Latest news with #SB201
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Regulators deny Summit's CO2 pipeline application
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — The latest attempt to route a CO2 pipeline through South Dakota has ended in a defeat for the company. The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission on Tuesday denied the permit application from Summit Carbon Solutions. Commissioner Kristie Fiegen and commission chair Gary Hanson voted for the denial. Commissioner Chris Nelson voted no. The denial was without prejudice, which means Summit can file another application in the future. Summit submitted the application in November, after South Dakota voters had rejected Senate Bill 201. It attempted to state that a PUC permit overrides any local regulations. The passage of SB 201 last year led to significant turnover in the legislative elections last year and brought a stronger anti-CO2 membership to both the House of Representatives and the Senate. That in turn led to passage this year of House Bill 1052 that says CO2 projects can't use eminent domain to force their way across people's properties. The passage of HB 1052 then led to Summit asking the state commission to suspend the schedule and put the application on hold indefinitely. That position later changed. On Tuesday, Summit attorney Brett Koenecke repeated that Summit was willing to accept 12 months. Summit has received approval for the pipeline from other states. Landowners attorney Brian Jorde requested the denial. He told the South Dakota commission on Tuesday that Summit has no way to get the line from Iowa into Lincoln County and no way to get the line to North Dakota through McPherson County. Koenecke said Summit still believes there is a chance to reach agreements with landowners along the South Dakota portion of the route. But, he noted, 'I think the price of poker has gone up considerably.' Said commission chair Hanson, 'I don't see the possibility of an indefinite suspension.' He told Koenecke, 'You're between a rock and a hard place.' Koenecke said there are people — 'lots of them' — who support the proposed pipeline. 'Why can't you let it play out?' he asked the commissioners. 'Let's find out if this is possible. Let's find out.' Jorde, the landowners attorney, said Summit doesn't plan to refer HB 1052 to a public vote. 'It's like watching a slow car crash,' he said. Commissioner Fiegen made the motion for denial. 'The application is not ready to go forward,' she said. 'The current route in my view is not viable.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Prison task force plans to take public testimony
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — The agenda is out for the first meeting next week of the group that will recommend what direction South Dakota should head on a new men's prison. The Prison Project Reset task force, appointed last month by Gov. Larry Rhoden, is scheduled to gather on the morning of Wednesday, April 2, for an 8 a.m. tour of the current State Penitentiary and Jameson Annex in Sioux Falls that the new prison would largely replace. State Supreme Court hears NOPE case Tuesday After a lunch break, the group will tour the state government-owned site between Harrisburg and Canton in Lincoln County, where the state Department of Corrections had planned construction of the new prison. The group will meet for a second day on Thursday, April 3, starting at 8 a.m., at the South Dakota Military Heritage Alliance building in Sioux Falls, located at 1600 W. Russell Street. The members are scheduled on that second morning to receive an overview of South Dakota's current DOC facilities and four presentations before breaking for lunch. Starting at 12:30 p.m. on April 3, the group plans to take public testimony. The group's chair, Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen, is in charge of deciding the duration of time each person can testify. 'My hope is that I don't have to be too restrictive,' Venhuizen told KELOLAND News on Wednesday, March 26. 