There is much to tackle this session

Once again, South Dakota weather is following the Farmer’s Almanac! 

It predicted that we could expect a drier, yet much colder winter this year. Unfortunately, they failed to mention the wind factor. Chilling temperatures coupled with the arctic blast has taken its toll on our district. Electric was out for days and we lost countless trees. Trees that were compromised by the last storm fell like dominoes during this past week’s second round, downing more electric lines and damaging properties.

I was in Pierre at the time and was in contact with the electric company representatives who ensured me they were on top of the outages. They always are!

I also met with Game, Fish and Parks and they confirmed what we already knew: in the previous storm, we lost many, many trees. So many were damaged or down that it will more than likely take a year to clear the timber just in Custer State Park alone. They have already contacted logging companies to bid on assisting them with this enormous task removing the downed timber. This past week’s storm and winds only exasperated the problems in the park. It is going to be quite a clean-up project. The good news is that I have been told that Pennington, Custer and Fall River counties have qualified for Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance. This will help to reimburse the counties for the cost of clean-up from the storms.

Back to Pierre ... after the first four days of session, it is apparent that there are many, many issues we will tackle this session. However, there are a few major issues that will dominate this year’s legislative session: economic growth, education funding and property taxes.

While often treated as separate debates, they are in fact tightly connected. In South Dakota, economic growth is what allows us to fund schools, maintain infrastructure and public safety. Ignoring that connection risks serious long-term consequences. As I have said many, many times, you need to picture government like a ball of yarn: pull one thread, change a regulation, adjust a budget, rewrite a law, and the tension shifts everywhere else. Why? Because the functions of government are all intertwined. 

When introducing a new policy or law, it is our responsibility as legislators to ensure that any new bill will not cause more harm than benefit for our costitutents who sent us to Pierre to serve their best interests. That is why I have fought so hard to introduce commonsense legislation for property tax reform for the agricultural, owner-occupied, commercial and the elderly and disabled populations in our state. 

There are members of the legislature who are opposing basic, commonsense policies, including:   

• No increase for teacher and state employee wages this year. This year, in his state of the state address, Gov. Rhoden proposed no additional funding for education. The economic health of our citizens is paramount and is directly tied into whether we can afford to provide additional funding to schools and hold down property taxes. I am working with a group of legislators to see if there is a way to give our educators and state workers a raise or a one-time bonus this fiscal year.

• Slow and/or block economic growth. Members of this group are focused on implementing overregulation as a way of discouraging new industries from locating here. While sometimes well intentioned, this approach will lead to a stagnant and less prosperous South Dakota. 

• Strip cities and counties of tools like tax increment financing (TIF) that help attract new construction, businesses or housing. In areas such as Rapid City or Sioux Falls, I can understand that they may want to slow growth, however, in our small communities throughout the state, TIFs can sometimes be a game changer for our smaller communities who want to encourage and need new growth.

New economic growth has many benefits, such as increasing incomes, generating more revenue for schools, and keeping taxes in check without cutting local services. It is my contention that we, as a state, need a plan for new growth. A plan that will approach new grow responsibly (because we will grow), in order to maintain our South Dakota way of life, pristine beauty and open spaces. 

As legislators, we must remain open-minded and committed to respectful discussion and collaboration so we can get the work done for the good of the people who elected us. My focus as your representative in Pierre is to serve you and your families, promote prosperity, and defend South Dakota as a place where people can live, grow and thrive together. 

We do this by advancing a path forward that strengthens communities, improves our schools, and lowers property taxes over the long term, keeping South Dakota strong now and forever.