State Legislature

To bad we can’t fire representative Tornow from the State Legislature

Well, he is not the only legislator with their head up their ass during this coffee, but he probably wins the prize. And he wonders why they canned him from the city;

Only Sen. Phyllis Heineman, R-Sioux Falls, and Rep. Jenna Haggar, I-Sioux Falls, aligned with Tornow, and Heineman simply said that a $127 million structural deficit was not sustainable and that eliminating it would require “tough sacrifice from everybody.” Haggar said only that legislators must focus on the future of schools and not a one-year budget problem.

Screw the ‘sacrifice’ talk. It is one of the stupidest arguments I have ever heard. We pay taxes for a reason. If you paid a mechanic to do a $500 tune-up on your car and he did a $300 tune-up and said, “That will get you by.” then charged you $500, how would you react? That’s how it seems with education funding. We continue to put our taxdollars into it, and the state turns around and robs the fund to pay for other crap. Education is an investment, when are you going to get it? Why not ‘sacrifice’ no-bid contractors?

Tornow predicted a cut of less than 10 percent, but he called Medicaid “socialized medicine” and insisted that “somebody has to pay for this.”

Yeah, genius, the people who have paid into it their entire freaking lives! It goes back to paying taxes. Do we pay taxes to benefit the general welfare of the public, or to benefit a few rich contractors? I think we know the answer to that question. Do you know the answer?

Legislators also differed on whether the state needed its own illegal immigration enforcement law.

“It creates a serious negative perception of the state when we are trying to draw people here,” Buhl said. Cutler worried that domestic violence victims would be reluctant to come forward if they feared they would be identified as illegal immigrants.

But Tornow felt the federal government needed a prod from states such as South Dakota to seriously enforce immigration laws, and Liss and Haggar are co-sponsors of House Bill 1198, written by Rep. Manny Steele, R-Sioux Falls, setting forth the state’s role in deterring illegal immigration.

A ‘prod’ from South Dakota? LMFAO! Yeah, because a lot of other states are a changing their ways because the state that ranks almost last in every category is doing something about illegal immigration from Mexico (even though we should be more worried about Canadians, oh, my mistake, they are white and speak English, so they are OK). I wouldn’t take legal advice on a national issue like this from fired and disgraced former city attorney Tornow, heck, I wouldn’t take legal advice from Tornow about even a speeding ticket.

HB1131 voted down this morning (Food Tax shift)

This comes as no surprise to me (From my email box);

Advocates,

Unfortunately HB1131, to shift tax off food, was voted down in House Taxation Committee this morning.

You can thank the supporters: Rep’s Feickert, Feinstein (bill sponsor), Kirschman, and Bernie Hunhoff

Voting against the bill: Conzet, Greenfield, Kirkeby, Liss, Moser, Perry, Rozum, Russell, Solum, Wick, Willadson.  (Last year Kirkeby voted for a similar bill.)

Listen to the whole committee hearing by going to:

http://legis.state.sd.us/sessions/2011/CommitteeMinutes.aspx?Committee=24&File=minHTA01270745.htm#2040

Click on the SDPB symbol at the top over the date 1/27, and scroll half way through the session because this bill came up about half way through.

There was an excellent body of testimony by Rep Feinstein, Greg Boris of Voices for Children, Matt Gassen (director of Feeding South Dakota, our food bank network), Pastor Karl Kroger, Joy Smolnisky of South Dakota Budget and Policy Project, and Kristin Ashenbrenner of SD Advocacy Network for Women. Also weighing in were Luke Temple of Dakota Rural Action and Senator Billie Sutton of District 26.

The opponents were Jim Terwilliger from SD Bureau of Finance & Mgt, David Owen of the Chamber of Commerce, and Ron Olinger of SD Retailers.

Comments of the legislators before the vote were very interesting:

Conzet and Wick said the refund program needs to do more educating. (It should be noted that people have tried over 7 years, which should be enough evidence that such programs do not work.)

Moser said the people who come to his church for help in Yankton are asking for help with rent, medical, and utilities, not food, and there are enough programs helping with food.