'I will ask testifiers to try to stay at ten minutes or so, and not to repeat prior testimony. We should have a couple hours and I want to be sure everyone is heard.' Venhuizen said written comments and materials can also be submitted for distribution to the committee. Emailed comments and materials can be sent here. How we got here In her December 2021 budget address to the Legislature, then-Gov. Kristi Noem referred to a study that showed South Dakota had some $600 million in Department of Corrections needs. She suggested that state lawmakers start setting aside funds to meet those needs. In response, during the 2022 legislative session, the state incarceration fund was established. In February 2022, Gov. Noem announced the appointment of Kellie Wasko as state secretary of corrections. Wasko began on March 7 of that year, and DOC officials worked several years developing the plan for a new men's prison. In October 2023, Noem's office announced the purchase of 300 acres of farm land in Lincoln County from the state Office of School and Public Lands. But in 2024, the Legislature passed and Noem signed into law Senate Bill 201, dealing with pipelines. SB 201 was referred to a statewide vote and was rejected in all but one of South Dakota's 66 counties. Just as significantly, a dozen incumbent lawmakers who had voted yes on SB 201 during the legislative session lost in the June 2024 primary elections. That turnover brought in a new crop of legislators who hadn't been part of the previous plan to set money aside for a new prison. Then Noem resigned as governor in January, with Rhoden automatically moving up from lieutenant governor. Secretary Wasko meanwhile raised eyebrows among lawmakers when she revealed that ongoing operational costs for the new prison would be significantly higher. All of that led to the House of Representatives deadlocking on House Bill 1025 that originally called for authorizing construction of the new men's prison and transferring $763 million to the Department of Corrections to pay for it. An attempt to keep HB 1025 alive by amending it to only transfer $148 million into the incarceration fund also failed. A local group calling itself Neighbors Opposing Prison Expansion aka NOPE Lincoln County meanwhile had sued state government, claiming due process wasn't followed in choosing the proposed site. The South Dakota Supreme Court heard arguments in the case earlier this week. How the Rhoden administration responded Gov. Rhoden then issued his first executive order establishing the Prison Project Reset panel on February 27. The order called for the group to deliver its recommendations and propose legislation to the governor by July 15. Rhoden told news reporters that he plans to call a special legislative session on July 22 regarding the matter. Rhoden appointed the following people to the prison task force: Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen, Sioux Falls, as its chair. Yankton Police Chief , who has been with the Yankton Police Department since August 1998. Minnehaha County Sheriff , who served in the Sioux Falls Police Department from 1973 to 1997, when he was sworn in as Minnehaha County sheriff. Minnehaha County State's Attorney , who took office in January 2021 and has served in various public roles as a lawyer since 2011. Tiffany Wolfgang, CEO at Southeastern Behavioral Health Center in Sioux Falls since 2024 and previously director at South Dakota Division of Behavioral Health Services in Pierre. Jane Wipf Pfeifle, a retired state Seventh Circuit judge based in Rapid City. South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley, Pierre. Rep. Jon Hansen, Dell Rapids, attorney. Rep. Erin Healy, Sioux Falls, philanthropy officer. Rep. Joy Hohn, Hartford, professional pilot/farmer/business owner. Rep. Greg Jamison, Sioux Falls, commercial real estate broker associate. Sen. Chris Karr, Sioux Falls, business valuation analyst/financial consultant. Rep. Jack Kolbeck, Sioux Falls, key account manager, Beal Distributing. Sen. Steve Kolbeck, Brandon, Xcel Energy principal manager for South Dakota. Sen. Mark Lapka, Leola, farmer/rancher. Rep. Karla Lems, Canton, family-owned agri-businesses owner and manager. Sen. Jim Mehlhaff, Pierre, retired, former director of state Grain Warehouse Division. Rep. Brian Mulder, Sioux Falls, managing director at Volunteers of America-Dakotas. Rep. Scott Odenbach, Spearfish, attorney and real estate managing broker. Sen. Ernie Otten, Tea, retired home builder. Rep. Tim Reisch, Howard, retired South Dakota Dept. of Corrections secretary, retired South Dakota adjutant general, former Miner County sheriff. Sen. Jamie Smith, Sioux Falls, real estate agent and former teacher. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
House Bill 1052 on CO2 pipelines passed. Now what?
