Latest news with #HB1020
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
How priorities of Noem's final budget address have fared
SIOUX FALLS S.D. (KELO) — By the time former South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem gave her budget address in December, she would have less than two months left in Pierre before becoming secretary of the federal Department of Homeland Security. But before she left, Noem shared priorities for the state. 'Last year during this speech, I asked you to make a permanent tax cut for the people of South Dakota,' Noem said during December's budget address. 'And I am reiterating that request to all of you today. Our people deserve better than a temporary sales tax holiday, and I look forward to that conversation during this legislative session.' Spring Creek fire spreads In 2023, Noem signed legislation to drop the state's sales tax rate from 4.5% to 4.2%. However, it is set to return to 4.5% in 2027. Senate Bill 214 during the ongoing legislative session would have kept the sales tax rate at 4.2%; in other words, it would have made the cut permanent. But lawmakers on the Senate Committee on Appropriations decided to table the bill on Jan. 20. Noem also sought to set up vouchers to put public money toward private education and homeschooling. 'I am proposing that we establish education savings accounts for South Dakota students in this upcoming legislative session,' Noem said in December. The legislation to make that a reality also failed, with the House Education Committee killing HB 1020 on Jan 29. HB 1025 also failed; in its original form, it would have appropriated money to build a new men's prison in Lincoln County. 'The current building is falling down,' Noem said in December. 'It's long past time for us to replace it for the safety of our people.' But lawmakers gutted HB 1025 and eventually decided to not send it over to the Senate. Rhoden's office announced Wednesday afternoon that he is going to 'announce next steps for a new prison' Thursday morning. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Rival SD school choice bills both fail in Education Committee
Lobbyists, members of the public and lawmakers crowd the South Dakota House Education Committee room ahead of a Jan. 29, 2025, hearing on a bill to create an education savings account program in the state. (Josh Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight) Lawmakers in the House Education Committee shot down former South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem's proposed $4 million education savings account program and a similar, competing proposal Wednesday morning at the Capitol in Pierre. Procedural maneuvers could still be used to bring the bills to the House floor, but the committee votes were an early setback for an idea proposed by Noem and supported by her successor, Gov. Larry Rhoden, after she departed to become secretary of the federal Department of Homeland Security. The committee voted 9-6 against the governor-supported House Bill 1020, despite the bill having the majority leaders of both legislative chambers as prime sponsors. The bill would provide up to $3,000 per student to help cover private school tuition, homeschooling or other alternative-instruction costs. Lawmakers and people who testified against the bill included public education stalwarts, who argued that the program would lack oversight and divert funds from public schools, and school choice advocates, who said the program would be too limited. A competing school choice bill that would create a similar program with a higher price tag and less oversight was also shot down with an 8-7 vote. The bill, HB 1009, was introduced by Rep. Dylan Jordan, R-Clear Lake, and is estimated to cost up to $142 million by the Legislative Research Council. Reps. Jordan and Phil Jensen, R-Rapid City, both supported Jordan's bill but opposed the governor's bill. Rep. Travis Ismay, R-Newell, was the only other committee member to switch his vote — supporting the governor's bill but opposing Jordan's bill — while all other committee members either supported both bills or opposed both bills. Anthony Mirzayants, representing the Texas-based student activist group Young Americans for Liberty, told lawmakers the bill supported by the governor isn't 'a real school choice bill.' He compared it to South Dakota's Partners in Education scholarship program. That program gives insurance companies up to $5 million in tax credits annually in exchange for their contributions to scholarships for private-school students. Other opponents of HB 1020 included representatives of public education organizations, teachers, school board members and superintendents, disability advocates, the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce, the South Dakota Retailers Association and the Great Plains Tribal Education Directors. Opponents were concerned with the impact the programs would have on public school funding and a lack of accountability, standards and transparency. They brought up similar concerns in HB 1009's committee hearing last week. 'Public education funding should reflect a shared responsibility. Instead, public funds would be drained from public and tribal schools, leaving fewer resources and opportunities for all students,' said Roquel Gorneau, representing the Great Plains Tribal Education Directors. 'This bill does not strengthen education. It weakens it, forcing public schools to do more with less.' Several supporters of HB 1020 (the governor's bill) included private school administrators who said the program would make alternatives to public education more accessible to students and could lead to better teacher pay within their schools. Supporters also included alternative instruction advocates and alternative school founders. The bill, introduced by House Majority Leader Scott Odenbach, R-Spearfish, was amended during the hearing to clarify that students who use education savings accounts would not be classified as alternative instruction students. Odenbach proposed the amendment to appease the homeschool advocacy group Families for Alternative Instruction Rights in South Dakota, which feared that not separating education savings account students from alternative instruction students would open the door to regulation of alternative instruction. The organization switched its stance on the bill from opposed to neutral because of the amendment, based on a memo sent to lawmakers last week. The amendment means that if the bill is revived and becomes law, families opting for homeschooling, microschools or other alternative settings would have to choose whether they want to be ESA families eligible for the state financial assistance or alternative instruction students ineligible for the money. Both South Dakota Department of Education Secretary Joseph Graves and Governor's Office Policy Adviser Sarah Hitchcock told lawmakers the program would improve education in the state by increasing competition among schools. 