Tuesday, South Dakota lawmakers failed to override Governor Dennis Daugaard’s veto of Senate Bill 136. Senators passed the override while House members failed to reach the two thirds vote needed to override. South Dakota Farmers Union Legislative Specialist Matt Sibley whose group backed the measure to classify buffer strips as non crop land and assessed property taxes at a lower rate than ag land was disappointed the measure didn’t hold up.
He says House members were likely worried about constitutional questions with the legislation following the Governor’s objections. Sibley says however those were misplaced.
Sibley says his group will take another try next session at getting the legislation approved.
Sibley says he was hoping the veto would have been overridden because with the measure in place it would have led to a minute tax shift. He says that would be better to take that pro active approach rather than having to put in a tax increase later to pay for clean up of the state’s waters.
