After three weeks, the legislative process is hitting its stride in Pierre. However, some of Governor Kristi Noem’s legislative pushes are hitting roadblocks at the Capitol.
The Republican-controlled Legislature has rejected several of the governor’s proposals and is looking to amend others.
Before the legislative session began, Gov. Noem announced she was bringing a bill requiring a moment of silence each day in all the state’s public schools. Noem said the legislation restored protections for prayer in school.
She even mentioned the proposal publicly in Iowa last year. But South Dakota school administrators weren’t consulted, and a legislative committee rejected the bill.
Allen Cambon is a policy adviser for the governor’s office. During an exchange at a legislative hearing with Republican Rep. Mike Stevens, R-Yankton, Cambon got some pointed questions.
“Can I get a follow up?” Stevens said. “My question was how many school districts did you contact?”
“We didn’t talk directly with school districts about this bill,” Cambon said.
“So you didn’t talk to anybody about it?” Stevens said.
“I think that’s fair to say,” Cambon said.
Cambon says representatives from the governor’s office did talk with the state Education Department, which falls under the executive branch of government.
Nearby landowners of a proposed shooting range in Meade County say the same thing about another of the governor’s legislative bills — that no one asked them. Larry Reinhold is a rancher and hosts the Rainbow Bible Camp, which is about 3.5 miles from the proposed shooting range just north of Rapid City.
“Most of the landowners and ranchers around it really have not been brought into it,” Reinhold said. “It was too much behind closed doors and nobody knew about it.”
Reinhold feels the Game Fish and Parks Department did not properly consult nearby residents.
GF&P representatives say the proposal has been public since January of last year and that’s when they began calling and knocking on doors. Lawmakers rejected $2.5 million of state funding for the project.
Another bill from Gov. Noem that's meeting stiff resistance is a move to expand a campground at Custer State Park.
Steve Saint is president of the South Dakota Campground Owners Association. That group is opposed to the proposal. Saint owns a private campground near the park.
Saint says GF&P representatives consulted with the group on an original campground proposal, but not the new plan.
“They’ve pretty much changed every aspect of this bill,” Saint says. “We didn’t get notified of that. In fact, I was in Pierre the day before those changes—from what I understand they had a meeting, didn’t include anybody else, made those changes and put it out. I found out from that evening’s news.”
In some cases, Republican lawmakers say the governor has offered legislation that focuses on a bill already proposed.
Rep. Rhonda Milstead, R-Hartford, authored a bill last year to prevent transgender girls from playing girls sports. That bill was ultimately vetoed and Milstead is bringing a similar bill this year. But Gov. Noem already has a bill working its way through the legislative process on the same issue. Milstead says that’s not the only example.
“I can think of five off the top of my head. So, legislators have been working all summer on bills with our constituents and have brought them to the table, but then the governor has brought a similar bill. That’s why you need to use the process,” Milstead says. “We have separation of powers for a reason."
Other Republicans say there’s always potential for improving communications in the legislative process.
Some Democrats say the policy rejections are evidence of Noem’s management style.
State Sen. Troy Heinert, D-Mission, says if the executive branch doesn’t talk to legislators it’s going to run into trouble.
“I’ve seen her style become more extreme, less South Dakota-focused,” Heinert says. “Part of that has to do with who she hires in her office. There are very, very few South Dakotans working in her office anymore. Some of those tactics may work in other places, but I think they’re finding plenty of resistance here in South Dakota.”
Gov. Noem says her office’s outreach has been excellent and far beyond what’s been done in the past.
“Several legislators brought the rifle range and campsites to our attention and said it was a priority and we did outreach and spoke with campground owners, with people in the Black Hills before these proposals were ever included in my budget,” Noem says. “This is what legislating is. It’s discussion. This is an opportunity for the public to come to tell us their thoughts and feelings on these policies as well. I would say standard operating procedure.”
The governor still has several initiatives pending in the legislature. One would prevent abortion after six weeks, another codifies an executive order prohibiting medication abortions outside of a licensed abortion facility. The latter is already held up in court.
However, the proposals have garnered support from a national organization opposed to legal abortion, the Susan B. Anthony List. South Dakota Right To Life says while it supports the governor’s anti-abortion stance, it does not comment on draft legislation. Those abortion-related bills could provide some key legislative wins for Noem, who is rounding out her first term as governor.