'We can't force our students to wait until we have perfect funding,' Hitchcock told the committee. Supporters of the legislation could seek approval from one-third of the House of Representatives to force the committee to send the bills to the floor. Support from a majority of the chamber's 70 members would then be needed to add the bills to the House calendar for debate and a vote. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Black Residents Liken Mississippi's New Court System to ‘Modern Day Slavery'
This story originally published in 2024, but has been updated to reflect that three judges and a clerk have been sworn in. Jackson, Mississippi, resident and organizer Rukia Lumumba is frustrated with a federal appeals court decision that allows Mississippi to move forward with its separate, state-run court system in her hometown. Backed by a mostly white, Republican-controlled Legislature, Gov. Tate Reeves signed into law last year HB 1020 and SB 2343, which respectively establish a separate judicial system and increase police presence in the majority-Black capital city. Lawmakers claimed the bills would reduce crime in Jackson. But, organizers like Lumumba, the executive director of the People's Advocacy Institute, say it's an attempt to undermine the authority of the Black leadership and voting power of residents. The NAACP filed a lawsuit seeking a preliminary injunction to halt the court plan, but U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate denied the request in a Dec. 31, 2023 decision, a day before the law was set to go into effect. He wrote that the plaintiffs failed to establish injury or standing. 'The individual Plaintiffs in the case … residents of and registered voters in Jackson, Mississippi … allege that they 'are threatened with prosecution and conviction,'' Wingate wrote. 'None of the Plaintiffs has alleged that he or she is in actual or imminent danger of experiencing any concrete and particularized injury resulting from the establishment of the CCID Court or the challenged appointment of a judge or prosecutors for that court.' Following the ruling, the NAACP filed an appeal with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which granted a temporary stay that blocked the court's opening. But on Jan. 4, the three-judge appeals panel upheld Wingate's decision in a unanimous vote, vacated the temporary administrative stay, and denied a request for injunction, ruling the plaintiffs lack standing. 'For the court to legitimize a bill that essentially allows for direct and systematic discrimination based on race and class to be established … it's extremely problematic,' Lumumba told Capital B. 'It exposes why it is so important that community members be afforded an opportunity to participate fully in the legislative process every year.' On Friday, three judges and a clerk were sworn in to the Capitol Complex Improvement District Court in Jackson, which covers downtown and northeast parts of the city, the Clarion Ledger reported. This week, the court officially opened, a year later than initially planned. Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Mike Randolph appointed three veteran judges, which include James Holland, Christopher Collins, and Stanley Alexander, who is Black. Bryana McDougal, who previously served as deputy clerk in the state's Supreme Court's office, will serve as the court clerk. Advocates and civil and voting rights organizations fear this decision will not only create a road map for other states to implement similar legislation, but increase discriminatory acts, displacement and racial profiling toward Black people. 'This ruling speaks to a time-old story of white privilege and power silencing Black voices and degrading Black presence,' Kyle Bibby, the chief of campaigns and programs at Color of Change, said in a statement. 'In 2023, Texas Republicans passed House Bill 2127, stripping significant powers of self-governance from liberal cities to push a statewide conservative agenda.' The Texas bill, which Democrats nicknamed the 'Death Star' bill because of its wide-ranging scope, is primarily about control, one political analyst told the Associated Press. Touching everything from labor to agriculture, it prevents local governments from implementing policies that don't comply with state law. Bibby added that he doesn't expect this 'trend of neglect' to slow down anytime soon, because 'our democracy is so closely intertwined with the disregard of Black communities' — Black communities whose voting strength terrifies Republican power structures. Read more: Jackson Residents Join Fight to Stop Law That Strips Away Voting Power Danyelle Holmes, organizer and executive director of the Mississippi Poor People's Campaign, referenced the previous attempts by state lawmakers to take over the city's assets and increase the presence of white Capitol Police officers over the majority-Black city. Already, residents have voiced concerns around safety and transparency when Capitol Police officers shot at least four people. Despite this, the governor has increased the Capitol Police's budget while the Jackson Police Department, which is led by a Black man, has struggled to obtain funding from the state. 'We've seen the attempt where they tried to create a city within a city in order to protect the elite while leaving those that are less fortunate than the elite unprotected. This move has nothing to do with public safety, but everything to do with racism — with modern day slavery,' Holmes said. 