PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - Republican Gov. Kristi Noem[1] is inheriting a state on solid financial footing as she enters her first legislative session as governor, joined by a Legislature that will consider tough-on-crime changes to South Dakota’s criminal justice system, looser gun laws and allowing sports betting in Deadwood.
Legislators gather Tuesday for the start of the 2019 session and Noem[2]’s first State of the State address. A look at the agenda until lawmakers adjourn in late March:
NOEM[3]‘S NEW
Noem[4], a former U.S. representative, campaigned to lead state government on an extensive platform that ranged from opposing tax hikes to pushing for better government transparency. In a milestone, she is the state’s first female governor.
Noem[5] has declined to reveal specifics about the policy agenda for her first session as she built her administration, but recently told reporters that she’ll release legislative priorities at the State of the State.
Noem[6] was sworn in Saturday to succeed Republican Dennis Daugaard.
GOOD FINANCES
Lawmakers are benefiting from positive state financial projections as they prepare to set South Dakota government spending for the 2020 state budget year. Daugaard in his final budget plan proposed roughly $53 million in spending hikes, including 2.3 percent increases for education, Medicaid providers and state workers. Noem[7] will formulate her own budget, which she said will be proposed in the coming weeks.
Noem[8] has said she’s focused on putting together a budget that balances without raising taxes.
PROBATION PROBLEMS?
The cornerstone of new Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg’s legislative agenda will be reversing the state’s presumptive probation policy for some lower-level felonies. The policy has been credited with helping avert expensive prison population growth but criticized by some as tying judges’ hands.
Presumptive probation supporters argue that ending it would lead to imprisoning significantly more people after South Dakota in 2013 passed a Republican-led justice system overhaul to tackle overcrowding. Ravnsborg has said ending the practice would give a “formidable and necessary tool” back to the state’s prosecutors and courts.
House Majority Leader Lee Qualm said recently that he supports ending the policy. Qualm said lawmakers should also make changes to a juvenile justice system overhaul passed in 2015.
GUN MEASURES
Some gun-rights supporters have been waiting for the Daugaard administration to end in hopes that they’ll have more success with their agenda. Expect to see measures this year that would allow people to carry concealed handguns without a permit in South Dakota and bring concealed pistols inside the state Capitol. Those bills passed the Legislature in 2017, but Daugaard vetoed them.
Noem[9] has supported permitless carry in the past.Qualm has said he plans to propose a Capitol carry measure because security can’t be everywhere in the building, all the time.
SPORTS BETTING
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