SOUTH DAKOTA LAWMAKERS LOOKING AHEAD TO RHODEN AS GOVERNOR AND SPECULATING ON HIS PICK FOR LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
PIERRE, S.D. (Joshua Haiar / South Dakota Searchlight) – State lawmakers from across the political spectrum are expressing confidence in Lt. Gov. Larry Rhoden while he prepares to potentially succeed Gov. Kristi Noem early next year. They’re also wondering who Rhoden might choose as his own lieutenant governor.
Meanwhile, Rhoden himself has said little publicly, except to provide a statement congratulating Noem on her recent nomination by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The nomination won’t officially be sent to the U.S. Senate until Trump takes office in January, the same month South Dakota’s Legislature will convene for its annual lawmaking session in Pierre.
State Senator-elect Jamie Smith, D-Sioux Falls, served previously in the Legislature and ran against Noem for governor in 2018.
“I’ve always had a good working relationship with the lieutenant governor,” Smith said. “I believe this change creates new opportunities to work together for the betterment of South Dakota.”
House Speaker Pro Tempore Karla Lems, R-Canton, believes legislative priorities will remain consistent regardless of who is governor.
“It will not change much in terms of bills proposed,” she said. “I believe the current legislators will strive to work with Lieutenant Governor Rhoden to accomplish legislation on behalf of the people of South Dakota.”
If Rhoden becomes governor, he’ll have to appoint a new lieutenant governor. And one of the lieutenant governor’s roles is serving as president of the state Senate.
Sen. Randy Deibert, R-Spearfish, said it will be important to have a lieutenant governor with substantial legislative experience.
“If that’s going to happen, we should get that appointment made as soon as possible, so we can hit the ground running,” Deibert said. “With a significant number of new senators and a fresh leadership team, strong guidance from an experienced Senate president will be crucial.”
Rhoden has not said whether he will run for governor in 2026.
Sen. Casey Crabtree, R-Madison, was president pro tempore of the Senate for the last Legislature. He said Rhoden’s lieutenant governor will likely be someone familiar with the Senate’s workings, capable of aiding in governance, and strategic on the campaign trail for a potential 2026 gubernatorial run.
“Rhoden’s team would likely want someone strong along the I-29 corridor given he already has West River credentials,” Crabtree said.
The transition may lead to a shift in style in the governor’s office. Noem is nationally known and has spent significant time outside the state campaigning for Trump and other Republican candidates. Crabtree highlighted Rhoden’s 16 years as a legislator and described him as a leader focused on “the nuts and bolts” of government.
Rhoden is a lifelong rancher and a custom welder from rural Union Center in western South Dakota. He is married to Sandy Rhoden, and they have four sons and six grandchildren.
STATE LAWMAKERS QUESTION AUTHORITY FOR $20 MILLION SHOOTING COMPLEX BUT THE PROJECT MOVES AHEAD ANYWAY
PIERRE, S.D. (Joshua Haiar / South Dakota Searchlight) – Some lawmakers on a budget committee questioned whether a state department has spending authority to move forward with a controversial $20 million shooting complex north of Rapid City.
Yet the project is under construction and the lawmakers have not taken action to stop it.
Department of Game, Fish and Parks Secretary Kevin Robling presented a status update Thursday in Pierre to the Legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee.
One of the committee’s responsibilities is vetting departmental budgets. Rep. Chris Karr, R-Sioux Falls, has served on the budget committee since 2017. He questioned Robling about the source of the department’s authority to pursue the shooting complex.
Robling said it was in recent informational budgets presented to the committee with line items labeled for “Black Hills Shooting Range” and “Rapid City Shooting Complex.”
Karr said he remembered discussing various projects, but not the shooting complex.
“I remember asking you questions about capital projects: How you rank them, how you prioritize them, how many dollars you have available, etcetera,” Karr said. “I don’t remember seeing this and going, ‘Hey this looks like it’s going to go to the shooting range, and in a couple years you’re going to build a $20 million shooting range based on the authority we’re giving you in these last couple of budgets.”
In 2021, lawmakers rejected a $2.5 million appropriation for the project. They rejected more funding attempts for the complex in 2022, citing concerns over a lack of project details and potential costs.
Monday, Karr asked if other lawmakers on the committee recalled giving the department the spending authority. He was met with an audible “no” from lawmakers including Rep. Linda Duba, D-Sioux Falls, and Sen. Ryan Maher, R-Isabel.
After the meeting, Maher voiced frustration to South Dakota Searchlight over what he described as declining legislative oversight over state spending. He said the amount of funding departments transfer for other purposes, or spend without direct approval, has increased since he came to office in 2007. Maher lost his primary election in June and will leave office in January.
“This business of continuous appropriations and budget transfers, there’s just too much of it,” Maher said.
He hopes lawmakers lead efforts to give the Legislature more budgetary oversight during the upcoming session.
