Governor’s race will affect legislation

Greetings! It’s getting to be that time of year again. The 101st legislative session starts Tuesday, Jan. 13 and goes through March 20. March 30 is reserved for any vetos the governor might have given. It takes a two-thirds vote in each body to override a governor’s veto, so 47 out of 70 House members and 24 out of 35 Senate members.
This session is going to be very challenging to say the least. Why is that? Well, it’s an election year, meaning all legislators are up for re-election, which happens every two years. Also, this election cycle, the governor is also up for re-election to a four-year term. I think legislators should have the same term the governor has. If it is a four-year term, then each legislator should have a four-year term as well. The governors used to be on a two-year cycle just like we the legislators are currently.
The part that’s going to make this session challenging is...yep, you guessed...the governor’s race. Unless you are still without electricity or have been living in a cave, we have four candidates in the Republican primary. They are Gov. Rhoden, who was appointed from his Lt. governor position when the governor (Kristi Noem) was selected to be President Trump’s, and the nation’s, Homeland Security Secretary. What a great honor and what a great job she is doing, such as going from 60,000 illegal border crossings to zero! Unbelievable!
So, back to the governor’s race. The candidates on the Republican side are Gov. Rhoden, Rep. Jon Hansen, Congressman Dusty Johnson, and businessman Toby Doeden. Hopefully we can put the governor’s race to the side and pass some meaningful legislation. But with Jon Hansen, who also is Speaker of the House, and Gov. Rhoden running for election, (not really re-election because he was appointed, not elected), it is almost certainly going to affect legislation.
I know Gov. Rhoden, Rep. Hansen, and Congressman Johnson and consider them to be personal friends of mine. Toby Doeden I did go visit for a couple of hours at his Aberdeen residence, so I’ve talked with him, but really don’t know him.
No offense to the Democrats but the election for the next governor will be on the primary ballot June 2. Whoever wins then will win in the general election in November.
One item not many people are aware of is that it takes 35 percent or greater of the vote to win the primary. If none of the four receive 35 percent or more, the top two have a runoff. This is a real possibility. In the 105 legislative races, its simply whoever gets the most votes.
So, I’m working on bills I’m proposing and bartering with other legislators to sign on or getting them to sign on to bills in the hopper.
How do we do this before even arriving in Pierre January 13? We all have laptops that have Legislative Research Council access. We can get a bill drawn up, and drop it for the other legislators to sign on to, and even to get it up for the public to see before we ever arrive in Pierre.
Next week I’ll cover some of my bills and others that will be dealt with during the 101st legislative session. Until then.