Description: The South Dakota State Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of South Dakota. It is a bicameral legislative body, consisting of the Senate which has 35 members, and the House of Representatives, which has 70 members. The two houses are similar in most respects; the Senate alone holds the right to confirm gubernatorial appointments to certain offices. The Legislature meets at the South Dakota State Capitol in Pierre. It begins its annual session of the second Tuesday of January each year. The legislative session lasts 40 working days in odd-numbered years, and 35 days working days in even numbered years.Term: 4 consecutive 2 year termsSalary: $16,348/year + $178/day for legislators who reside more than 50 miles away from the capitolRequirements for Office: 21 years old; 2 years residency; qualified voter; may not have been convicted of bribery, perjury or other infamous crime; may not have illegally taken "public moneys".Petition Requirements: Depends on party and legislative district. See SD Secretary of State's website for details.
South Dakota needs a place to live that a working family can afford. That starts with property tax relief built around owner-occupied homes, so longtime residents aren't taxed out of houses they already own. Pierre should partner with cities like Rapid City on workforce housing, infrastructure for new builds, and incentives that put homes within reach of the people who keep this town running: teachers, nurses, line cooks, contractors, software developers. We should also strengthen first-time homebuyer programs and modernize zoning rules that make it harder to build the kinds of homes young working families can actually afford. Housing is the foundation for everything else: schools, small business, and putting down roots here.
Public schools are the backbone of every Rapid City neighborhood. The state should set and fully fund a teacher pay floor so we stop losing good educators to Minnesota and North Dakota. Special education has been chronically underfunded, and that bill keeps landing on local property taxes and on families. Fix it at the state level. I oppose voucher schemes that drain public dollars into private hands with no accountability. Expand CTE so students can graduate into the trades, healthcare, and the local tech industry without leaving the Black Hills. And take childcare and early learning seriously as part of the same conversation, because the pipeline starts long before kindergarten.
The initiative and referendum process is one of the best things about South Dakota. It's how voters expanded Medicaid when Pierre wouldn't, and how we've made progress on issues the legislature kept burying. I'm voting NO on Amendment L. Raising the threshold to 60 percent takes that power away from regular voters and hands it to whichever side has the loudest lobby in Pierre. I'd support reforms that make signature gathering and ballot language clearer for voters, but anything that makes it harder for citizens to put a question on their own ballot is moving in the wrong direction. The point of I and R is that the people get the final say.
Every eligible South Dakotan should be able to cast a ballot, and every legal vote should be counted. I'll be watching for laws or rules that put unnecessary obstacles between voters and the ballot box: shortened deadlines, narrower residency definitions, restrictions on assisting elderly or disabled voters, and limits on tribal ID acceptance. County auditors also need the funding and technology to run secure, accurate elections without being squeezed every session. Integrity and access aren't opposing values. They're built on the same thing: voters trusting that the system works for them, not against them.
Childcare is an economic issue, a workforce issue, and a small-business issue all at once. I hear it from young working families and from the businesses trying to hire them: there aren't enough slots, and what's available can cost more than a mortgage. The state should expand provider grants, simplify registration and inspection for in-home providers, and look hard at employer-supported childcare models that have worked in other rural states. We should also recognize early childhood educators as the skilled professionals they are and pay them accordingly. Without childcare, parents can't work and businesses can't grow. It's that direct.
Rapid City's biggest challenges are the same ones I hear about every week at the shop and from neighbors: a place to live that a working family can afford, healthcare that doesn't bankrupt the people who keep this town running, public schools worth sending our kids to, and good jobs with the people to fill them. Underneath all of that is a brain drain problem. Too many of our kids leave and don't come back. If we want a future here, we have to build it deliberately. Housing. Healthcare. Schools. Good jobs. Rapid City's future. That's the job to be done.
