For too long, legislators have spent too little of their limited time on issues that help make life better for all South Dakotans, like access to affordable housing. There are a few different things that policy experts recommend could help make housing more affordable – increasing the use of manufactured homes, working with communities to update laws and ordinances to promote more building of housing units, and working to ensure that wages for working people keep up with the rate of inflation. If elected, I will work with stakeholders to explore these and other potential solutions.
South Dakotans can be proud that our state has been a leader in the initiative and referendum process almost the entire time we have been a state. If elected, I would work to protect and strengthen the rights of citizens to make their voices heard through the initiative and referendum process, including working to repeal some of the hurdles placed in the way of citizens the last few years to make it harder to use the initiative and referendum process.
First, I would work to protect the things we have that help make sure people can exercise their voting rights and maintain election integrity – like the use of paper ballots, allowing voters to bring an aide to help vote, and the 46-day early vote window.
I would also work with stakeholders to make sure the processes used to transport, secure, and count votes are communicated clearly to increase confidence in the results.
Finally, I would work with officials to make voting easier through actions like the adoption of online and automatic voter registering to vote and voting easier through such actions as the adoption of online and automatic voter registration and increasing the number of early vote locations and their hours of operations.
That so few steps have been taken to support access to affordable, quality childcare is one of the strongest arguments about the need for change in Pierre.
South Dakota is one of just a handful of states that does not provide funding to support access to childcare, and we see what the results are – including a number of closures of childcare providers in Sioux Falls.
The Sioux Falls Childcare Collaborative recently published a report with several recommendations for actions to be taken to help increase access to childcare, and if elected, I would work to turn what we can into policy – including creating a statewide childcare task force, creating a childcare business incentive grant, and updating childcare assistance.
I’m running because I want to make our state a place where all South Dakotans have a good quality of life. If I’m elected, I’ll focus on important challenges like:
•Increasing access to affordable, quality childcare that pays a living wage.
•Making sure there are great schools for our kids with great educators who are paid competitively and where every child has access to school lunch.
•Ensuring freedom for women to make decisions about their bodies and for every person to live without fear of being targeted for who they are or who they love.
•Making sure all voters can make their voices heard.
•Creating an economy where entrepreneurs, business owners, and workers thrive.
•Expanding access to affordable housing, healthcare, and food.
Thousands of South Dakota residents are utilizing both state and federal programs that offer Housing Assistance, VAHS, emergency housing vouchers, and more. The state needs to continue to support these programs by incentivizing landlords and developers to accept these programs throughout the state. As well as support offices like Sioux Falls housing that helps qualifying individuals apply for such programs.
The initiative and referendum process give a voice to the people, this is one of the many important reasons why voting matters as much as it does. It allows the will of the people to be heard. The process is sound as it is. The concern that many South Dakotans share is seeing an initiated measure be passed by the people then be meddled with or completely dismantled in the following legislative session. The only changes I would support would be those that would limit how much adjustments could be made to initiated meaures after passing, ensuring the intent of the measure is still intact.
Voting is the cornerstone of our democracy, our country was built on the idea that the people have a say in how our country is ran and by who. I encourage everyone to use that right. I promise to uphold the voting rights of South Dakota residents by not supporting laws that would restrict voter access.
There are many factors that play a part of the childcare crisis, one of which is the being severly understaffed, many centers running under capacity due to lack of employees. The state can offer more in the way of tax breaks for child centers, voucher programs for food or other associated costs. The state could do more in the way of child care vouchers, incentives for more workplaces to offer childcare, or larger child care tax credits.
South Dakota is running short-staffed in nearly every industry in the state. Currently the hardest job at any company belongs to the person in charge of hiring. This is a major factor in the difficulties that have faced childcare, nursing homes, and so many more. South Dakota is losing our college graduates to other states and with an aging population leaving the workforce making the hiring process even more problematic. There is not a single cause to this problem and will require more than a single solution to fix it. We as a state need to look into more creative ways to attract or retain the workforce needed.
