Last updated on 2012.01.24
For better or for worse, expect the South Dakota Legislature to get big-time busy this week. Some juicy morsels coming from the kitchen:
Senator Jason Frerichs (D-1/Wilmot) should be dropping his pipeline bonding bill in the hopper any day now. Sen. Frerichs would like TransCanada and any other major oil pipeline to put up $500 million to ensure that we have money on hand to clean up after a big pipeline rupture. I will complain that $500 million is less than half the cost of cleaning up a Keystone-sized spill, but Frerichs's bonding proposal is a lot better than Governor Daugaard's policy of "Trust TransCanada!" The complaint from the other side might be that it wouldn't be fair for us to change the rules on TransCanada so far into their project, but given that the President just sent Keystone XL back to square one, that complaint is now moot. Sock it to 'em, Jason!
(Update 2012.01.24 19:45 MST: Sen. Frerichs files SB 126!)
Representative Brian Liss (R-13/Sioux Falls) says he's about to submit a bill to give homeschool parents a $275 handout for each child they homeschool. He estimates that with 3300 homeschool children, the bill would cost $907,500, if everyone eligible applies. Rep. Liss, a dyed in the wool conservative, feels no need to provide a new funding mechanism for this handout; he says our increased sales tax revenues will cover it. But really, Rep. Liss, do you think Governor Daugaard will let you throw more money at education without demanding better results? Maybe you should only allocate the money to the top 20% of homeschool teachers... oh, but then you're going to have to create a state-mandated program to evaluate them....
(Update 2012.01.14 19:43 MST: Rep. Liss files HB 1215, Handouts for Home School.)
Representative Frank Kloucek (D-19/Scotland) takes his HB 1004, a measure reducing the maximum length of non-compete clauses from two years to one, to the House Energy and Commerce Committee Monday (today!) at 10:00 a.m. The Republicans on the committee ought to eat this bill up: after all, aren't we a right-to-work state? And as a special treat, my grapevine tells me the Sibbinator may be coming to testify. (Please, Steve, please, don't mention New Age Theocracy. You will lose your audience, guaranteed.)
Representative Steve Hickey (R-9/Sioux Falls) is hoping for a smoke-out of HB 1015, Rep. Don Kopp's (R-35/Rapid City) really crazy idea to effectively get rid of concealead weapons permits. The bill died because certain right-wingnuts got a little too pushy in the lobby. The smoke-out may well happen, just to satisfy certain scorecarders gunning for more press-release fodder. I wonder if such scorecards may be stiffening the spines of various sane Republicans to vote against wingnut legislation. Oh, the irony! Let's hope so!
"Representative Brian Liss (R-13/Sioux Falls) says he’s about to submit a bill to give homeschool parents a $275 handout for each child they homeschool. He estimates that with 3300 homeschool children, the bill would cost $907,500, if everyone eligible applies."
So in other words a voucher system. wow.
I assume Liss votes agains increased spending on public education. (Shaking head)
Not quite vouchers: he says he's not extending the money to private school parents. Rep. Liss will catch heck for that: why should the state favor one form of alternative education over another? And why should public school parents be denied such funding for the other educational opportunities they provide their kids (dance and music lessons, SAT/ACT prep courses, tutoring...)?
Permit me to enlighten you and your readers. HB1015 did NOT die due to lobbying at all. HB1015 died in the Judiciary Committee on Friday because the representatives decided not to vote on the bill based on its merits, but rather on their enmity against South Dakota Gun Owners. They admitted so in their statements. I know, I was there. Go listen to the hearing or read the transcript. Representative Brian Gosch reaffirmed publicly at a crackerbarrel on Saturday in Rapid city that he actually believes the bill is a good bill, but voted against it because his "friends" were angry at South Dakota Gun Owners for working against them in their districts when they previously voted against pro-gun legislation. So Brian Gosch, and his "friends" have appointed themselves the judge, jury and executioner on any legislation supported by South Dakota Gun Owners. That's the truth and it's undisputed.
I bet many of your readers believe it a naive notion that our representatives should vote on bills based on the merits or demerits of the bill......not its sponsors, co-sponsors, supporters or who got stroked by them.
When I challenged Representative Gosch, after the crackerbarrel, regarding the charge he made that South Dakota Gun Owners "lied" in postcards mailed into anti-gun legislator's districts, he could not substantiate his claim. He couldn't because the "lies" don't exist. You would think, as an attorney, he would be more careful in his rhetoric. In the end, South Dakotans should care not how many guns Brian Gosch owns, how often he hunts or how many of his friends are angry.
