SOUTH DAKOTA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PASSES TOUGHER SUBPOENA POWERS FOR GOAC
PIERRE, S.D. (SDBA) – The House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday granting the Government Operations and Audit Committee (GOAC) expanded subpoena powers, removing a requirement for the Legislature’s Executive Board approval.
House Bill 1204, introduced by Rep. Julie Auch, R-Yankton, passed a narrow margin of 36-34 after a spirited debate on the House floor.
The legislation amends existing law by eliminating the requirement that the Executive Board ratify GOAC subpoenas.
“GOAC specifically is for the purpose of inquiry and review of any phase of the operation,” Auch said. “To investigate, to make sure that our government is running legitimately and to make sure that the dollars that are entrusted to our care by the South Dakota taxpayers are being spent responsibly.”
Supporters argued the current process creates unnecessary delays in investigations that could compromise the committee’s oversight responsibilities.
“We just had a debate about transparency. We just had a debate about efficiency,” Auch said in closing. “Why are you so afraid to give Government Operations and Audit Committee, if you are, why would you be afraid to give them subpoena power? Aren’t you in search of the truth?”
Opponents, including Rep. Rebecca Reimer, R-Chamberlain, expressed concerns about removing a layer of oversight.
“I think and believe that the legislature needs to be a strong voice and unified when we’re making these decisions,” Reimer said. “The eBoard, from my experience just this past summer, the eBoard, when we were called to vote on this, it took, I think, a three-day turnaround time.”
Rep. Phil Jensen, R-Rapid City, referenced past attempts to investigate millions of missing funds for Native American education.
“I’m telling you, there needs to be that power,” he said. “There needs to be that subpoena power, or we will continue for another decade or two to rank in the top three of most corrupt state governments.”
GOAC consists of legislators tasked with investigating state government operations and expenditures. The committee has to receive approval from the Executive Board before issuing subpoenas.
The bill now advances to the Senate. If signed into law, the new subpoena authority would take effect July 1.
RARE VOTE SEES SOUTH DAKOTA HOUSE UNANIMOUSLY REJECT PROPOSAL TO GUT VETERAN HEADSTONE PROGRAM
PIERRE, S.D. (Austin Goss / SDBA) – A move to defund a program that costs the state $52k a year to help mark the graves of deceased veterans in South Dakota failed to garner even one supportive vote on the House floor Tuesday.
Lawmakers rejected House Bill 1038 by a 0-70 vote, a rarity in either chamber. The measure — proposed by former Gov. Kristi Noem in her budget before she left office — would have completely cut a program that provides $100 to families of deceased veterans to help erect headstones to allow name, rank, and birthday and death days to be etched into the headstone.
Several veterans of the armed services, including former South Dakota National Guard head Tim Resich, spoe against the measure. Reps. Mike Derby and Al Novstrup — the chair and vice-chair of the House Appropriations Committee — changed their votes from “yes” to “no” after it took place.
The House Appropriations Committee advanced the measure to the floor by a 9-0 vote with a do pass recommendation. It is not uncommon for that committee to do so, allowing further discussion to take place amongst the full membership.
It’s one of several appropriations bills that the House and Senate have debated this “Crossover Day,” the deadline for bills to leave their house of origin.
REPRESENTATIVES PASS MORATORIUM ON CARBON PIPELINES CONTINGENT ON FEDERAL POLICY BEING FINALIZED
PIERRE, S.D. (SDBA) – The South Dakota House of Representatives approved a bill halting carbon dioxide pipeline construction until federal safety regulations are in place.
House Bill 1085, sponsored by Representative Richard Vasgaard, R-Lennox, passed 40-30 Tuesday, after the debate over safety vs. economic development.
“I believe that pipelines are safe, and I think they are the safest way of transporting something,” said Vasgaard. “But, at some point, something is going to happen.”
Vasgaard pointed to a CO2 pipeline rupture in Mississippi that sent about 40 people to the hospital and evacuated more than 300 residents. Those new safety rules are something the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration — PHMSA — is developing, and Vasgaard’s bill would halt CO2 pipeline construction until those regulations are finalized.
“CO2 is a very dangerous material,” Vasgaard said. “Our emergency responders are told if it’s a CO2 leak, stay out. It becomes a recovery mission, not a rescue mission.”
Lawmakers amended the bill, striking its emergency clause and lifting the prohibition once PHMSA issues new safety rules or the bill is repealed.
Representative Mike Weisgram, R-Fort Pierre, was among those who voted against the measure; he said it creates unnecessary hurdles.
“I’m opposed to an unelected bureaucracy of the Pipeline Hazardous Safety Administration giving an unselected time to these drafted rules,” Weisgram said. “You know, we have a property tax conundrum in this state, and the sales tax revenues are lower than desired. Why do we keep putting up barriers to a developer in a project that will contribute to our producers and a broader economy?”
In his closing remarks, Vasgaard brought up a farming accident where he lost his leg to a safety issue to the tractor he was driving.
“Once something happens, we can’t do it over again,” he said. “I think that this bill is trying to protect the people of South Dakota.”
