Taxes, prisons are hot topics

District 30 House of Reps. Tim Goodwin and Trish Ladner along with   Sen. Amber Hulse were on hand for a legislative cracker barrel that took place Feb. 22 at the Hill City Center.
About 70 people attended the event, with questions ranging from specific deregulation to protecting  the environment. By far the most questions posed to the panel was about libraries.
Sarah Myers, Custer County Library director, asked about the legislators’ vote on  HB 1239, “an Act to revise certain affirmative defenses to dissemination of material harmful to minors and obscenity offenses.” Goodwin said he wasn’t sure how the bill made it past to committee and onto the house floor.
“I’m embarrassed by it,”  Goodwin said.
Hulse has yet to vote on the matter but said the bill should no have been heard in the education committee, which may be why it passed the House. She said senate leadership has asked for it to be heard in the judiciary committee
Ladner says she did “a lot of research on the bill” to ensure librarians would not be fired.
She said she received many emails from parents asking her to support the bill.
“Our kids are our future,” Ladner said, who called the packets she received of the material available in libraries and schools, “horrific.” She voted yes on the bill.
“I cannot begin to tell you how graphically ugly  what some of our children have access to. I was just appalled,” she said of her logic behind voting yes on the bill.
Bonnie Guerre, who is a Library trustee in Hill City, commented on HB 1239 saying it was “ causing a lot of anxiety” for librarians. She held up a packet of policies and procedures that she believes all libraries in the state have to handle situations.
“There’s already a method. We’ve been trained to do this,” Guerre said.
A Custer resident went on to question Ladner directly, asking “I’m wondering have you been to your local libraries? Have you checked out what they have available?”
Ladner responded that she received “compelling” photocopies of material,  and that while those materials might not exist locally, “it’s Sioux Falls, it’s Watertown, it’s Brookings, those towns are very liberal.”
Another attendee asked for specific book titles that the legislators received in their packets.
“Unless we actually have the titles of the books and we know they’re  actually in the library…then it seems like a moot point,” the person said.
“I can get a hold of those and send them to you,” Ladner said.
There were also questions about South Dakota Public Broadcasting (SDPB), with one person saying she had recently attended a SDPB event at the Hill City Center calling  the media outlet “ mportant to our state.”
 Goodwin agreed, saying “we’re all against cutting funds for SDPB,” adding  he was “fairly confident “ those cuts would not happen.
Hulse said in her own little whip group SDPB and the state library funding “were our top two things that we didn’t want to cut.”
At times the legislators showed not only that they are listening to constituents but are also facing  many of the same issues. Hulse gave a personal response to a comment and question about terminations in the Black Hills National Forest  saying,  my mom was one of the people who lost her job.”
“She doesn’t work directly for the national forest,” Hulse said, and said she personally has drafted a letter to the Department of Intergovernmental Affairs to talk about the issue and how it affects District 30.
Hulse touched on property tax bill SB 191, a bill Ladner and former Rep. Dennis Krull worked on last year.
Hulse says it, “essentially makes it so that your taxes are reverted to the 2020 assessment levels. And then there’s a 3 percent increase year over year.”
The bill made it through Senate taxation by a 6-0 vote.  
When asked about why a 3 percent  cap Ladner said, “it works, it seems to cover the budgets.”
Ladner has been keeping  track of the 66 counties  in the state from 2019-23.
“Over those years counties have had an average of 58.6 percent increase in valuations,”she said, adding that 63 of those counties  were double digit increases. “That equated to $21.465 billion dollars in increased value.
Ladner said it’s a problem she has poured her life into and says “we’re gaining momentum,” in the property tax overhaul.
Hulse addressed how she is going to sell her bill to the legislature.
“If you lose assessed  value that doesn’t necessarily mean the county is going to lose money, it just means that the levy is going to go up.”
She likened it to a teeter totter. She says her bill will make things “fair again” because assessments are not “currently tied to reality.”
She admits the Department of Revenue estimated $114 million will have to be made up if her bill passes. But she says this can be done by a minute change in the levy amounts.
“They make it sound  like a big scary amount but increasing levies by small amounts will raise a lot in very small increments,” she said.
When asked specifically if  property tax reform will occur in this session Hulse said, “I have hope.”
Hulse said property taxes are her focus for the remainder of the session.   A show of hands in the audience showed most people in attendance have had their property taxes double the last three years.
About 15 minutes was dedicated to discuss the proposed  men’s state prison that will accommodate 1,500 prisoners.  Goodwin said “we are  not going to vote on a blanket prison. We’ve got to have the right plan.”
The current plan has an $830 million price tag.
Goodwin admits if the state doesn’t build the facility this year that inflation will increase.
“I want the plan to be more detailed,” Goodwin said, wanting more information on the ongoing costs for all the state facilities.  “We need to do something.”
Goodwin said the state has a 43 percent recidivism rate, one of the highest in the nation.
The legislature needs a two-third majority for the prison to pass.
“It’s gonna be the mother of all debates,” Goodwin said.