END of SESSION My take on this year’s Lawlapalooza. By: Chris J. Larson

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As another SD legislative session wraps up, the grassroots conservatives (GC’s) would benefit from, I think, a short synopsis of what we are to make of what was a gnarly adventure to observe. And since I had nothing better to do, I guess I’ll take a whack at it.

Speaker Hanson offered a nice wrap up from his perspective here –

Legislative session wrap-up: 10 great wins from the historic 100th South Dakota legislative session. By Jon Hansen, Speaker of House of Representatives.

1: NO EMINENT DOMAIN FOR PRIVATE GAIN: HB 1052 PASSED. Eminent domain for green new deal carbon pipelines is now banned. No more threats, intimidation, and lawsuits against landowners. We the people are back in control. Private property rights are restored!
2: STOPPING BAD DEALS FOR TAXPAYERS: The nearly one billion dollar prison project in Lincoln County was too expensive and in a bad location. We KILLED HB 1025, which would have authorized the prisons construction. This compelled parties to the negotiation table—which was the right thing to do. We also PASSED SB 145, stopping the administration’s future ability to unilaterally engage in overpriced leases like the 30 year, nearly $300 million LEASE for “One-Stop” in Sioux Falls. No more bad deals for South Dakota taxpayers!
3: SECURING SOUTH DAKOTA’S VOTE: A huge problem existed in our state law that allowed non-South Dakotans to vote in South Dakota elections. It’s insane that this was happening, but efforts to fix this in prior years failed. This year, however, HB 1066 and HB 1208 PASSED. No more out-of-staters voting in local elections.
4: ELECTION INTEGRITY: Public election data was not readily open to public inspection—it used to cost big $$$ for the people to audit our elections. This year, HB 1062 PASSED, which means no more government gatekeeping of public information by charging exorbitant fees. We are strengthening the integrity of our elections.
5: ENDING WOKE AND PROTECTING WOMENS’ PRIVACY: In prior years, laws to protect the dignity of young girls and women from trans identifying men entering their private spaces were vetoed or failed. But this year, HB 1259 PASSED, and so men will use men’s bathrooms and women will use women’s bathrooms. We are bringing back common sense.
6: SAFEGUARDING KIDS FROM EXPLICIT CONTENT: Two years ago, I brought one of the first bills to protect children from websites that contain material harmful to minors. That bill was killed by the Senate. But this year was different, and HB 1053 PASSED. We are putting kids and family first!
7: BALANCED AND OPEN BUDGET: The budget bill used to be delivered like a DC omnibus bill: little time to read it but great pressure to pass it—or else. NOT THIS YEAR. Stemming from the goal I set as Speaker before session began, the bill was delivered DAYS BEFORE the vote. This is the way and sets the new standard of openness and transparency going forward.
8: PROTECTING THE CONSTITUTION: Our state constitution is among the easiest to amend in all the United States, which makes it vulnerable to a flood of out-of-state interests and money. This year, HB 1169 and HJR 5003 PASSED, which will protect our constitution by ensuring MORE South Dakotans have a voice in the amendment process.
9: DEFENDING LIFE: After the historic and monumental defeat of Abortion Amendment G last November, we continued to protect life and help mothers and families. South Dakota remains a pro-life state that loves babies and their mothers and fathers. This session, HB 1005 PASSED, providing help to families who choose to adopt.
10: GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY: As Speaker, I have appointed the most down-to-business, no-special-treatment Legislative Audit Committee in memory. Then the legislature PASSED SB 176, which gives that committee more audit tools and authority. Accountability measures brought by our Attorney General also PASSED. There will be transparency and accountability in your government again!
LOOKING FORWARD… SD DOGE + CUTTING PROPERTY TAXES: The strain of property taxes needs to end. Property taxes punish you for unrealized gains and force you to essentially “rent” your land from the government forever. HCR 6003, which I sponsored, PASSED, creating the taskforce to target excessive government spending and inefficiencies and develop other impactful ways to end the burdensome strain of property taxes in South Dakota. We will preserve the American dream of home ownership.
I’m so grateful to my fellow house leadership: Leader Scott Odenbach, Assistant Leader Marty Overweg, Speaker Pro Tempore Karla Lems; the sponsors of these bills; all of our colleagues who supported these and other good measures; and the great people who we serve. Together we are ushering in a new era of government in South Dakota where you and your family come first; where your rights and priorities come before those of the special, big-money interests; and where our state government matches the goodness of the people it represents. May the Lord continue to bless our great state. Under God, the people rule.

