Latest news with #JohnSjaarda
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Senate Education committee passes different bill requiring schools take cash for events
The Senate Education committee voted 4-3 to pass a bill Thursday morning to require schools accept cash for school-affiliated events. Rapid City Republican Sen. Greg Blanc's Senate Bill 219 is very similar to Valley Springs Republican Rep. John Sjaarda's House Bill 1017, which failed in the House two weeks earlier. SB 219 will be heard in the Senate next week. The bills came as a reaction to the Sioux Falls School District and other local school districts switching to a new system for cashless ticketing with Iowa-based company Bound. More: Sioux Falls School District faces opposition to cashless ticketing system The district said at the time it made the change for 'convenience, enhanced safety, efficiency and environmental impact,' and noted contactless payment has 'become the norm around the country.' Blanc said he brought SB 219 to 'represent all people, especially those who are legitimately being disenfranchised.' He was supported by multiple people who said they were turned away from school events because they wanted to pay with cash, not a credit card. Brandon resident Susan Luschas, and her daughter Soraya Luschas, who open enrolls to attend Lincoln High School, said since the cashless ticketing policy has taken effect, sometimes they're let into events for free, sometimes their cash is taken and they're let in, or sometimes they're turned away from events. Sioux Falls resident Michele Klimek said she tried to work with the Sioux Falls School District office to pay in cash for a ticket for her daughter to attend a high school theater production but said the Instructional Planning Center was unable to provide it and redirected her to the school where the production would take place. Klimek said she spoke with that high school's athletic director, who wrote down her name and the names of people who would join her at the play, and her entry fee was waived. She said she hasn't attended a local school event since because it was a 'hassle for all involved.' Board speaks on cash bill: Superintendent contract, legislation and more: 6 things to know from Monday's school board meetings Fellow Sioux Falls resident Nikki McCormick said she and her husband were recently denied access to Howard Wood Field to watch their son, a junior in the Lincoln High School marching band, march on the field, because they wanted to pay in cash. Spearfish resident Jennifer Baron said she didn't feel comfortable agreeing to the 'privacy and tracking policies' of an out-of-state company like Bound. She said it's an issue when she travels to Sioux Falls for school events, and worried it may affect Rapid City school events in the future. Sam Nelson, lobbyist for the Sioux Falls School District, said one of the proponents who described their experiences with non-admission to an event was actually offered admission free of charge and they refused it. He didn't specify which of the proponents did this. Nelson said SB 219 is an 'attempt to create an issue, and make something bigger than what it really was.' He added it is Sioux Falls' right not to change their policy, and said proponents have made no official request for the board to change its policy. South Dakota High School Activities Association director Dan Swartos told the committee the SDHSAA accepts cash at all its events, like tournaments and championships at the end of each sports season, or for all-state band, jazz band and show choir events. But he said the SDHSAA has considered going cashless because some events have $10,000 to $20,000 in starting cash in the cash box, and cashless systems have fewer opportunities for fraud, he added. HB 1017 failed: South Dakota House fails to pass bill requiring cash for school events. But it could come back He noted the SDHSAA has no control over what kind of ticketing systems larger venues like the Mitchell Corn Palace or Sanford Pentagon use for events, and said SDHSAA events already face competition for those spaces with bigger events. He said he was concerned the bill could lead to the SDHSAA losing out on those venues in the future. Lobbyists with the Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce and South Dakota Retailers Association said much the same, and questioned on the day of school events at these larger venues, who would be responsible for taking the cash payments. They called it an imposition on private businesses. Heath Larson with Associated School Boards of South Dakota said he opposed the bill from a 'local control perspective,' and asked that the committee let local school boards work through the process and work out any 'bugs' at the local level. This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Committee passes new bill requiring schools take cash for events
Yahoo
04-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lab-grown meat ban arises to challenge labeling bill in SD Legislature
State Rep. John Sjaarda, R-Valley Springs, testifies on Feb. 4, 2025, to the South Dakota House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee about his bill to ban lab-grown meat. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight) PIERRE — Competing views about lab-grown meat are pitting some farmers and ranchers against each other at the South Dakota Capitol, where a legislative committee advanced a ban of the product after previously endorsing legislation that would only require it to be clearly labeled. The labeling bill already passed both chambers and went to the governor for his decision to sign or veto it. The ban took its first legislative step Tuesday by earning the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee's approval by a vote of 8-5. Another bill that would restrict state spending in support of lab-grown meat earned unanimous approval, and both are now headed to the state House of Representatives. Lab-grown meat should be clearly labeled, panel of SD lawmakers decides Republican Rep. Jana Hunt, a rancher from Dupree, is a member of the committee. She summarized the feelings of some ranchers who said lab-grown meat is an attack on their livelihoods and is too new for its potential food safety implications to be fully understood. 