Liss said this bill “sets up a financial incentive to obesity”

B. Hunhoff, a supporter, said this will happen someday. Why not today? It’s a good moral step to help working families and the elderly.

The bill was “deferred to the 41st day”. That is how they kill a bill, because there are only 40 days in the session. We always say nothing is over ’til the final gavel sounds, but this vote seems fairly decisive, esp. given the party-line nature of the vote, unlike last year.

Nevertheless, legislators need to understand that South Dakotans really do not like this tax. The publicity against the 2004 ballot initiative had claimed it would cause an income tax and schools closing and snow not being plowed. It said the refund program would solve the problem. Seven years later, legislators should not be able to hide behind a failed, inherently ineffective refund program.

Many thanks to everyone who made contacts on this so far. This bill’s loss does not stop the cause, which goes on, toward making South Dakota a fairer state where all people can thrive.

The Advocacy Project

While I support eliminating the food tax, I think lobbying our State Legislature is a waste of time. Get a big time donor and put it on the ballot. It will pass this time.

BTW, Brian, why did you vote against this?

Legislators want constituents to be charged with a crime for saying naughty things to them? (H/T – Duke Jr.)

I’m pretty sure this legislation has to do with ACTUAL THREATS but there is already laws that protect them (and us) against those things. The First Amendment is pretty clear, if I am not threatening you, I can pretty much say whatever I want to, to you.

Get over yourselves.

You are legislators in a state that is ranked last in almost every category. Not only do we not want to do you physical harm, we don’t want to even think about you or know you. You are embarrassing.

Funny how Dems and Repugs support this together. Just shows that both parties don’t have a clue about 1st Amendment rights.

Should we call this the SD Legislature Bullying law?

And the big surprise is?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqxr_wcKfNI[/youtube]

“And were walking.”

Okay, for over a month the media has been blabbing about the governor making 10% cuts across the board, and guess what he did today?

Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s proposed budget would cut at least 10 percent from virtually every corner of state government.

I just wish for once SD Republicans would be a bit more mysterious.

The 10 percent cuts to K-12 education and Medicaid providers are 5 percent higher than what Gov. Mike Rounds proposed before leaving.

Oh, let’s cut education and healthcare. Goody-Goody. Because, godammit, during a recession nobody deserves doctors and books, that’s silly talk. In fact, this would be the time to increase those two expenditures by 4x and cut slush funds like tourism, FTE’s and no-bid contracts.

But hey, dumb, sick people work cheap, contractors who donate to gubertorial campaigns do not.

Dennis Doogard. Nothing new here, please move along.

The SD Legislature 2011 Bill List

Here is a look at a few of the proposed bills so far in 2011;

HB 1012: change the terminology for mental retard, mentally retarded, mental retardation, and other similar terms in statute and to provide for the change in printed materials and signage.

I was unaware people in the state were still using that terminology in documents? And people say we are behind the times in SD.

HB 1026: repeal fleet licensing procedures for certain vehicles.

Not sure what crossing out an entire law accomplishes?

HC 1001: Honoring and supporting the Scotland Kuchen Feier on the occasion of its second annual event.

HC 1002: Honoring and supporting Czech Days in Tabor, South Dakota, on the occasion of its sixty-third anniversary.

Gotta love Frank. Two bills honoring my German and Czech heritage? Kickass!

SB 29: create the crime of making a false statement to a law enforcement officer and provide a penalty therefor.

Isn’t that already illegal? Let’s ask Bill Clinton.

SB 34: create the crime of possessing, selling, or distributing certain substances intended for the purpose of intoxication.

This is about as clear as mud. Will bars be charged with a crime for serving alcohol? Define ‘Certain Substances’

SB 48: revise certain provisions regarding the consumption of distilled spirits in public and to provide certain penalties for consumption of alcoholic beverages.

Give me a break. Alcohol is a legal substance to those of age. If I am having a beer in a park, how is it harming or affecting you? There is no such thing as second-hand beer.

SB 55: allow the shooting of coyotes from snowmobiles.

Senator Maher has been watching too many episodes of ‘Sarah Palin’s Alaska’