Legislature grants investigative committee expanded oversight

Yahoo

11-03-2025

Sen. David Wheeler, R-Huron, speaks on the South Dakota Senate floor on March 4, 2025. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
PIERRE — After a tumultuous year of government corruption scandals, legislation expanding the authority of the South Dakota Legislature's investigative oversight committee is headed to the governor's desk.
The Government Operations and Audit Committee, known by the acronym GOAC, is tasked with investigating potential fraud and abuses in state government.
The committee issued subpoenas last year and earlier this year ordering state department leaders to answer questions about alleged crimes by former state employees, after a string of corruption cases announced by the Attorney General's Office last year. Under current law, the subpoenas required an extra sign-off from the Legislature's Executive Board before they could be issued.
The legislation would remove that extra sign-off requirement and allow the committee to conduct investigations outside of its public meetings.
Yankton Republican Rep. Julie Auch, who introduced House Bill 1204, said that for most of its history GOAC could make subpoena requests without the Executive Board's blessing.
Rep. Tim Reisch, R-Howard, spoke against the bill on the House floor.
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'1204 feels like a power grab to me,' Reisch said, adding that more lawmakers involved in the investigative process and deciding to issue a subpoena is beneficial.
Senate President Pro Tempore Chris Karr, R-Sioux Falls, told lawmakers during the bill's Senate State Affairs hearing that the investigative committee 'is the most important thing the Legislature has created.' He added that he doesn't have concerns about the committee abusing subpoena powers, because it's a joint committee of the House and Senate that inherently requires consensus among members of both bodies.
Huron Republican Sen. David Wheeler agreed.
'I think GOAC recently has shown that it is responsible with that authority,' he said.
The bill passed the House in a 36-34 vote but was tabled in the Senate because the concept was amended into Senate Bill 176, which passed both chambers.
Senate Bill 176, introduced by Wheeler, would expand the authority of GOAC to conduct investigations before the committee meets or have a third party conduct the investigation and issue a report to the committee. Currently, the committee has to meet to conduct any interviews or investigations.
'It's hard to do that at one time with 10 people there,' Wheeler told lawmakers.
The bill passed unanimously out of the Senate and 58-12 from the House.
Rep. Will Mortenson, R-Fort Pierre, was one of the dozen lawmakers to challenge the expansion. He called the bill unnecessary in a text message to South Dakota Searchlight after the vote.
'I don't like the trend of turning our interim Legislature into the 'gotcha politics' and constant witch hunts that they do in Congress,' Mortenson said. 'GOAC has an important role, but I worry that we may be getting a little carried away.'
If signed by Gov. Larry Rhoden, the bills will become law on July 1.
Attorney General Marty Jackley filed at least five cases against former state employees last year, for allegations ranging from faked food-service health inspections to $1.8 million of embezzlement from a state department.
In response, Jackley supported a package of four bills that would expand the investigatory authority of the state auditor, strengthen the Board of Internal Controls, institute mandatory reporting requirements for state employees and penalties for failing to report, and establish protections for whistleblowers. All of the bills have been delivered to the governor for his consideration.
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