South Dakota
![]() April 5, 2023:
The 98th Session of the South Dakota Legislature wrapped up Monday with Veto Day. Sioux Falls Argus Leader reported: "Winner: Criminal Justice.' The state is funding the construction of two new prisons to ease overcrowding at the women’s facility in Pierre and the men’s facility in Sioux Falls. Construction on the women’s prison in Rapid City is slated to start in the summer. Meanwhile, the Department of Corrections will start the process to design and find the next location for the men’s penitentiary in the Sioux Falls area." Yet the prison population of South Dakota is about twice that of North Dakota. Before they spend money to build a new prison, they might try using North Dakota as a template to reduce prison population to half of what it is now. The Leader writes "Reducing the prison population by half should solve our short and long term prison problems. A rough calculation suggests that half the prison population would need half the space, half the staff and a lot less expense. This should be very attractive to fiscal conservatives.The prisons are currently managed by the Department of Corrections. The high numbers of people who return to our prison system suggests they are not correcting much." Feb 21, 2023: Aberdeen News: Gov. Kristi Noem's foreign ag bill dies in South Dakota Senate
Gov. Kristi Noem's foreign agriculture bill reached as far as the South Dakota Senate floor, and that's where it died. Legislators killed the bill on a 11-23 vote on Tuesday, which means the state will have to rely on the current statute that's in place to restrict ag land purchases in South Dakota. This follows more than half an hour of dialogue between from Senators, who went back and forth on the bill. Jan 26, 2023: Mitchell Republic: Proposed South Dakota grocery tax repeal passes first procedural hurdle, nursing some concerns
A cut to the state sales tax on food, the central promise of Gov. Kristi Noem’s campaign for a second term as South Dakota’s chief executive, has passed its first hurdle in the legislative process, emerging from the House Taxation committee by a 12-1 vote on Thursday, Jan. 26. Dec 16, 2022: Dakota News Now: Ethics board dismisses Noem plane case, says law is unclear
South Dakota’s ethics board dismissed a complaint against Gov. Noem for using state government aircraft to attend events hosted by political organizations because state law does not define what is meant by “state business.” Dec 16, 2022: Dakota News Now: Kristi Noem orders Health Department to terminate Transgender group contract South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem instructed the S.D. Department of Health to terminate their contract with The Transformation Project, which is a transgender activist group, according to The Daily Signal |
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