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Posts published in “South Dakota”

Bar, Restaurant Revenue Still Healthy Despite Smoking Ban

I'm reading up on South Dakota sales tax revenues (and how's your Sunday?). The December 2010 sales tax numbers show that, in the first full month of the new South Dakota indoor smoking ban, eating and drinking places saw 86.1…

HB 1071 Seeks County Commission Salary Cap

Six Republicans in the State Legislature have forgotten the party mantra of local control. Rep. Ed Van Gerpen (R-19/Avon) has floated House Bill 1071, which would cap the salaries of county commissioners at 50% above the state-specified minimum. SDCL 7-7-5…

SB 77 Lets Whiney Schools Ban Buses from Competing Districts

A bunch of Republican legislators are apparently afraid of school choice. Senate Bill 77, with primary sponsors Senator Shantel Krebs (R-10/Renner) and Rep. Thomas Brunner (R-29/Nisland), further complicates open enrollment by forbidding a school district from providing transportation to open-enrolled…

SD Dems Propose Three-Year Plan to End Structural Deficit

The Democrats in the South Dakota Legislature today are proposing a plan to achieve the common goal of eliminating the state's structural deficit. However, they counter Governor Daugaard's Tea-Party-style all-at-once 10% cut and propose a three-year plan to get us…

HB 1054: Now That Kristi’s Gone…

Congresswoman Noem, pay attention: your former colleagues in the South Dakota State Legislature are threatening your pocketbook. HB 1054 would jack up the penalty for failure to appear: FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act to increase the amount that the…

Stricherz, Haggar, Nelson, Buhl Float Bills

My favorite freshmen aren't just sitting on their hands and letting the party leadership tell them what to do: they're proposing bills! My own District 8 Rep. Patricia Stricherz has floated HB 1055, which tells employers they can't block employees…

HB 1047: Shoot More Prairie Dogs on Public Land

If you don't like how the state budget turns out, you may at least be able to take your frustrations out on prairie dogs. Some of the same folks who brought you SB 55, the "Chase Wile E. on Your…