Weve now completed six of the nine weeks scheduled in this years legislative session. Two of the big issues we knew we would consider in this years session were how to reduce property taxes and what to do about our 144-year-old prison on the hill in Sioux Falls.
Property tax relief: Our citizens have been clamoring for property tax relief for years now and several of my colleagues brought forth plans to address the issue. One of the bills that I signed onto as a cosponsor is House Bill 1019, authored by Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen of Sioux Falls, later primed by Representative Tim Goodwin of Rapid City. This measure would reduce taxes on owner-occupied residences by $417 for every $100,000 of assessed value of the home.
Now that is significant tax relief! It would be paid for by raising our state sales tax by a very modest 8/10ths of one percent (from 4.2% to 5.0%). South Dakota currently has the 12th lowest sales tax rate in the nation. Unfortunately, only two members (myself and Rep. Eric Emery) of the House State Affairs Committee supported the measure. Several other property tax relief plans have been killed and although a couple are still alive, none would reduce homeowners taxes like Goodwins bill. The day after this bill was killed, in true political fashion, the House passed a resolution to appoint 16 legislators to conduct an interim study regarding property tax reduction and preservation of the American dream to own a home. As a reminder, in 2023 the legislature funded a study to investigate county funding problems. In 2024 we funded a study to investigate property tax methodology. In 2025 we will kick the can down the road once again with another dog-and-pony show that in my view is unlikely to produce results of any real significance. (I hope Im wrong about that.)
Prison construction: On Thursday, the Joint Committee on Appropriations sent House Bill 1025 to the House floor without recommendation. Because it was apparent that the required 2/3rds of House members needed for passage was not there, the governors office decided to amend the bill, removing the language which authorized construction, and to simply transfer the $148 million into the incarceration construction fund.
I believe that decision made perfect sense. Unfortunately, the amended bill fell short of the 36 votes required for passage (by two votes). It will be reconsidered on Monday. No one has argued that the 144-year-old penitentiary shouldnt be replaced. The state engineer has stated that to upgrade that facility would cost over well over $100 million, and those upgrades would do nothing to address the overcrowding and lack of programming space.
As I wrote last week, delaying construction of the proposed prison for just one year is estimated to cost an additional $40 million or more.
Designing a different facility (or facilities) to remedy the problem will take a lot more time and money. But until the DOC can develop a plan that 2/3rds of the members of both the House and Senate will support, nothing will move forward.
In full disclosure, I was excused from Fridays prison vote on the House floor to attend the funeral of my classmate and life-long friend Lanny Klinkhammer. He served the city of Howard as police officer before serving as my chief deputy, subsequently succeeding me as the sheriff of Miner County, a position he held for almost 18 years. Lanny also served for 30 years as a volunteer attendant and board member of the Miner County Ambulance Service. I value the years I was able to work with him and treasure the memories. He will be sorely missed.
If you want to get in touch with me during the session, my legislative email address is [email protected].
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