'We need meat that can stand on its own feet,' Hunt said. A lobbyist for the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association took a similar stance, while lobbyists for other agricultural groups expressed a different view. Speakers against the ban said South Dakota farmers and ranchers dislike it when people who oppose animal slaughter or the use of herbicides on crops try to ban or restrict products resulting from those practices. Lobbyist Matthew Bogue spoke for a group of South Dakota Farm Bureau Federation members who were in the audience. He said most of his members would never purchase lab-grown meat, but 'if we pass this bill, we're going to be hypocrites.' 'This is the government telling consumers who can and cannot purchase this product, and picking winners and losers,' Bogue said. Lab-grown meat, also called cell-cultured or cultivated meat, starts from a sample of animal cells that are fed the sugars, water, proteins and vitamins needed to grow into muscle and fat. Erin Rees Clayton is a Pierre-based scientific adviser for the Good Food Institute, a group that works to advance innovation in alternative proteins. She told the committee during a previous hearing that 'cultivated meat is meat at the cellular level.' 'It's just produced in a different way,' she said. Federal regulators approved the sale of lab-grown meat in 2023, but the product is not yet widely available. Some legislative committee members and others who testified Tuesday expressed skepticism or disagreement with federal approval of the product. Others said it's not the state's role to second-guess the decisions of federal agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration or the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The bill banning lab-grown meat would apply to the product's manufacture, sale and distribution in the state. Republican Rep. John Sjaarda, a farmer from Valley Springs, proposed the legislation. Some other states, including Florida and Alabama, have banned lab-grown meat, and the Florida ban has sparked litigation from the industry. Nebraska is considering a ban. The other bill advanced Tuesday in South Dakota would prohibit the use of state money for research, production, promotion, sale and distribution of lab-grown meat, with an exception for public universities. South Dakota Searchlight asked Hunt, the main sponsor of that bill, what she's targeting. She gave an example of the state potentially providing an economic development grant to a company interested in lab-grown meat production, and said she wants to forbid that kind of state support for the industry. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lawmakers advance bill to mandate cash acceptance at school events
State Rep. John Sjaarda, R-Valley Springs, listens to a speaker during a meeting of the South Dakota Legislature's Joint Committee on Appropriations on Jan. 21, 2025. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) Two bills that would mandate the acceptance of cash for certain transactions met different fates Monday morning at the Capitol in Pierre. A bill that advanced out of a committee would require South Dakota public schools, state-accredited private schools, public universities and technical colleges to accept cash transactions at events. The other bill, which would require all businesses in the state to accept cash for purchases smaller than $100, was defeated. Rep. John Sjaarda, R-Valley Springs, introduced both bills. House Bill 1017 passed the House Education Committee with an 8-7 vote. Supporters of the bill told lawmakers they were denied access to high school activities in the Sioux Falls area because schools used smartphone app-based, cashless ticketing at events. The move discriminates against people who don't have smartphones or credit cards, they said. Susan Luschas, a Brandon resident with two children who open-enrolled to Lincoln High School in Sioux Falls, told lawmakers the Brandon School Board opened a cash lane for school events and activities after she shared her concerns with the district. The Sioux Falls School District, Luschas said, has not changed its policy. Her family is sometimes let into events free of charge since they only have cash. Other times they're presumed 'low income' and lectured that they need to get free tickets printed out at the school during business hours, said her 18-year-old daughter, Soraya Luschas. For those families, it isn't always possible to visit school during the work day, or for students to acquire the tickets themselves during the school day, Soraya said. New SD Governor Larry Rhoden says immediate focus is getting to work, not his political future Opponents included public education organizations, the South Dakota Board of Regents, the Board of Technical Education, the South Dakota High School Activities Association and the South Dakota Retailers Association. Opponents said the language of the bill doesn't make an exception for pre-registered events or advance ticket sales that depend on internet credit transactions. If schools and event organizers didn't have a way to accept cash, it could force them to allow entrance for free. It would hamper decision-making that organizations think is best for their needs, they said. Some technical colleges and universities hold events at third-party venues, such as the Summit League collegiate basketball tournament at the Premier Center in Sioux Falls. Opponents of the bill said it would require private businesses to change their ticketing system to accommodate school events, or force schools to seek other venues. 'We don't bring our local problems for state legislation without at least first trying to solve it at the local level,' said Sam Nelson, a lobbyist representing the Sioux Falls School District, adding that a formal petition to accept cash at events hasn't been introduced to the local school board. HB 1048 would require all businesses in the state accept cash for purchases under $100, except for rental cars, sales on an airplane or at a financial institution, and security deposits. The House Commerce and Energy Committee voted unanimously to reject the bill, though Rep. Tina Mulally, R-Rapid City, said she hoped to see a similar bill introduced in the future to 'stop us being forced into a cashless society.' Nathan Sanderson, executive director of the South Dakota Retailers Association, testified against the bill. 'When you decide to patronize a business, it's not a right,' Sanderson said. 'This bill is putting convenience for the individual above the freedom to operate.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
