Latest news with #JointCommitteeonAppropriations
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Task force members respond after 2 days of prison talk
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Two lawmakers on the prison task force said Thursday some of their key takeaways from two days of meetings in Sioux Falls was a men's prison needs space for inmate education and rehabilitation. 'They don't have the space or the staff' to fully do what they want at men's prison in Sioux Falls, said task force member and lawmaker Republican Sen. Mark Lapka. No prison yet, but $50M has already been spent 'It's very clear there are barriers,' task force member and lawmaker Democrat Rep. Erin Healy said. Lapka is a member of the state legislature's Joint Committee on Appropriations where he's heard presentation from Department of Corrections Secretary Kellie Wasko. Lapak said on Thursday that information presented by Wasko was more detailed about education, rehabilitation and related topics. 'I toured the prison last September before the legislative session,' Lapka said. 'We were shown a whole lot more on our tour (Wednesday).' The tour and Wasko's information reinforced the need for space in a men's prison, Lapka said. Testimony from prior inmates also helped Healy. The task force heard from former inmates who said they had programming help and resources while in prison and others who said they didn't, Healy said. Such testimony highlights the importance of resources in the prison, she said. As it is now, 'The state pen is not the best place best place for offenders and the people that work there,' Healy said. The task force will be exploring a new plan and a possible new location for a men's prison. Gov. Larry Rhoden created the task force called Project Prison Reset after the legislature rejected a proposed $825 million men's prison in Lincoln County. 'I think there is definitely consensus that something needs to be done,' Healy said. 'We all don't know what that is, or some have differing opinions as to what we should do.' Thursday's meeting included public comment including those who are not in favor of the possible Lincoln County site. Sioux Falls police respond to stabbing incident Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen, who was a lawmaker for several years before this position, is also the chair of the task force. 'A lot of good work went into that,' Venhuizen said of the rejected original plan. 'I think the plan that was pushed forward was a well-thought plan.' Yet, he didn't want to 're-plow old ground' with the original design. Healy also said the original plan was a good one but the task force needs to consider other possible options. The joint appropriations committee passed the final piece of a prison funding bill 18-0 but without a recommendation. Lapka said Rhoden did a 'good thing' in forming the task force. Now, the task force will work with a new consultant on a new design. Venhuizen said the goal is to have a system that will serve the state for the next several decades. 'This isn't going to be a cheap deal,' Venhuizen said. 'We need to be realistic about the costs are going to be.' Venhuizen said the good news is that the state has set aside just over $600 million for a men's prison project. Healy said one of the difficult decisions could be in choosing a site for a prison or prison project. No matter where a possible prison could be located, there is likely to be those who disagree, she said. The task force will meet April 29 in Springfield. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
State library saved from most program cuts
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – Multiple essential library services offered through the state library are no longer at risk of being cut. The Joint Committee on Appropriations voted 11-2 on an amended version of House Bill 1041, which would have cut programs, services, staff positions and millions in funding. The amendment, introduced by Republican Rep. Terri Jorgenson, reinstates most of those programs. How priorities of Noem's final budget address have fared 'This is a way for us to save our library,' Jorgenson said. During former Gov. Kristi Noem's budget address in December, 12 full-time equivalent positions, $1.4 million in federal aid and $1.3 million in state aid were on the chopping block. South Dakota Secretary of Education Joseph Graves said the Department of Education, along with Jorgenson and other lawmakers, were able to reallocate funds and secure the $1.4 million in federal dollars. This allowed them to reinstate programs that families and local librarians were concerned about losing. 'We maintain most of the databases, the Interlibrary Loan is still in place. We still have adequate personnel to provide for the training and the promotion of the summer reading programs,' Graves said. 'Basically, the items that have been described as concerned by different individuals, we're now able to maintain.' Grandpa Gary fans fill the gym in Highmore The new plan keeps eight full-time employees and about $1.3 million in state funds, which allows the DOE to maintain the federal funding and support 17 full-time positions. The amendment still cuts about $825,000 in state funding, which includes removing the state library board. Graves said the state library would be able to handle the duties of the reduced programs without the board. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Guns-on-campus bill surrenders collective safety to the feelings of a few
Sen. Mykala Voita, R-Bonesteel, listens to a speaker during a meeting of the South Dakota Legislature's Joint Committee on Appropriations on Jan. 21, 2025. Voita is the sponsor of a bill that would allow concealed handguns on college campuses. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) The 33 state senators who voted Feb. 12 to allow concealed-carry handguns on South Dakota's college campuses sounded positively giddy with themselves as they passed Senate Bill 100 and sent it on to the House of Representatives. Listening to the chamber congratulate itself on passing this bill, which Sen. Jim Mehlhaff, R-Pierre, described as possibly the 'finest piece of legislation we will deal with all year,' was galling to many South Dakotans. It certainly was to me, and others like me, who simply don't believe that the Second Amendment is so sacred and sacrosanct that it takes precedence over public safety, common sense and the collective good. Mehlaff absurdly went on to suggest that Senate Bill 100 might just be the best bill he's ever seen in the Legislature. Really? The best bill ever? I can only imagine governors from Peter Norbeck to Dick Kneip to Bill Janklow rolling over in their graves. Hyperbole like that is proof that our Legislature truly has become