'Mississippi is going back to what they used to call back in the day a closed society. There's an attempt to gentrify Jackson, and it's clear the goal here is to displace poor and low wealth individuals, and make this city some sort of resort city in a city that wants to look like what it once was when it was predominantly white.' These strategies by Republicans nationwide to secure power and exert their conservative will over Black communities is also 'a very dangerous precedent' and denies the Black vote and Black power, said April Albright, legal director and chief of staff at Black Voters Matter. It is important for Black communities to 'be on watch' and create their own blueprint for how to respond to such attacks. 'Yes, the 5th Circuit made its decision, but they shouldn't stop there and take it higher to try to get a reversal. People also have to make their disgust known by going to statehouses and determine how to get more power in the statehouse,' Albright said. 'We have to organize so we can wield power.' This latest struggle over the state-run court comes at a moment when Mississippi is already embroiled in several other voting rights controversies. The full 5th Circuit will rehear a case about a state Jim Crow-era provision that permanently bans from voting people convicted of certain felonies. In 2023, a three-judge panel in August struck down the provision, which was adopted in 1890 in order to keep Black Americans from the franchise. The majority said that 'severing former offenders from the body politic forever' only 'ensures that they will never be fully rehabilitated, continues to punish them beyond the terms their culpability requires, and serves no protective function to society.' But the 5th Circuit in September vacated this decision when it agreed to revisit the case. This week, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of a lower court's decision that the ban violated the 14th and eighth amendments. Despite the new court system, Lumumba added that she and other organizations will continue to push for legislative change to make the bill no longer enforceable, hold community meetings to keep residents informed, and challenge the state appropriations for the new court. 'Most importantly, we're going to be pushing for our ballot initiatives process [which allows residents to vote on amendments to the constitution] to be reinstated because we know that when the community is involved in making decisions about our welfare, we do a better job, oftentimes, than our state legislature when they act alone,' she said. The post Black Residents Liken Mississippi's New Court System to 'Modern Day Slavery' appeared first on Capital B News.
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New poll finds many SD voters oppose education savings accounts
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – The topic of education savings accounts or school vouchers is top of mind for many lawmakers and voters in South Dakota this legislative session. Monday, the South Dakota Public Schools Coalition released the findings of a statewide poll. The results are in and according to a survey commissioned by the South Dakota Education Association, many voters in the state oppose the implementation of education savings accounts, also known as school voucher programs. Tribes issuing free ID cards amid ICE raids '58, almost 60, percent are opposed to using tax dollars to send to private schools,' Sandra Waltman, Director of Public Affairs for the SD Education Association, said. 'So that, we think, is a clear majority of the citizens of South Dakota. The voters of South Dakota are not in support of this plan.' The survey found that 57% of voters believe South Dakota public schools do not receive enough funding. 'We hope lawmakers see this poll and realize what voters really want them to focus on is making sure our public schools are funded,' Waltman said. House Bill 1020, which would allocate $4 million for students to attend private or home schools, was introduced to legislators earlier this month. It is currently waiting to be read by the House Education Committee. 'This is going to be a debate throughout the legislative session and we would encourage everybody to talk to their lawmakers about why their local public schools are important to their communities,' Waltman said. The poll was conducted by American Viewpoint between January 13 and January 15, 2025, with a sample of 500 general election voters. We reached out to Representative Scott Odenbach, the prime sponsor of HB 1020 to get his thoughts on the poll's findings — he pointed us in the direction of a different poll that found many voters did support school vouchers. That survey was conducted in November 2023. Odenbach's full statement is below: 'There are a variety of polls out there regarding support for school choice in South Dakota. I'm not surprised this coalition came up with one that gave the result they seek. I am curious how much taxpayer money they ended up spending on this push poll. I would encourage you to investigate that, as well as the taxpayer money they spend lobbying. As I shared with you earlier today, other polls have shown around 50% of the voters support school choice, and support rises to around 65% among registered Republicans. School choice is an issue whose time has come, and I will continue to support these needed changes to the way we educate our kids. We must fund students, not systems and allow parents to decide which education environment is best for their children. Property tax payers should also understand that the majority of their taxes go to fund the local schools and so if we ever want meaningful property tax relief we must address the ever-growing spending and force the public schools to innovate and decentralize. HB1020 and education savings accounts start us down that path.' Rep. Scott Odenbach (R) Lawrence County In a follow-up statement, Odenbach said HB 1020 is also supported by Gov. Larry Rhoden and the SD Department of Education as well as the majority leaders for both the House and Senate, the Speaker of the House and the Senate President Pro Tempore. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