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — The decision now facing Gov. Larry Rhoden of whether to veto House Bill 1052 or allow the proposed ban on eminent domain for CO2 pipelines to become law is something that wouldn't have happened just a year ago. Kurtenbach leaves as CEO of Daktronics But a lot has changed in the past 12 months, triggered by the Legislature's passage of a very different approach last year that wound up being referred to a statewide vote and then rejected in 65 of South Dakota's 66 counties. Here's a look at what's transpired and what's yet to happen. The passage of Senate Bill 201 last year led directly in the 2024 elections to significant turnover among lawmakers. More than a dozen Republican incumbents who voted for SB 201 lost in primary contests, while many Republican incumbents who voted against SB 201 won primaries. That led to a major shakeup in November when the Republican caucuses for the House and Senate met to elect leadership for the 2025-2026 term. The new House Republican leadership — Speaker Jon Hansen, majority leader Scott Odenbach, speaker pro tem Karla Lems and majority assistant leader Marty Overweg — all had opposed SB 201. Likewise in the Senate, where Chris Karr was chosen as the chamber's president pro tem and Carl Perry was picked as assistant majority leader. Both had voted against SB 201. The one exception was majority leader Jim Mehlhaff, who had voted for SB 201. The turnover was further reflected in how 1052, whose prime sponsor is Lems and lead Senate sponsor is first-year Republican lawmaker Mark Lapka, fared this year versus how House Bill 1219 did a year ago. Hansen's 2024 attempt to prohibit eminent domain for CO2 pipelines failed 7-6 in the House committee. When he tried to get the House to debate it, his attempt failed 32-36. This year, 1052 sailed through its House committee hearing 10-3, then cruised through the full House 49-19. At its Senate hearing, 1052 received a 7-2 endorsement. The 23-12 vote for it Tuesday in the full Senate however was one yes short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a governor's veto. Summit has applied to the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission for a permit to construct a pipeline through eastern South Dakota that would collect CO2 from various ethanol manufacturing plants and pipe the gas to central North Dakota, where it would be buried. The South Dakota segment would be part of a line that also serves ethanol producers in Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and North Dakota. The commission has scheduled an evidentiary hearing to start Wednesday, August 13, and continue for five weeks, concluding on Friday, September 12. The commission must reach a decision no later than one year after Summit's application was filed November 19, 2024. That means 1052, should it become law, would take effect on July 1 of this year and be in place before the evidentiary hearing begins. Summit reportedly has about 49% of the voluntary easements from landowners along its proposed route in South Dakota. An amendment to 1052 from Republican Sen. David Wheeler failed in the Senate on Tuesday 14-21; it would have allowed Summit to use eminent domain once it had a state permit and had secured 75% of voluntary easements. A comparison of the two roll-call votes showed that Republican senators Larry Zikmund and Randy Deibert voted for Wheeler's amendment and then, after the amendment had failed, voted for 1052. Wheeler's amendment was more restrictive than one that had been prepared for Republican Sen. Stephanie Sauder. Her amendment would have set the voluntary easements threshold at 67%, but it wasn't offered for consideration. A company called Gevo wants to build a sustainable aviation-fuels plant at Lake Preston. The proposed Gevo plant would link to the Summit CO2 line and last fall received a conditional commitment from the U.S. Department of Energy for a $1.46 billion guaranteed loan. Gevo broke ground at the Lake Preston site in September 2022. Rhoden, who was lieutenant governor at the time, and First Gentleman Bryon Noem participated in the event, while then-Gov. Kristi Noem issued a news release hailing the proposed project as 'the largest economic investment in South Dakota history.' The South Dakota Board of Economic Development, which functions as an arm of the Governor's Office of Economic Development, approved a $12,294,059 tax break for the project a few weeks later. The following May, a separate arm of GOED known as the South Dakota Economic Development Finance Authority took steps toward approving a private activity bond issue for up to $187 million of qualified solid waste management facility expenses for the Gevo project. Not much has happened at the Lake Preston site. Whether the federal conditional loan commitment remains in effect isn't known, now that President Trump has returned to the White House this year. A question about that sent to Gevo's