BILLS TO ASSIST ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE AND SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES MOVE ON FOR FURTHER CONSIDERATION
PIERRE, S.D. (SDBA) – The Joint Committee on Appropriations voted 13-4 Tuesday to advance Senate Bill 16.
It would set aside contractors’ excise tax from Ellsworth Air Force Base construction projects for future base support.
The committee amended the bill to cap the appropriation at $100 to keep discussions alive through the budget process on Tuesday’s crossover day.
Supporters of the bill say Texas heavily supports Dyess Air Force Base, the other location where the new B-21 bombers will be stationed. Ellsworth is the other based slated for the next-generation bomber.
“The state of Texas has made at a minimum a contribution of $15 million annually to the Texas Military Preparedness Commission,” Ellsworth Development Authority Executive Director Scott Landguth told legislators.
Landguth noted Ellsworth generates substantial revenue for the state.
“The base had a total economic impact of over $880 million in 2023 alone. That is before construction started to ramp up,” he said.
Senator Taffy Howard, R-Rapid City, defended the bill against the opposition of the Bureau of Finance and Management.
“For those who make the argument that we’re going to be losing too much money if we do this… In the last 14 years, the state received an estimated total of $5.5 million in contractors’ excise tax. That’s averaging less than $400,000 a year.” Howard added, “Since the B-21 construction started in fiscal year 22, the state has already realized $9.3 million in contractors’ excise tax revenue.”
Retired Lieutenant General Jim Kowalski emphasized that quality of life measures are increasingly important in military basing decisions.
“That whole quality of life piece, which, frankly, in the past was largely ignored, is no longer ignored, he said.”
The committee also advanced SB 6, initially seeking $15 million for infrastructure projects related to Ellsworth’s expansion, but the committee amended it to $100.
Senator Glen Vilhauer, R-Watertown, questioned, “What were to happen, I can’t imagine what the circumstance would be, let’s say at some point down the road, all of a sudden, SDEDA (South Dakota Ellsworth Development Authority) disappears for whatever reason. What happens to whatever assets are in that fund at that point?”
BFM representative Derek Johnson opposed SB 16 because of the potential loss of state tax dollars.
“It would be a significant loss to future ongoing general funds.” He added, “Senate Bill 16 creates a new fund for the support of Ellsworth Air Force Base. All future contractors excise tax collected from projects on the base would go to the newly created fund rather than the general fund.”
Senator Howard responded, “There are several other instances of carve outs in our state. We have the mineral severance tax that goes to specific entities more so than other entities. We have the gambling tax revenue.”
The amendments to both bills ensure they remain alive for budget negotiations while legislators finalize the state’s fiscal priorities.
NEW REPORT PROPOSES ALLOWING USD LAW GRADS TO EARN THEIR LAW LICENSE THROUGH SUPERVISED RURAL PRACTICE
VERMILLION, S.D. (John Hult / South Dakota Searchlight) – As many as 50 South Dakota law students will be able to bypass the bar exam over the next five years under a set of rules for alternative licensure recently approved by the state Supreme Court.
The public pathways pilot program is an outgrowth of a yearslong debate on the value of the bar exam as a measure of fitness for legal service in the state. Those who pass an ethics test and successfully complete two years in a public service legal position, such as in a state’s attorney’s or public defender’s office, would be in line for admittance to the state bar without a passing score on the exam.
For about a decade, bar exam critics in South Dakota have decried the timed test as a barrier to the profession that can prevent otherwise competent lawyers from service based not on their ability, but upon slower reading speeds or extra time spent fine-tuning their analysis.
The test, they’ve argued, doesn’t mirror the day-to-day work of lawyering.
Several legislative efforts have failed to force the State Bar and University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law to embrace the concept of tying licensure to law school graduation and the successful completion of an ethics screening.
The exam’s supporters, including South Dakota Supreme Court Chief Justice Steven Jensen, argue that the multi-part test constitutes a bare minimum measurement of competence. The exam requirement, they say, acts as a baseline bulwark against gross ineptitude and fosters trust in a field whose practitioners are responsible for protecting the rights of South Dakotans involved in the criminal and civil court system.
The South Dakota conversation mirrors a national one; the national organization behind the bar exam has itself spent years reworking the test in response to concerns similar to those raised in South Dakota. States including New Hampshire already have public service pathways similar to the one now poised to begin its piloting phase in South Dakota.
The public service option was born in part through a bar alternatives task force requested by Chief Justice Jensen and endorsed by lawmakers. The group backed the pitch of supervised public service for young graduates of the state’s law school as a way to let them prove their mettle in a supervised setting. The program also aims to bolster the public service workforce in a state where rural areas struggle to sustain a reliable crop of lawyers.
The program will be jointly managed by the USD law school and the South Dakota Board of Bar Examiners. The examiner group will be responsible for monitoring the work product and supervisory reports of each participant.
The program will only be open to students at USD Law and will accept up to 10 participants each year. After five years and an evaluation of the program’s operational efficacy, the high court will need to decide whether to continue the public service pathway as a permanent alternative to the bar exam.
A complete list of program rules and eligibility criteria are available on the state Unified Judicial System’s website.
