GOVERNOR CALLS FOR SPECIAL SESSION AND PUTS LINCOLN COUNTY PRISON PROJECT ON PAUSE – FOR NOW
PIERRE, S.D. (SDBA) – Lincoln County might not be the site of a new prison after all, but that won’t be decided until this summer.
Governor Larry Rhoden has signed an executive order to form a working group that will reassess the Department of Corrections’ (DOC) plan to construct a 1,500-bed correctional facility south of Harrisburg, while calling for a special legislative session in July to make a final decision.
“This working group is our ‘reset’ button. Everything that came before is in the rearview mirror. From now on, we’re looking forward,” Rhoden said during a morning press conference at the Capitol on Thursday.
The announcement acknowledges heavy opposition to the project among state lawmakers, and comes after legislators earlier this week rejected a spending bill that would have been the final piece of funding necessary to move forward with the proposed $825 million prison. And with a requirement that two-thirds of both the state House and Senate sign off on the allocation of those dollars, it became increasingly unlikely that the DOC and the governor’s office could earn approval for the project from this year’s state Legislature.
“We’ve received the message that the current prison plan does not have buy-in this legislative session,” said Rhoden, adding that the panel will be tasked with determining if a new prison is needed, how big it should be and where it should go.
Calling the initiative “Project Prison Reset,” Rhoden said the first of those questions should be the simplest to answer because “pretty much everyone” understands there’s a need to replace the state’s aging penitentiary in Sioux Falls. However, there’s no consensus about the site and scope of a new correctional facility, a reality that the group — a mix of lawmakers and other interested stakeholders — will work to address, he said.
Project Prison Reset will include eight House members, seven senators and at least seven others. Legislators on the panel include Speaker Jon Hansen, House Majority Leader Scott Odenbach, Speaker Pro Tempore Karla Lems, Reps. Tim Reisch, Greg Jamison, Brian Mulder and Jack Kolbeck, as well as House Minority Leader Erin Healy. Senate members include Senate President Pro Tempore Chris Karr, Senate Majority Leader Jim Mehlhaff, Sens. Ernie Otten, Mark Lapka, Steve Kolbeck and Joy Hohn, along with Assistant Senate Minority Leader Jamie Smith. Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen will be chairman of the group, which will also include public safety, judicial and mental health officials.
To assist them, a consultant will be hired to analyze DOC infrastructure, shortcomings and future needs. While the project that had been in the works at the Lincoln County site also relied on the direction of a consultant’s report put together in 2021, Venhuizen said too many lawmakers remain skeptical.
“I don’t think it’s viable to just rely on the old consultant report because there are people that don’t accept it, so that’s why (we are) going to hit the reset button and start over on some of those things,” the Lieutenant Governor said.
Although dirt work and other site preparations have already begun on the Lincoln County prison site, selected by the DOC for the facility in 2023, the governor’s office’s pivot means that work will cease until the working group makes its recommendations to the Legislature. And that will have to come no later than July 22, the day Rhoden will call lawmakers back to the Capitol for a special session on the prison.
Project Prison Reset is a welcome development for lawmakers who’ve been critical of the plan, including members of Rhoden’s working group.
“I applaud the governor for a thoughtful and logical approach to addressing South Dakota’s incarceration needs. We need to be problem solvers and address those needs,” Karr said. “We need to look at this issue with all options on the table with an emphasis on safety for the workers and inmates as well as addressing rehabilitation, programming and job skills to prepare individuals for re-entry.”
The working group will meet every four weeks beginning April 2. Its meetings will be conducted in public, according to the governor’s office.
JOSEPH HOEK MAKES APPEARANCE IN MOODY COUNTY COURT, TRIAL DATE MOVED TO OCTOBER 14, 2025
FLANDREAU, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – The man charged in the death of Moody County Chief Deputy Ken Prorok was in court on Thursday and the next steps toward his trial have been set in motion.
Joseph Hoek made an appearance at the Moody County Courthouse Thursday afternoon in Flandreau where he currently faces charges of first-degree murder and aggravated alluding following a chase in 2024 that resulted in the death of Prorok.
The first-degree murder charge carries a sentence of death or life in prison, but Attorney General Marty Jackley said the state still intends on seeking the death penalty for Hoek.
Due to the severity of the case, the defense requested and was granted a trial date of Oct. 14, changing the original start from May 19.
It was a motion that Jackley objected to, but understood why as the defense needed more time to guarantee due process.
