Inbox has been flooded on SDPB, library, prison
Greetings! Week two of the 100th legislative session is in the books. What an exciting time for South Dakota. I’m sure you’ve heard that Gov. Noem was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to become the nation’s Homeland Security secretary. She has resigned her position as our 33rd governor. Now lieutenant governor automatically moves up to the governor position. Next he announces his lieutentan governor pick and both chambers need to confirm the selection.
Precedence has been set in 1993 when Gov. Mickelson and his cabinet tragically died in an airplane crash. Lt. Gov. Walter Dale Miller became governor and he selected Steve Kirby to be his lieutenant governor.
Back to what’s happening in the legislative branch now. Bills are being dropped and committee testimony has begun. As stated before, my email is swamped with library, S.D. Public TV, and the state penitentiary issues, along with $4 million in school vouchers given to the 1,333 who need it the most.
Let’s start off with the new penitentiary complex. Cost is $825 million. We developed a prison construction fund in which we socked Covid money mandatorily sent to our state. Some of us thought this was a gross waste of spending by federal government. However, if we sent the money back to the federal government, it wouldn’t go to draw down national debt, but would just be divided among other states that cheerfully accepted the monies.
So, the long and short is that we put approximately $500 million in this prison construction fund of which we have earned around $70 million interest.
What Gov. Noem asked for in her proposed budget was for an additional $182 million to pay cash for the new penitentiary. So, here’s a possible compromise. The 320 acres (two quarters) of land that are slated for the new complex was School and Public Lands ground. It should be just a transfer between agencies, right? Not so fast.
The state has paid to School and Public Lands $8 million for these twho quarters! That’s $25,000 per acre! My compromise is just a transfer of land between these two state agencies with no money exchanging hands. It’s already owned by the state of South Dakota, so why make taxpayers pay the $8 million?
If we did this, we could fund the proposed library, S.D. Public TV, and the $4 million for vouchers, should the voucher program pass.
If the voucher program doesn’t pass, there are a lot of other worthy programs this money could fund or just lower our budget. Makes sense to you, the taxpayers? Does to me.
To the citizens of District 30 and to the men and women in uniform, in honor of all who served, in respectful memory of all who fell and in great appreciation to those who serve today, thank you for giving me the opportunity to represent you.