South Dakota Searchlight
PIERRE — Governor Kristi Noem signed a bill Monday that bans ownership of agricultural land in South Dakota by people, companies and governments from six countries, while legislators sent her a flurry of other bills as the annual legislative session’s final week began.
The ban on foreign ownership includes China.
“Their goal is to dominate the world, and the way they do that is by taking out America,” Noem said during a bill-signing ceremony at the Capitol.
Under an existing state law dating to 1979, foreign people and governments were already barred from owning more than 160 acres of agricultural land in the state — with exceptions for land that’s inherited or held as security for debt, for foreign people and governments whose right to hold land is secured by treaties, and for foreigners who’ve established residency in the United States.
The new bill goes further, adding a total ban on any agricultural land ownership in South Dakota by China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela.
The bill also bans those countries from leases and easements, with exceptions for agricultural research on land up to 320 acres, or contract livestock feeding “at an animal feeding operation, by a family farm unit, a family farm corporation, or an authorized farm corporation.”
The bill says there is no limit on the acreage of easements or leases for other countries. An easement is a voluntary agreement granted by landowners for access to their land.
Recent federal data says foreigners have 380,000 acres of ag land holdings in South Dakota; however, the same data lists the foreign “percent of ownership” as zero for 266,000 of those acres, suggesting they may be easements or leases. Some of those easements are for wind energy projects undertaken by companies from Europe and Canada.
Following are updates on some other bills acted on by the Legislature on Monday. This year’s lawmaking session ends Thursday, except for a day later in the month to consider any gubernatorial vetoes.
State public defender office
A bill to establish a statewide public defender office is headed to the governor after the House voted to accept Senate amendments. The Senate had amended the bill to include $3 million in one-time funds to reimburse counties for their current costs defending criminal defendants who can’t afford an attorney.
Counties currently shoulder the entire burden for those types of cases. A summer task force called attention to that situation and recommended creation of a state office.
The new statewide public defender office would cost the state $1.4 million annually. The office would take over criminal appeals; “habeas corpus” appeals, which are filed to challenge a suspect’s detention; and child abuse and neglect appeals. Counties would still be responsible for other types of cases.
Quantum computing research
The House voted to send a bill to the governor that includes about $3 million for a proposed Center for Quantum Information Science and Technology. The governor asked for $6 million in her budget proposal in December, but lawmakers amended the amount downward.
Rather than a physical place, the “center” would be a collaboration among researchers at some of the state’s public universities.
According to the MIT Technology Review, regular computers use bits, which are a stream of electrical or optical pulses representing 1s or zeros. Quantum computers achieve much faster processing power by using qubits, which are typically subatomic particles such as electrons or photons.
Civics center
A proposal to establish a civics engagement center at Black Hills State University in Spearfish was defeated in the state Senate on a 16-17 vote.
The center aimed to prepare students for participation in political and civic life through a multidisciplinary approach.
“All of our universities need to be promoting civic engagement,” rather than just one, said Sen. Reynold Nesiba, D-Sioux Falls.
The legislation would have allowed BHSU to collaborate with the state Board of Regents and Northern State University in Aberdeen, which operates a similar center, to develop curricula, organize civic events, and provide learning opportunities. The initiative sought to utilize $880,000 and three new full-time positions already requested by the Board of Regents for the creation of the center.
Phonics funding
A bill is headed to the governor that would provide $6 million in state funding to the Department of Education to train teachers in Phonics-based reading instruction. The Senate gave the bill its final legislative approval Monday.
Future Fund oversight
The state Senate has sent legislation to Noem’s desk aimed at enhancing oversight of a fund she has sole control over.
The bill targets the Future Fund. It’s a pool of money derived from an employer-paid tax, and the money is designated by state law for research and economic development initiatives.
The governor has had exclusive discretion over the use of the funds, without the need for approval from a board or lawmakers, a practice that distinguishes it from other funds managed by the state.
The newly passed legislation mandates that the Governor’s economic development office submit biannual reports to lawmakers. These reports must include information on each award or grant issued from the fund, covering the recipient’s name, the awarded amount, location, purpose (specifically related to research or economic development), the projected economic impact, and the number of jobs expected to be created.
Voter residency and registration deadline
Signaling that a long fight over voter residency might be over for this year, the House tabled a bill without comment Monday that would have repealed a residency requirement imposed last year. The bill also would have moved the voter registration deadline from 15 days prior to an election to 30 days.
Last year, lawmakers adopted a 30-day residency requirement that some lawmakers believe is illegal. Courts in other states have struck down local and state residency requirements that affected Americans’ right to vote in national elections. The tabling of the bill means the residency requirement will stay in effect unless the Legislature takes further action on it in the next several days, and the registration deadline will stay at 15 days prior to elections.
Porn summer study
A previously failed bill that would have mandated age verification for individuals accessing pornographic websites turned into an issue for a summer study.
The bill, which sparked considerable debate over privacy and enforcement mechanisms, was “smoked out” – a legislative maneuver to revive a dead bill. That led to an amendment, transforming the bill into a directive for a “summer study” rather than an immediate law.
“We need to make sure we’re actually going to be doing something about it,” Sen. Lee Schoenbeck, R-Watertown, said to his Senate colleagues.
The revised bill mandates a summer committee to study the implications and potential strategies for enforcing age verification on adult websites. The legislation now goes back to the House for consideration of amendments.
Permanent tax cut
The House approved a last-ditch effort to make South Dakota’s reduced sales tax rate permanent. The chamber approved the effort in a 62-8 vote, sending it to the Senate.
The last-minute bill would set South Dakota’s state sales tax rate at a permanently reduced 4.2%. The House passed a state sales tax reduction from 4.5% to 4.2% last legislative session, before a sunset clause was added in the Senate to make the tax cut expire in 2027. Senators urged caution at the time with talk of a potential recession, preferring to wait to make any permanent decisions until after hundreds of millions of federal pandemic aid is fully spent.
Undoing petition signatures
The Senate approved a bill that would allow people to retract their signatures from ballot-question petitions. It comes in response to a proposed ballot measure to restore abortion rights. The House must now consider the bill in its amended version.
The bill includes an emergency clause for immediate enactment to impact the upcoming Nov. 5 election.
Amendments made to the bill address some of the opponents’ concerns by mandating that signature withdrawal requests be signed, notarized, and submitted before petition certification. Despite these changes, critics warn of potential litigation designed to undermine the abortion ballot measure, questioning the appropriateness of the emergency clause, which puts the bill into law immediately upon being signed.
Money for health care providers
The House adjusted the amount of a proposed technology equipment grant program for providers serving elderly residents down from $3 million to $2 million and passed it along for Senate consideration of the amendment.
The House also approved allocating $5 million of remaining federal American Rescue Plan Act money for telemedicine grants to nursing facilities and assisted living centers. That bill is headed to the governor.
Cybersecurity for local governments
Gov. Noem will have a chance to consider using $7 million in state money to fund cybersecurity work for local governments, after her administration turned down federal funding for the same purpose.
The House gave the bill its final legislative approval Monday, sending it to the governor’s desk.
Forest grants
After a lengthy debate, the House narrowly rejected a bill to use $6 million in remaining federal American Rescue Plan Act money on grants for loggers and sawmill operators in the Black Hills, where logging has declined in the face of changing forest conditions.
Some House members noted that the governor’s Bureau of Finance and Management has cast doubt on whether the use of the funds is a qualifying one under ARPA rules. Approving the spending could put the state on the hook later if the federal government disapproves, some representatives said.