Lawmakers on the executive board clashed Monday regarding whether the panel should officially discuss investigations surrounding South Dakota’s EB-5 program. Legislators disagree whether it’s the E-Board’s job to talk about the inquiries right now.
The agenda for Monday’s executive board meeting has one item listed simply as "EB-5 Discussion." Some lawmakers began the meeting wanting to remove that item from the lineup. Republican State Senator Phyllis Heinemann from Sioux Falls says lawmakers should wait until they get the investigations’ findings before launching official talks.
"For us to jump in now when there are obviously many other investigations going on, we need to see what the evidence or what the results from those come out, then we need to see where we fit in and what needs to happen in terms of any oversight or in terms of any changes that we need to make," Heinemann says.
A lawmaker in favor of talking about controversy surrounding the EB-5 program is Democratic State Representative Kathy Tyler. The legislator from Big Stone City says the executive board should discuss ongoing state and federal investigations now.
"You have closed your minds to any discussion, and this whole thing with this EB5 thing, it our state’s responsibility to monitor this program, and we didn’t do it," Tyler says. "We don’t even have a clue what the investigation are happening, and to totally ignore this discussion as an E-board is unfathomable."
The disagreement doesn’t split exactly along party lines. Republican State Senator Craig Tieszen from Rapid City says he’s not opposed to members of the E-Board formally addressing the EB-5 investigations.
"I think we ought to give deference to our criminal investigations, both the state and the federal ones. I think we need to keep our powder dry, so to speak, for the time being and see what the results of those are," Tieszen says. "On the other hand, this is an issue for the legislature, and we will be reviewing this at some point. It’s our responsibility to review this, either to review what’s happened and what needs to be done about the past but, maybe more importantly, how we need to protect ourselves from future incidents that may come to light as a result of the investigation."
The majority of lawmakers on the executive board voted not to address the EB-5 investigation at this week’s meeting.