a far-right echo chamber that speaks to a very narrow base of voters — those who put individual gun rights over the public good. What SB 100 will do, if and when it is passed by the House and becomes law, is prevent the South Dakota Board of Regents from having a policy prohibiting concealed carry of handguns on campuses at state universities and technical schools, as all currently do with most guns. Today, it's still against the rules for students to carry a handgun to class or other college events, although individual schools have created some limited exceptions for other guns on campus. Bill to allow concealed pistols on college campuses clears state Senate Mehlhaff was far from the only senator tripping over himself to praise the bill and its prime sponsor, Sen. Mykala Voita. She's a young freshman legislator from the Bonesteel area who got kudos from many of her fellow legislators for crafting an amendment to her original bill that addressed some of the Board of Regents' concerns. Instead of letting any student keep a handgun in their dorm room and carry it to class if they wish (as the original bill, unbelievably, would have done and as Voita made clear she still prefers), SB 100 now allows only gun owners who have qualified for an enhanced concealed carry permit to have a pistol on campus. Also, guns will still be prohibited in a few sensitive areas. Only in today's political climate, and its guns-are-good-everywhere culture, would this concession to common sense seem worthy of high praise. But that's where we're at in South Dakota now, a place where I once encountered a man carrying an AR-15 rifle at a summer festival. Voita said she carries a firearm much of the time. As a female who has lived in South Dakota for most of my 66 years, I don't share Voita's apparent fear of our fellow residents. I can, however, see that a pistol in their purse may give some female students a sense of security as they walk across campus in the dark. Good for them, and any potential crime they deter. But what SB 100 won't do is make any South Dakota college campus a better, safer place for all students — 'all' being the operative word here. It's important for Voita and every other legislator who votes for this bill to be clear about the exact cost of that pistol in the purse. The individual right to carry it, and the peace of mind it affords, comes at the expense of every other student, all of whom are now at a greater risk of gun violence simply due to the very presence of more guns on campus. Many of them will now add to their list of college worries the stress of wondering who in their classrooms or cafeterias is carrying a loaded handgun. Voita naively believes that is not true, but all the data on gun violence prevention proves otherwise. More guns — in any environment, for any reason — increases the risk that one of them will injure or kill someone. It is, sadly, inescapable and inevitable that if we allow guns in places and at an age when alcohol overconsumption, impulsivity and poor choices are still commonplace, some of those guns will be misused. Often by the gun owner themselves. Easy access to a gun is the common denominator in so many gun violence injuries and tragic deaths, whether it be a suicide, an unintentional shooting or an act of simple negligence. And there is absolutely no evidence that more guns on campus can prevent a mass shooting event. The belief that a good guy with a gun trumps a bad guy with a gun is mostly a marketing ploy created by a gun industry that only wants to sell more guns. I will grant you that SB 100 may make some students feel safer. But in reality, it will make all students less so. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Yahoo
SD penitentiary on lockdown as HB 1025 moves to JCA
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — The South Dakota State Penitentiary and nearby Jameson Annex are on lockdown. The state Department of Corrections said in a news release that the lockdown at Sioux Falls prison facilities began at 7:30 Tuesday morning. While the DOC hasn't released the reason behind the lockdown, the department says it 'is not in response to a disturbance or assault.' The DOC declined an interview request from KELOLAND News Tuesday. Report: New Noem DHS campaign budgeted for $200 million The DOC's last publicly-announced lockdown at Sioux Falls prison facilities began on Sept.15 and continued until Oct. 2. A Sept. 19 release from the DOC said the lockdown was done as 'a proactive security measure to implement a full campus search and seizure for dangerous contraband.' That initial release said 'handmade weapons' and electronics were discovered. Later in October, the DOC told a government operations and audit committee of the state legislature about contraband found during the Sioux Falls lockdown. Officers allegedly discovered sharp items including tweezers, a homemade tattoo gun and tools. 'If you have three screwdrivers that are etched, and they're bundled together, and they're concealed somewhere, they're contraband,' Secretary of Corrections Kellie Wasko said Oct. 21. 'If they are not in their designated space in the institution where they're inventory, then they are contraband.' The House Committee on Appropriations referred House Bill 1025, which would appropriate money to build a new men's prison in Lincoln County, to the Joint Committee on Appropriations without recommendation on Tuesday in Pierre. The vote saw eight lawmakers vote in favor, while one was excused. HB 1025 is set to appear before the Joint Committee on Appropriations on Thursday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Prison bill headed to joint appropriations Thursday
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — House Bill 1025 was on the agenda, removed and on Tuesday placed back on the House Committee on Appropriations agenda. FAQ about the planned new men's prison HB1025 is the final funding and authorization to use $763 million appropriated in the incarceration fund to build a new men's prison in Lincoln County . The House Appropriations invoked Rule 7-1.5 on consideration of matters not posted to add HB1025 to Tuesday's agenda. Committee member Republican Rep. Al Novstrup moved to add it the agenda and then moved for it to be placed on Joint Committee on Appropriations agenda. It was placed on the Joint Committee on Appropriations committee's agenda for Thursday, Feb. 20. 'It's an important issue, and the sooner we get to it the sooner we can move forward on the rest of the budget,' Novstrup said. The committee voted 8-0 with Sjaarda as an excused vote to move HB1025 to the Joint Committee on Appropriations. Kassin, Jack Kolbeck, Muckey, May, Moore, Jorgenson, Novstrup and Derby voted in favor. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
