Latest news with #MikeDerby
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Derby: House will vote Friday on new prison
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — Whether a new men's prison will be built in Lincoln County could come down to what the South Dakota House of Representatives decides on Friday. The Legislature's Joint Committee on Appropriations after a one-hour hearing voted unanimously on Thursday to send House Bill 1025 forward to the House with no recommendation. Smithfield pays $10k after worker locked in oven Republican Rep. Mike Derby made the motion. 'This will be one of the largest projects in the history of the state of South Dakota, and this deserves to be heard by the entire body on an up and down vote on the floor tomorrow,' Derby said. No other legislator spoke. The guaranteed maximum price of $825 million expires on March 31. The legislation needs a two-thirds majority in each chamber — 47 in the House and 24 in the Senate — to reach Gov. Larry Rhoden's desk. Earlier Thursday, House Republican leader Scott Odenbach and House Republican assistant leader Karla Lems indicated it's unclear whether there would be enough support to move HB 1025 to the Senate, in part because there are so many new representatives. The two sides on HB 1025 received equal time during the hearing to make their presentations to appropriators, followed by a seven-minute rebuttal from state Corrections Secretary Kellie Wasko. The project received favorable testimony from Wasko, governor's senior aide Ryan Brunner, state Department of Corrections finance director Brittni Skipper, state engineer Stacy Watters, and lobbyists for the South Dakota Sheriffs Association, South Dakota State's Attorneys Association and South Dakota Police Chiefs Association. Testifying against the legislation were former House speaker Steve Haugaard, who is a Sioux Falls lawyer, as well as others including Madeline Voegeli, Don Jacobs and Dan Paulson. The proposed 1,500-bed facility in Lincoln County would replace the State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls and would also accept inmates now housed at the neighboring Jameson Annex. Haugaard said he's been inside the current facilities 'hundreds of times' and described the Jameson unit as 'perfectly adequate.' Haugaard focused instead on recidivism rates that in recent years, he said, have gone from 40.3% to 44%, which he described as 'not an effective corrections policy.' Haugaard argued that the existing building has adequate space — 'It's perfectly suitable to get the job done if you hire the staff you need.' — and said that if the department 'jacked those wages up, you'd see people applying.' 'I'd say failure at recidivism is the problem,' Haugaard said. 'That building has zero to do with effective corrections policy.' He said building a minimum/medium-security facility for men in western South Dakota instead would be the best step at this time. Paulson is a member of a citizens group that calls itself NOPE — No Prison Expansion — that has a lawsuit pending before the South Dakota Supreme Court. He asked the legislators to consider what happens if they approve the Lincoln County site and the court then rules in NOPE's favor. 'You'd be in a pickle,' Paulson said. Wasko spent much of her rebuttal time responding to Haugaard's arguments, starting with recidivism rates. 'We haven't stopped anythng. We're limited in what we can do,' Wasko said. She explained that the current facility allows rehabilitation classes for 12 inmates at a time in a facility that currently has more than 800. The new facility will have 25 behavioral health and 16 educational FTEs, she said. As to wages, Wasko said the DOC correctional officers now receive pay that puts them 'neck and neck' with those at the Minnehaha County jail. She said the staff vacancy rate has dropped to 10%, the lowest in a decade, in large part because the Legislature raised pay two years ago. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
McCook Lake bill waits for panel action
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — The possibility of more state money to help clean up McCook Lake from the June flooding will wait for action in the House Committee on Appropriations. House Bill 1108 would provide state money to create a fund to help 'make grants to cover costs associated with cleaning up and restoring McCook Lake, including the replacement of pipes for the McCook Lake pumping system, and flood mitigation planning for McCook Lake.' Age verification bill passes through Senate committee The bill originally had up to $2 million attached but on Feb. 11 the House Agriculture and Natural Resources committee changed it to read $1 so that appropriations could determine a specific dollar amount. Appropriations committee chairman Republican Rep. Mike Derby recommended the bill's sponsor Republican Rep. Chris Kassin and bill supporters meet with the state's Game Fish and Parks to discuss what the GFP plan is to dredge and clean the lake. Kassin said in his earlier testimony that HB1108 is designed to help pay for clean-up that may not be covered under the GFP plan. The lake has cars, pieces of structure, trees and other debris in it from the June flooding, bill supporters said. 'We're concerned (the GFP) will do a simple job and remove three islands (created by the flood),' said Dirk Lohry of the McCook Lake Lake Association. At least 103 houses were damaged in the flood, said Chris Bogenrief of the lake association. Twenty-one have been demolished. During the flooding, residents 'saw a wall of corn cobs four-feet high flowing toward us,' he said. 'Anything in you'd have sitting in your yard…is now in the lake sitting there,' bill supporter Republican Rep. Bill Shorma said. Members of the association and others are disappointed in how slow the GFP process has been, Lohry said. The GPF plans to take bids in April, with construction to start in June, he said. Bill supporters are also seeking to use the proposed state money to replace pipes used for a water pumping system that releases and takes in water for the lake. The operation of that system is about $100,000 a year. Bogenrief said private donors that include lake residents pay for about 75% of the cost, while North Sioux City pays for about 25%. Derby also asked why McCook Lake is still a state-owned lake and not a private lake. State water laws prevent the lake from become a privately-owned lake, said Duncan Koch of the state's Bureau of Finance Management (BFM). While McCook Lake is a state-owned lake, the state has no obligation to pay for the pumping system, Koch said. 'If the state creates a fund for McCook Lake, it would be creating a precedent for similar funds to be created in the state,' Koch said in the BFM's opposition to HB1108. Money from the bill could also be used to help pay for a new flood mitigation plan for the lake. Supporters said the plan used in June was from the 1970s when the lake dwellings were mainly fishing type shacks. Koch also said HB1108 would create a duplication of funds that the state already provides. Committee member Democrat Rep. Eric Muckey asked for more details on duplication. Koch said the duplication is in emergency disaster reimbursement funds but that he would also need more information from the state's Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources (DANR). Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