public relations office last month hasn't been answered. A spokesperson for Summit said the pipeline wouldn't be affected by any federal funding cuts. The legislation, should it become law, could affect a half-dozen cases in South Dakota's state courts. The South Dakota Supreme Court last year ruled it was premature for the justices to reach a decision on whether the CO2 pipeline proposed by Summit Carbon Solutions qualified as a common carrier, whether CO2 was a commodity, and whether the company therefore could claim eminent domain for the proposed route of the pipeline. Wrote Justice Janine Kern, 'As SCS's counsel acknowledged before this Court at oral argument, the classification of CO2 as a commodity when it is being transported and sequesteredunderground is a novel question of first impression. Here, the record is simply devoid of any indication that CO2 is being used in this context as an 'article of trade or commerce' or being sold as an 'economic good.' Instead, it appears from our review of the record that the economic item of value at play here may be the tax credit generated by the sequestration of the CO2, a determination which is driven by federal energy policies.' Justice Kern noted that, unlike some other states, 'The Legislature of South Dakota, however, has been silent on this particular subject. On the basis of an undeveloped record regarding pricing terms and business structure, we are unwilling to make such a significant determination, particularly one that is heavily bound up in policy considerations. On the limited factual record before us, SCS has not demonstrated, as a matter of law in these summary judgment proceedings, a reasonable probability that the CO2 being transported and sequestered in the case will be put to any productive use.' The legislation — and the broader issue of landowner rights vs. CO2 pipelines — has already greatly reshaped the leadership and the direction of the South Dakota Republican Party central committee. Dan Lederman of Dakota Dunes didn't seek re-election as state GOP chairman in 2024 after six years in that position, in part because he had become linked to Summit Carbon Solutions. Lederman is listed as a senior advisor for LS2 Group, a Des Moines, Iowa-based lobbying firm that has represented Summit and Energy Transfer Partners, which operates the Dakota Access crude-oil pipeline. Then-state Sen. John Wiik was elected as the South Dakota Republicans' new chair, but he didn't seek re-election this year. He too had voted for SB 201. Instead three candidates ran to replace Wiik, and the winner last month was Jim Eschenbaum. He is a Hand County Commission member from rural Miller and chaired the group that successfully referred SB 201 to a statewide vote and kept it from become state law. After its new leaders were chosen, the South Dakota GOP central committee then passed a resolution supporting passage of HB 1052. Elected as vice chair was Janet Jensen of Rapid City. She is married to Republican Rep. Phil Jensen, who recently was elected as the new chair for the South Dakota Freedom Caucus, a group that organized at the 2022 Republican state convention. The Freedom Caucus issued a news release on June 29 that year calling for a special legislative session on abortion. It has since issued many news releases aligning itself against CO2 pipelines and with landowner rights. The Republican party's new secretary is state Rep. Tina Mulally. She was treasurer for the ballot measure committee that worked to overturn SB 201. Elected without opposition as South Dakota GOP secretary was Starla Russell of Hot Springs. She is married to a former state senator, Republican Lance Russell, who is now the Fall River County state's attorney. The new Republican officers Jensen, Mulally and Russell replace vice chair Rep. Mary Fitzgerald, treasurer Brett Koenecke and secretary Marilyn Oakes. Fitzgerald voted for SB 201. Koenecke, a member of the May Adam law firm in Pierre, represents Summit Carbon Solutions. He had succeeded another lawyer at the May Adam firm, Justin Bell, as state GOP treasurer. Bell now lobbies for Summit as well. On the pro-CO2 pipeline side, the 2025 registered-lobbyist listing shows nine people representing Summit Carbon Solutions; eight representing various ethanol producers whose manufacturing facilities would connect to Summit's proposed line; four for the proposed GEVO airplane-fuel plant that also would connect to the proposed line; one for the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce and Industry; and four for Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce. On the anti-CO2 pipeline side, the 2025 registration listing shows two people representing South Dakota Farmers Union; three representing Dakota Rural Action; and four representing South Dakota Stockgrowers Association. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Senate bills to close Indiana primary elections, reduce early voting days die. Could they come back?
