By Rep. Jeff Bathke

The first week of the historic 100th Legislative Session in the great State of South Dakota is in the books. Governor Noem presented the State of the State Address, Chief Justice Steven Jensen gave the State of the Judiciary Address, Chairman J. Garrett Renville gave the State of the Tribes Address, and Colonel Derek Oakley gave the State of the Base Address on Ellsworth Air Force Base. 

During the State of the State Address, Governor Noem focused on the future, even though she will not be with us much longer, covering several accomplishments over the last six years. Some that are important to me are expanding agriculture, disaster mitigation funding, securing the border, growing the economy, and less government regulation. In the end, she thanked her family and welcomed the soon to be new Governor Larry Rhoden. It will be interesting to see who he will select for his replacement and what his priorities will be for the state. 

During the State of the Judiciary Address, Chief Justice Steven Jensen discussed additional community programs prior to and after prison. These additional community-based programs should reduce recidivism, which is very important considering the Department of Corrections is currently building a 288-bed medium security female prison in Rapid City, at a cost of $87,145,020, which is $252,951 per bed and in the planning stage of building a 1,512-bed maximum security male prison in Lincoln County at a cost of $737,854,980, which is a cost of $487,480 per bed. Chief Justice Steven Jensen also recognized Mitchell Court Services Officer Tim Moon for his successful work with offenders assigned to supervision under the Unified Judicial System, who received a standing ovation. 

During the State of the Tribes Address, Chairman J. Garrett Renville discussed rebuilding the relationships between the State and the Tribes. He is ready to have a fresh start and move forward. 

During the State of the Base Address on Ellsworth Air Force Base, Colonel Derek Oakley explained the current and future base expansion, in anticipation of the new B21 Bombers. This will add additional airmen, spouses and children, who will need housing and schools. The economic impact will be huge for the State of South Dakota. Ellsworth is the second largest employer, behind the State. 

Department of Revenue Secretary Michael Houdyshell gave a presentation to the Taxation Committee. He provided an update on sales, use and excise tax, which collected $2.2 billion last year. He discussed property tax collections, of which 44 percent is received from owner occupied, 31 percent from commercial, and 21 percent from agriculture land. On average, property tax collections go to the schools (56 percent), county (27 percent), municipalities (13 percent), townships (2 percent), and special assessments (2 percent). He also gave an update on gambling revenue and motor vehicle licensing fees. South Dakota is going to a new licensing program called 605Drive next month. 

If you are one of the many citizens concerned about high property taxes, you should review HB1019, which eliminates certain property taxes levied on owner-occupied single-family dwellings and increases certain gross receipts tax rates and use tax rates. As explained above, 56 percent of your property taxes go to the school district, which generates $280 million. The school portion of your property taxes would be reduced to zero dollars and these lost dollars would be made up by an increase in sales tax. For many, this would be a cost savings. For every thousand dollars of taxable sales you spend, your sales tax would go from $42 to $50. You would have to buy a lot of taxable goods before you would spend more on sales tax than property tax. Much of our sales tax is generated from tourists but 100 percent of our owner-occupied property tax is generated by residents. 

I also sat in on a budget report from the Veteran’s Affairs Department to the Appropriations Committee, who has concerns with reduced benefits to Veterans. Part of this reduction is eliminating the funding paid to counties to provide a Veteran’s Service Officer (VSO). Since the statute requires each county to have a VSO, the cost to provide one will be paid by your county tax dollars.  

I look forward to discussing issues of importance with the citizens of Jerauld, Sanborn, Miner and Davison Counties over the next couple of months. If you have any concerns, feel free to contact me at jeff.bathke@sdlegislature.gov.