VOTE ON THE BILL ON IT'S MERITS. Check your guns, your predjudice and your feelings at the Capitol door and serve the people, not the good old boys that you hang with.
Right, Ed. SDGO lobbied too aggressively, made threats, and thus turned off legislators. So HB 1015 died because of lobbying. Why do you work so hard to say black is white?
I'd be happy to see legislators vote on the bill on its merits. It would still lose. Carrying a gun is dangerous. Carriers should at least have to get a permit, if not undergo safety training.
Okay Mr. Radazzo, try this:
You have to register to vote and bring an ID with you to the polls.
You have to jump through all kinds of hoops to get your driver's license renewed.
You have to submit to a strip search to get on an airplane.
Why, Ed? Help us out here.
Why should you be able to free carry a pistol into a room full of liberals just because you haven't committed any crimes yet?
And why would you want to?
Are you afraid you might get hugged to death?
Cory, Ed is right. The South Dakota Gun Owners got into trouble with the legislators when they refused to lobby and instead involve the citizens into the legislative process. One citizen made what was claimed to be a threat in an email to Abdallah. Now that they are lobbying, it was thought that the matter was dropped. But Abdallah has not let go. This is an example of how the GOP Establishment gang up on those who stand up and oppose their tyrannical ways.
And as much as I would like to testify on HB 1004, it did not work out for me to run up to Pierre this morning. Probably the biggest reason for me not going is that my testimony would have not swayed legislators as the Big Business lobby has already obtained the commitment of the GOP Establishment to shut this bill down. I am sure that I will be challenged to provide proof, but things happen in secret, so I don't have absolute proof. My belief is passed on past experience and tips I have received from those who are on the ground. Evidence to support my premise will be the list of those who will line up to testify against this bill during the dog and pony show this morning.
"Why should you be able to free carry a pistol into a room full of liberals just because you haven’t committed any crimes yet?"
Bill, it is called the Second Amendment. Just because others have gone along with giving up their rights, doesn't me all should stop fighting to get them back. Their are already laws that make it illegal for criminals to pack heat. Concealed carry permits are not needed to enforce that. A simple background check will provide the evidence needed.
Good point, Bill! Voting is more directly vital to democracy than packing a gun, yet Republicans like Ed are all about making voting harder for citizens they don't like, presuming all sorts of voters to be guilty fraudsters until they provide copious and costly evidence of their identity. But it's outright tyranny to say Ed and the Hell's Angels can't walk around town with guns hidden in their jackets.
Steve, I'm sorry you can't make it to Pierre. It sounds like other testifiers are being intimidating out of speaking up as well. So much for the "right to work".
Steve,
Or it could be dying because it is a bad idea in their minds. Not everything is a conspiracy.
Cory, if I knew I would make a difference, than I would have made it a bigger priority. Let this be another example of how the GOP uses "free market principles" to establish monopolies. Conservatives are being deceived by the fascists, just like the Marxist left are deceiving the populist Democrats. We get rid of the big government creation of big business, then there would be no need for labor unions. We have to reduce the scope of governemnt, and that includes removing the government from economic development and job creation.
Troy, some will be fooled by the big business lobbyists. We will be hearing from them today. From my experience testfying in committee, I would have to speak first as a proponent, and then not able to counter the BS the opposition puts up later. In order to pass this bill, I need to be their before the committee hearing and help the legislators understand they are being mislead. The hearing is just a show to present some of what happened behind the scenes, and an opportunity for paid lobbyists to prove they are worth their pay.
If you don't want to carry a gun, don't carry one. The people around you with guns protect you also. Current law makes it an offense to carry a concealed firearm unless you beg the and bribe the State. Those who intend harm with firearms don't bother with permits. The concealed carry permit is a useless exercise in bureaucracy.
Guys, if you think for one minute Gene would vote for any measure opposed by law enforcement, let alone one that puts police lives more in danger, you're delusional. Getting to mess with SDGO a little bit just made it more fun for him.
Oops, hit return too soon.
On another note, does anybody know if a $500 million environmental surety bond is even possible? My experience with surety companies has always been very negative. It takes years and years of litigation to get them to pay while the state budget is stuck with the clean-up cash outlay in the meantime. A smaller, cash account held directly by the state makes more sense. The money is immediately available for clean-up, is controlled by the state and not some third party and we don't have to run the risk of the surety company failing. Lehman Bros ring a bell, anybody?
