerned that this bill will not withstand scrutiny in the courts. This bill attempts to change the South Dakota Constitution in statute, and I believe that approach is to be misguided,” Rhoden wrote in his veto message.

The bill sparked intense debate between lawmakers representing rural and urban areas.

Rep. Rebecca Reimer, R-Chamberlain, who introduced the bill, argued it would give voice to rural areas often overlooked in the petition process.

“Many of my constituents and many of yours live in towns even smaller, in smaller towns and on farms and on ranches. And I submit to you that many of our constituents have never been approached by petition circulators,” Reimer said.

Rep. Kadyn Wittman, D-Sioux Falls, highlighted opposition to the bill.

“We saw a great many issues with this specific piece of legislation, and we attempted to raise red flags and yet six no votes,” Wittman said. “I would request all of you to support the governor’s veto today.”

Sen. Steve Kolbeck, R-Sioux Falls, argued the bill was unfair. When passed in the House, there were only six no votes, five of them by Democrats.

“You cannot value one voter signature over another. Just because the 5 percent here or 5 percent there, they can get the signatures in Rapid City and Sioux Falls, those voters have rights,” Kolbeck said.

Pischke defended the bill by citing Article 23, Section 1 of the state constitution, which uses the words “at least 10%” for required signatures.

“This is constitutional because the ‘at least’ would be the minimum. It’s the basement. It’s the floor,” Pischke argued.

The governor’s veto stands with the Senate’s tie vote, and House Bill 1169 will not become law.

Monday was the 38th and final day of the 2025 South Dakota Legislative session.

 

FEDERAL COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF SOUTH DAKOTA IN NCAA LAWSUIT

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Attorney General Marty Jackley announced that U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier has ruled that the state’s lawsuit against the NCAA should be heard in South Dakota circuit court and not federal court as requested by the NCAA.

Jackley and the South Dakota Board of Regents, on behalf of South Dakota State University and the University of South Dakota, had filed a lawsuit in September against the NCAA and its proposed $2.8 billion settlement between the NCAA and the “Power Four” conferences. The lawsuit argues that the settlement unfairly forces smaller schools like the South Dakota schools to be responsible for a disproportionate share of the settlement cost.

“We intend to stop the NCAA from forcing South Dakota’s Universities and students to be responsible for $8 million in the NCAA’s mistake,” said Attorney General Jackley.  “This amount will negatively impact student athletes at South Dakota’s two Division I universities.”

Attorney General Jackley said South Dakota is seeking an injunction in Brookings County Circuit Court to require the NCAA to hold a vote on how it intends to have schools pay for this settlement.  This vote would allow South Dakota’s and other states’ universities to have a voice in the settlement that the NCAA has so far denied them.

No date has yet been set for a hearing of the state complaint in Brookings County.

 

LAKE AREA TECH RAISES TUITION FOR FALL 2025

WATERTOWN, S.D. – The Watertown School District Board approved an increase in tuition and fee rates for Lake Area Technical College (LATC) for the 2025-2026 academic year during its meeting yesterday.

The decision follows a review of information from the South Dakota Board of Technical Education, which indicated a need to adjust rates to support the delivery of high-quality technical education. The approved rates represent an overall 4.8% increase in total state tuition and fees compared to the current fiscal year (FY25). This marks a cumulative 6.7% rise in these rates since the 2020-2021 academic year (FY21).

The board approved tuition at $130 per credit. While the demonstrated need was $140 per credit, a state tuition assistance allocation will cover $10 per credit for students. A Facility Fee of $36 per credit, and a maintenance & repair fee of $8 per credit, representing a $2 increase from the FY25 rate of $6 per credit.

The combination of these changes results in the total state tuition and fees for students attending LATC in the 2025-2026 academic year increasing to $174 per credit, up from $166 per credit in FY25, representing an overall $8 per credit increase.

The new rates will take effect for all students enrolling at LATC starting in the fall of 2025.