“This case is proceeding on with a not guilty plea. The state was prepared for trial on May 19 and will be ready for trial on October 14, and ensuring everything we can that he receives his due process and the victim’s family has a voice,” Jackley explained.
Jackley also added that Hoek has until the trial date to change his plea, but does not anticipate that happening.
The next court date regarding the trial is set for May 8.
JOINT APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE KEEPS SOME FUNDING BILLS ALIVE WHILE KILLING OTHERS
PIERRE, S.D. (Todd Epp / SDBA) – The South Dakota Joint Committee on Appropriations approved several bills on Thursday with drastically reduced funding amounts as the ongoing negotiations between the chambers continued during the 100th legislative session.
The committee made three significant funding measures to token $100 appropriations to allow the bills to proceed while discussions on final funding levels continue.
The committee amended SB 95, reducing the funding request from $25 million to just $100. The amendment also stretches the reversion date from 2028 to 2030.
“This is a really big conversation about some really big infrastructure for our rural communities,” Sioux Falls Democrat Rep. Erik Muckey said during the hearing, arguing that it should remain alive with support. The measure passed unanimously, 18-0.
Similarly, lawmakers trimmed SB 132, which had started as $30 million for airport terminal improvements and expansion, to $100.
“That will help to keep the discussion going on this very important topic,” Rapid City Republican Sen. Mike Derby said as he offered the amendment that passed 14 to 4.
H.B. 1041, the state library revisions, drew more significant discussion. It ends the State Library Board but keeps essential library services after earlier budget reduction proposals.
The compromise, according to Education Secretary Joe Graves, “We were able to maintain the federal allocation, and that’s what makes the difference.”
The new plan keeps eight full-time employees and about $1.3 million in general funds, which allows the Department of Education to keep $1.4 million in federal funding and support 17 full-time positions.
Online databases, digital reference services, children’s programming support, braille and talking books, and interlibrary loan are some of the key services that remain available. The bill passed 16-2.
Two other bills took entirely different paths. The committee tabled public transit grants SB 195 and H.B. 1163 to assist in constructing a veteran’s skilled trade center.
Committee Co-Chair Sen. Ernie Otten pointed out that the funding reductions on the approved bills allow for further discussion between the chambers over priorities and actual numbers, until everyone knows what is most important.
The revised bills can then move on to their respective chambers for further consideration.
IOWA REPUBLICANS APPROVE BILL TO REMOVE CIVIL RIGHTS PROTECTIONS FOR TRANSGENDER PEOPLE
DES MOINES, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa Capitol Bureau) – Republicans in the Iowa House and Senate approved legislation Thursday afternoon that would remove additional legal protections for gender identity from the Iowa Civil Rights Act that a previous legislature approved in 2007.
Lawmakers in both chambers debated the bill simultaneously, which continued a strategy that Republican leadership used to speed up the legislative process. The legislation will essentially go from start to finish in less than a week.
One of the largest protest rallies in several years took place on multiple floors of the Iowa Statehouse before debate began.
The day started with a public hearing that Democrats had requested for the public to weigh in on the legislation.
The debate over civil rights protections in the Iowa House was personal for Rep. Aime Wichtendahl (D-Hiawatha), who is transgender.
“It pains me to hear the slander, the stereotypes, and the fear leveled at the trans community,” she said.
Wichtendahl says she experienced discrimination when her landlord evicted her after she transitioned. That was before the legislature approved civil rights protections for transgender Iowans, protections now being taken away.
“This bill revokes protections to our jobs, our homes, and our ability to access credit. In other words, it deprives us of our life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness,” she said.
Nearly every Democrat who spoke on the floor mentioned the state’s motto in their speeches.
Rep. Steve Holt (R-Denison), the bill’s author said, “Our liberties we prize our rights and our rights we will maintain. Does that also apply to women?
Holt says this legislation is needed to ensure laws passed by Republicans, like a ban on transgender girls playing in women’s sports, can’t be overturned.
“Current Iowa code with gender identity as protected class does not accomplish this and it stands in the way of Iowans trying to implement common sense policies and exercise their rights,” he said.
Holt says transgender Iowans will still have protections from discrimination, and this bill is needed to make women’s spaces safer.
“They will not be able to use public restrooms, dressing rooms and showers designated for the opposite sex,” he said.
All but five house Republicans voted for the bill. All Republican senators voted for it.
