by Benjamin Chase
of the Plainsman
HURON – With crossover day in the rearview, District 22 legislators focused on the work still to get done the rest of the way through this year’s session, including ironing out the budget for those bills that have passed.
Representative Kevin Van Diepen gave the first opening statement, and he discussed the challenges of this year’s session, citing the 630 bills that were filed, not including joint resolutions. He expressed that the House worked to be done “fairly early” on crossover day.
Van Diepen cited property tax relief as a focus of the remainder of the session, working to find the best of the numerous bills that were filed on the issue while also working within the budget from the appropriations committee.
Wipf then commented on the “shenanigans” that occurred in the Senate over the week, with Senators leaving the Capitol to avoid votes and long discussions on the floor about Senate rules. Greenfield discussed some of the work in the House Education committee and then addressed the property tax issue. She spoke about a visit from Gov. Larry Rhoden to Redfield on Friday and his assertion that property taxes were a local issue.
“I don’t hear a lot from people in our district on property taxes,” she observed.
The first question from the audience was about property taxes, referring to Senate Bill 96, which was focused on relief for owner-occupied properties. Wipf answered first, citing that he did vote for the bill in question, which would allow counties to assess a gross receipts tax to reduce owner-occupied property taxes.
Wipf stated that he feels property tax concerns are significantly focused on the Black Hills and the Sioux Falls areas, and this bill would allow counties that wanted to utilize the tax to use it to offset property taxes.
Van Diepen clarified that a vote of the people would be required before the county tax could be implemented.
The legislators were asked about a “millionaire’s tax” that has been implemented in other states. The legislators in unison stated that they were not in favor of implementing an additional tax and discussed the potential for looking at deductions. Van Diepen reminded that the income taxation system is a federal issue.
The legislators were then asked about data centers and the stress on the electric grid and generating their own power. Van Diepen cited his time working with data centers in North Dakota and the contracts involved that protect individual electrical users. Greenfield expressed that she believes the push to construct data centers is premature. Wipf discussed the “bill of rights” on data centers, Senate Bill 135. He noted that the bill was passed by the Senate unanimously and will be sent to the House State Affairs committee.
The legislators were then encouraged to discuss work that has a local impact. Van Diepen identified the bill to expand the brand board to East River. He explained that the board does not impact East River cattle producers in the same way, as the cattle are primarily in dairies and feed lots, not on range grass. He was pleased that the bill was defeated.
Greenfield identified a center in Aberdeen that will serve as a day center for disruptive and violent students. She noted that this is a significant issue in the state right now, and if the center in Aberdeen is successful, it could encourage more funding and similar centers in other places around the state.
She also noted that she has been “playing defense” to ensure local decisions remain local, with as many taxation and other decisions made by city commissions, county commissions, and township boards rather than in Pierre.
Wipf discussed House Bill 1082, which changes how school districts are reimbursed for free and reduced-price meals, allowing those meals to be state-funded. He cited that the entire cost of the bill was $600,000, a number that was surprisingly low in his eyes to provide relief to a large number of students in the state.
A question asked about cell phones in school and opt-out petition requirement changes. Van Diepen explained on the opt-out issue that the request to lower the standard to call for a vote came from the Sioux Falls area, with the supporters discussing the raw amount of signatures required to call for a vote. He explained that the number is based on a percentage of registered voters, so calling for a vote in any county requires the same participation, which is why he voted against the bill.
Wipf discussed the cell phone question, explaining that while he does not support having cell phones in school on a personal level, this was a bill looking to do local school board work from Pierre. He mentioned that only six school districts in the state do not have a cell phone use policy in place, so he voted against the bill as he believed the issue should be dealt with at the local level.
In her closing remarks, Greenfield presented a joke poem about the Senate’s actions over the past week.
The final legislative coffee is set for March 28.
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