Two Indiana Senate bills that might have made it harder for Hoosiers to vote have died, just before the halfway point of the legislative session. Senate Bill 201 would have closed primary elections in Indiana to allow only people affiliated with a specific party to vote in that party's primary election. Senate Bill 284 would have shrunk the state's early voting period from 28 days to 14. Both bills, carried by Republican senators, passed through legislative committees earlier this month but are now considered dead after the authors did not open them up for amendments on the Senate floor before a deadline to do so on Wednesday. Sen. Mike Gaskill, R-Pendleton, who authored SB 201 on closed primaries, said there wasn't enough support for the bill to pass the Senate. A similar bill filed in the House from Whiteland Republican state Rep. Michelle Davis also died this week after it did not receive a committee hearing. Similar language to all three bills could potentially be amended into other legislation during the second half of the legislative session, but it's unlikely that the concepts would pass the full Senate if they couldn't garner enough support the first go-around. More: Indiana voter turnout is almost last in the nation. Many are working to turn this around. The closed primary bills were filed after ReCenter Indiana, a centrist group, encouraged Democrat-leaning voters to cast ballots in the six-way Republican gubernatorial primary last year. The Democratic primary for the 2024 race was uncontested. Gaskill said he plans to continue to study the issue and share information with fellow lawmakers and political parties around the state. In recent years, there has been a national trend of Republican-leaning states closing primaries. 'I think it's something that people in Indiana are just completely unfamiliar with and a little cautious about,' Gaskill said. 'So it's fine to move a little slower on that and see if the appetite changes in the future.' Questions sent to a press secretary for Byrne about his bill reducing the number of early voting days were not immediately returned Wednesday evening. During the bill's hearing in the Senate's Committee on Elections, Byrne argued that some counties struggle to staff voting centers for the 28-day period for Hoosiers. While those two bills died, the Indiana Senate earlier this month advanced a different bill seeking to prohibit the use of student IDs for voting. Senate Bill 10, from Republican Sen. Blake Doriot, passed on a vote of 39-11. It now heads to the House. Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Brittany Carloni at Follow her on Twitter/X @CarloniBrittany. Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@ or follow her on Twitter @kayla_dwyer17. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana Senate bills to close primary elections, slim early voting die
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tribune-Star Editorial: Spate of restrictive voting bills all about political control
Hoosiers — the people who live and work in Indiana — have not been clamoring for their elected officials to restrict voting. Instead, the motivation driving the proposed laws introduced into the Indiana General Assembly this winter comes from national party politics. The ruling party at the Statehouse — the Republicans, with their super-majorities in the Indiana House and Senate — have proposed those restrictions to follow along with a nationwide strategy. They cloak their proposals as 'election security' measures, but as every probe has proven during the Trump era, American voting systems already are overwhelmingly secure. In reality, these proposed restrictive voting laws come from the power party's own insecurities. Yes, they have already conformed Indiana's electoral landscape to ensure they remain in power, by craftily drawing legislative boundary lines that isolate areas where voters might actually choose a Democratic candidate. That protects incumbents, who rarely lose an election and often run unopposed, given that a rival's chances are so slim. That is not enough for the party leadership, though. They also aim to add hurdles for groups of people who could cast a Democratic ballot or split their ticket. So, in the current General Assembly session, Republicans have introduced proposals — unwanted by most Hoosiers — such as Senate Bill 284. Its target? Indiana's popular, heavily used early voting period. The state currently offers 28 days of early voting, one of the longest in the nation. That is a good thing. Hoosiers like it. National political movements, not so much. As a result, SB 284 would cut Indiana's early voting in half, from 28 to 14 days. Republicans pushing the idea insist that some counties struggle to staff vote centers for that amount of time. Indiana had the ninth-lowest turnout of the 50 states — 58.6% of eligible Hoosiers voted. What on earth would these places do if turnouts in Indiana were as perpetually robust as in places like Wisconsin (76.9%), Minnesota (76.4%), Michigan (74.6%), Maine (74.2%) or New Hampshire (74.1%)? They did not quit at SB 284. SB 10 would eliminate college students' ability to use their university-issued student IDs as a form of acceptable identification at the polls. Republicans behind the bill have no proof, but claim those IDs are not as reliable as state-issued IDs or driver's licenses. Those students are Americans, who live in Indiana's college communities, boost local economies, provide future workers and help boost those towns' population counts. They deserve to be able to vote smoothly in those places, where they live most of the year, if not all of the year. SB 201 would jump on the red-state bandwagon by closing Indiana's primary elections. Those May elections currently allow any voter to choose a Republican or Democratic ballot, to pick one particular party's nominees for a slate of offices to be finally decided in the fall general elections. SB 201 requires primary voters to register under a party affiliation 119 days before the primary election. Primary election turnouts in Indiana have gotten dreadfully low, and this will sink those numbers further. But for the political movement, SB 201 will help Republicans control who votes for their candidates, and those primary elections basically determine who fills the office, because fewer and fewer Indiana races are contested. Then there is SB 287, which might be the worst of the bunch. SB 287 would make school board elections partisan. Most Hoosiers prefer the longtime nonpartisan nature of their local school board races, but the residents' preferences are not the focus of those behind the bill. They are instead focused on the political forces behind efforts to put party tags on those candidates. They claim partisan races would inject transparency, yet it would only further unleash the polarization of national politics into the community schools. These restrictive voting bills do not fix problems. They create problems, the largest of which is too much control by one political party.
