Go to one plate to fight Big Brother?

By: 
Rep. Tim Goodwin

Greetings. Here is an all inclusive list of all the election administration deadlines.
Poll worker names due to county auditor: Sept. 21. Absentee voting begins: Sept. 18
Voter registration deadline: Oct. 19.
Last day to request absentee ballot: Nov. 2.
In-person absentee voting ends: Nov. 2.
Logic and accuracy (tabulator) testing: Set by each county auditor
Nursing home/assisted living absentee voting: Set by each county auditor
General Election Day: Nov. 3, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
There is growing concern regarding Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs). Every state except Alaska is using them, with about half of the 50 states starting to regulate them. Basically there are cameras that read your license plate while you are traveling on the road. These cameras collect large amounts of data.
Definitely, in my opinion, Big Brother is watching. Not to be confused with the TV show “Big Brother.” This ties hand in glove for the perceived need to build data centers to store all the information. I really don’t think that the framers of our Constitution ever thought that government could get this intrusive.
Our attorney general, Marty Jackley, is addressing this, but basically, even though his intentions are pure, still Big Brother/government is collecting lots of data on you.
One thing we could do as a state to fight back just a little bit is...ready?...drum roll please...pass a bill that eliminates the front license plate on your vehicle. This is a conservative bill, as we would only have half the cost because we cut the number of license plates needed by 50 percent.
There currently are 22 one-plate states that require a rear license plate only. They are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia. 
The reason I listed those is for your homework. If you desire to participate, I bet everyone knows at least one person in one of those 22 states. What I’m asking is for you to give them a call and ask their opinion about how only having one plate is working. Then, just to test the water on this idea of changing South Dakota to a one-plate state, just shoot me an email to tim.goodwin@sdlegislature.gov. All you have to say is “yes” meaning you are in favor of only one plate or “no” meaning you are not in favor.
I can guarantee the automated license plate reader folks are not in favor. For some reason, our government, ie: Big Brother, is going overboard sticking their nose into our private lives. I don’t like it, and if having only a rear license plate can slow this down just a little, I’m in favor.
So, I’m listening to you, the good citizens of District 30 (Fall River County, Custer County, portions of Pennington County). Do you want me to draft legislation to make us a one-plate state? I will do whatever you recommend and provide the number of yeas and nays in two weeks.

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