Maher and Karr have been frustrated with how Gov. Kristi Noem’s administration has gone about the shooting-range project for a while now.
While legislators were passing a law in March requiring more information from her administration about the Future Fund that she controls, Noem was awarding $13.5 million from it to the shooting range, unbeknownst to lawmakers. Karr and Maher didn’t find out about the Future Fund award until South Dakota Searchlight learned about it and told them.
The late Gov. George Mickelson convinced lawmakers to create the Future Fund in 1987. State law says the fund must be used “for purposes related to research and economic development for the state.” The fund is held by the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, but unlike other funds managed by the office, the Future Fund is not overseen by a board of citizen appointees.
The shooting range is being built on a 400-acre site roughly 15 miles north of Rapid City and 25 miles southeast of Sturgis. Robling said it will host national shooting competitions and shooters from around the county.
The department initially said in 2021 that the project would cost $9.9 million. That grew to $12 million in 2022. Then the department paused the project when calls for bids attracted only one. The department wanted to use federal Pittman-Robertson funds – which come from taxes on guns, bows and ammunition to support wildlife conservation and hunter education – to help offset the cost. That is, until it learned more time was needed to analyze the site’s archaeological significance to Native Americans, which led the department to withdraw its federal funding request.
Then, Noem gave the project $13.5 million from the Future Fund. Another $6.5 million has come in the form of donations. About $7 million has been spent so far, Robling told lawmakers.
Robling said the project will need three full-time employees, who will be reallocated internally, as well as seasonal staff and volunteers.
Some lawmakers expressed doubt about the staffing plan Thursday.
“I think you’re really underestimating what it’s going to take to run this facility,” Karr said.
Duba, who did not seek reelection this year and will leave office in January, told South Dakota Searchlight after the meeting that she fears the maintenance of the shooting complex could strain the department’s resources.
“The 2025 Appropriations Committee needs to take a close look at the plan,” Duba said. “The secretary referenced using existing funds. What other facilities will suffer?”
Robling told the committee he expects a grand opening for the shooting range in the fall of 2025. The department expects the complex to generate around $550,000 in annual revenue, though he acknowledged it would not be profitable and would require financial supplementation through federal Pittman-Robertson funds.
No lawmakers asked how the department can use those funds for the project’s operations after the department withdrew its request for Pittman-Robertson construction funds to avoid allowing more time to analyze the project site’s significance to Native Americans. The Department of Game, Fish and Parks did not immediately respond to a South Dakota Searchlight message seeking an explanation.
NURSING HOME REPRESENTATIVES HOPE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION PUTS A STOP TO ‘IMPOSSIBLE’ STAFFING RULE
SOUTH DAKOTA (Makenzie Huber / South Dakota Searchlight) – Organizations representing South Dakota nursing homes are hopeful President-elect Donald Trump will halt a staffing rule they say could devastate their industry.
The organizations have said for over a year that a new staffing rule imposed by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid under President Joe Biden will decimate nursing homes in the state. The price tag for South Dakota nursing homes will be just under $20 million, or $205,000 per facility, they estimate.
“I think we can look forward to different outcomes with those different policymakers in place, not taking that for granted or counting on it as we continue to pursue other strategies,” said Brett Hoffman, director of public policy and communications with the South Dakota Health Care Association. He spoke to the Legislature’s budget committee Thursday in Pierre.
The rule is aimed at increasing accountability and addressing chronically understaffed nursing homes, which can lead to low quality and unsafe care, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Urban areas of the state, such as Sioux Falls and Rapid City as well as midsize cities such as Aberdeen, Spearfish and Yankton, must meet requirements by May 2026. Rural areas have until May 2027.
The most controversial rules dictate that a registered nurse be on staff at all times and that nursing homes meet a staffing standard of 3.48 hours per resident day.
It would be “impossible” to implement the requirements in South Dakota, Hoffman said. He added that up to 600 nursing home residents — 12.5% of the statewide nursing home resident population — would be at risk for displacement.
After a sharp decline during the pandemic in staffing and slow recovery since then, the rule could cost significantly more if nursing homes must contract travel nurses, said Justin Hinker, vice president of post-acute care at the South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations.
About 5% of South Dakota facilities currently meet the hours per resident day requirement, Hinker added.
Two lawsuits are challenging the rule, including one involving South Dakota, and there are several federal bills that could overturn the rule, Hinker said. A potential U.S. Supreme Court decision in a separate case could impact federal agencies’ rulemaking authority.
“We’re not opposed to adequate staffing, but we’re not in favor of a one-size-fits-all,” Hinker said.
Hinker told lawmakers a withdrawal of the rule is not the only action needed to support nursing homes in the state. Lawmakers should continue to invest in the “health care continuum” for South Dakota seniors, he said, including assisted living, home health, hospice and palliative care.