Bob is in an unique position. I truly believe he would protect us if he could still bear arms. So would a lot of people who have criminal records for having committed what many consider to be victimless "felonys." Just more evidence that our legislature frequently spends a lot of time working on poor solutions to irrelevant problems.
MHS: How would 1015 "put more police lives in danger?"
You're right about Abdallah, though. He is for anything that reduces liberty for you and for me.
Bob it has nothing to do with reducing civil liberties. It's about safety.
Why do you have to hide a weapon?
I think they should do in South Dakota what they do in other states. have a 2 week safety course on "how" to use a gun
Firearms use and safety courses should be taught to all, starting in first grade or before.
"Why do you have to hide a weapon?" is a stupid question that has nothing to do with anything in the argument.
It's ALL about civil liberties.
“Why do you have to hide a weapon?†is a stupid question that has nothing to do with anything in the argument.
Really? I must have missed the line in the Constitution that said you have the right to carry a concealed firearm.
"Bob it has nothing to do with reducing civil liberties. It’s about safety."
Ben Franklin (Freemason):
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
@ACLUSD ACLU South Dakota : (1/2) We support SB 119, a bill that would allow counties/municipalities to investigate discrimination claims based on orientation/identity.
@rcjMontgomery David Montgomery
Rep. Don Kopp: "This resolution is nothing more than… a guise to commemorate abortions."
BW Shcwartz: What are you talking about"
HB1004 goes down 11 to 2. Here are the ones who testified against it:
Bob Riter Jr., National Federation of Independent Business
Bob Miller, Bank West Pierre
David Hewett, SD Association of Healthcare Organizations
Jim Hood, SD Retailers Association
NFIB is not was their name makes them out to be. And the Corporate Medical Establishment is all about creating monopolies through the force of government.
And Cory, one of your hated Tea Party types (Lora Hubbel) voted against killing it. What does that say?
Newland, among the many silly arguments for this legislation is that it is one's "right" to carry a concealed weapon and that those wishing to avail themselves of that supposed right, or civil liberty as you claim, shouldn't have to go through the permitting process.
As you believe that it is indeed a civil liberty I simply asked where exactly is that "civil liberty" guaranteed. I couldn't find it anywhere in the Constitution or did they change it to the right of the people to keep and bear "concealed" arms and not tell me?
“Why do you have to hide a weapon?†is a stupid question that has nothing to do with anything in the argument."
Bob your wrong. It's not about civil liberties. It's about safety and no where do you have the right to a concealed weapon. Unlike you I won't reduce myself to name calling.
But my son is in law enforcement and if a bill as dumb as this one comes up and it could further put him in danger you had better belkief I'll speak up.
It is one's right to carry an instrument of self-defense. People carry weapons of self-defense. It is not legally defensible to tell people that they have to beg and bribe the state to carry an adequate instrument. The difference between the current system, in which some people carrying concealed firearms are so registered and some people carrying concealed firearms are not, and the proposal embodied in HB1015 is that a whole lot of people arbitrarily made criminals currently would not be criminals if 1015 were to pass.
There is nothing in 1015 that makes life inherently more dangerous for anyone.
As for the silly diversion into whether we have the right to conceal a weapon, I submit this, the text of the First Amendment:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
This part of the basic law of the land says you can believe, say or print anything you want. It does not, however, grant you the right to listen to or to read anything. SHOW ME WHERE it says you have the "right" to read this paragraph.
The Constitution is a set of limitations on government, not on us, the people, leaving its omissions of specifics, absent a clear public endangerment, up to individuals.
"A sobering look at Republican “Christians†and their Islamic parallels, the Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia."
Is Steve Hickey too late to clean up South Dakota's usury laws? @NewsHour: Watchdog-in-Chief Richard Cordray outlines his plan to clean up consumer lending.
Pastor Hickey is not without clout and certainly not lacking in the spiritual motivation department. If he really wanted to get rid of usury in South Dakota, I can't imagine anyone that could say no to that fire and brimstone.
While I think he could do more, at least he's doing something!
Pastor Steve...go give them Heaven! And don't be timid or fearful in your quest! Take names and kick...butt.
Put them on the usury purity test. You are either for the sin of usury or you're not...pretty simple, don't you think?
Looks like His Pastoralness and the ACLU are on the same side on something. @ACLUSD: We support SB 146, a bill to protect victims of sex trafficking and prostitution from criminal charges.
"Scary. 36 states enacted 135 provisions limiting access to #repro health care in 2011." Let's make 2012 better @PPact Planned Parenthood.