-Jon Hansen, Speaker of the South Dakota House of Representatives

And here’s one from Rep Karla Lems>>>

Overview—100th Legislative Session

PAST:
My service as a House Representative for District 16 in 2023-24 was propelled from my concern for local and national level issues. Many changes have occurred in that time. During those two years, many of the bills I brought revolved around property rights, including the Public Utilities Commission application process, having a fair hearing in the courts, and eminent domain. The last primary election saw 14 legislators lose their seat, mostly because of property rights and local control concerns. The cries of SD landowners propelled them to petition for Referred Law 21 that was on the ballot in November of last year. Grassroots people from all walks of life, highly populated counties and areas where there are more cows than people, Democrats and Republicans, Independents and Libertarians, rich and poor, young and old joined together for this effort. The result was that 65 out of 66 counties in South Dakota repealed a law (SB201) from the 2024 legislative session.
Along with those things, we saw an increased concern for election integrity, transparency, property tax reform, and fiscal accountability. We also found out that there was to be a 1500 bed maximum security prison built in Lincoln County. This too was concering not only because of the location, but because of the massive cost of $825 million to build the prison. However, the bigger concern was if SD could afford the $20+million of ongoing costs annually to run the facility.
PRESENT:
This year’s 100th legislative session brought new leadership to Pierre. Speaker Jon Hansen was elected by the House, and I was privileged to serve as the first female Speaker Pro-Tempore. The Republican caucus elected Scott Odenbach as the Majority Leader, with Marty Overweg serving as Assistant Majority Leader. I was privileged to also serve as the Chair for the House Commerce and Energy Committee. The House was able to lead on many issues important to South Dakota:
*HB 1052—THE RIGHT THING TO DO ! The day before our session began, many citizens of South Dakota showed up for a landowner rally in the rotunda. What a great day! We kicked it off announcing the legislation that was going to be proposed in 2025. I am proud to say that with the help of MANY others, I was able to Prime Sponsor HB 1052, a bill that prohibits a company carrying carbon oxide from exercising eminent domain. This passed overwhelmingly in the House with Senator Mark Lapka bringing it home in the Senate. One of the most moving moments came during the Senate Committee, when THE PEOPLE showed up with over half an hour of testimony! They filed through, one after another, giving a brief “ME TOO” to the bill! I was so pleased when Speaker Hansen walked into my office and told me that Governor Rhoden signed the bill. Thanks be to God!
*PRISON. While in Pierre, I have also learned to play defense. House Bill 1025, which would have authorized the construction of the prison, was stopped. There were many issues that are concerning for not only Lincoln County, but the whole state! I have to give kudos to the Lincoln County NOPE group for their great effort in coming to Pierre, raising their voices, raising money, and being a force to be reckoned with! Also, Senator Kevin Jensen spent many hours researching the details of the project and was an integral part of shining light on the issues. I have been appointed to the Prison Task Force and our first meeting will be held on April 2 and 3 in Sioux Falls at the Military Heritage Alliance. Members of the public are welcome.
*FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY. SB 145 was passed in response to stopping any future overpriced leases of buildings like the One Stop office in Sioux Falls. The state engaged in a 30 year, nearly $300 million lease for this facility. Future leases at that level will have to be approved by the legislature.
*ELECTION ISSUES: No more voting by non-South Dakotans in our state elections—as it should be. HB 1066 and HB 1208 addressed this problem.
*PROTECTING KIDS FROM MATERIAL HARMFUL TO MINORS: HB 1053 will protect kids from websites that contain this material.
*PROTECTING LIFE: HB 1005 Families that want to pursue adoption will be aided by this bill.

FUTURE:

*PRISON TASK FORCE: I will be serving on the Prison Task Force slated to meet four times this summer. Our first meeting will be in Sioux Falls. We will meet at the SD Military Heritage Alliance on April 2 and 3. Members of the public are welcome to attend.
*PROPERTY TAX TASK FORCE: Passage of the Governor’s bill SB 216, will bring some relief to this issue. However, it is still not enough. This Task Force will be working this summer to bring LASTING relief to this issue. I stressed that this task force MUST do more than study a problem. We need solutions.
*GOAC: The Government Operations and Audit Committee will be meeting this summer to DIG into areas of concern. I will be a part of this committee. SB 176 gives us more tools in the toolbox to accomplish this effort.
*KEEPING IN TOUCH: I will be attending various events in District 16 and around the state this summer. The people of South Dakota are who we represent. Often, it is YOU who have not only questions but ANSWERS to some of the problems that we face. As always, I am honored to serve the people of District 16.
Representative Karla Lems

We appreciate Jon, Scott, Karla & Marty’s efforts – along with some very solid fellow legislators in the House & Senate- this year in what was the very 1st session that was led by members of the Patriot movement in SD.

In this year’s session, our side did indeed enjoy some key victories in areas that some of our friends have been working tirelessly, for years. Election integrity, protecting children from porn (yes, there was considerable opposition to that!) and the fortification of Property Rights, particularly in the misuse of Eminent Domain by the massive Green New Scam oligarchs. For these, and others, we should be genuinely grateful to the folks who fought for them, and our Lord’s blessing in seeing them through.

But there were also crushing defeats in this legislature’s session, we must admit. For those observers who at least tried to follow along with the daily journeys of the bills (after all, there were over 600 of them!), it became a familiar ritual of trying to convince a few undecideds, through emails, phone calls and texts, to PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE vote yes/no on a particular conservative bill. Some days provided us with high drama that was reminiscent of this past election night Nov 5 2024. I am fortunate to be part of a group that helped to keep us all educated and up-to-date on the definitive Conservative bills that came on the docket every week. On certain days, as some of the Big Ones were being debated, it felt a lot like watching a sudden death playoff game. Exciting, but stressful.

Listening to and watching the arguments, both in committee and on the floor, provided equal helpings of hilarity and outrage, as we tried – and often failed – to follow the illogical bellowings that some of the more befuddled TransR’s would often burp out. I want to say something nice about Rep Weems here. For all of her terrible Unconservative votes – & there were many – she did provide plenty of comedic relief with her penache for being unintentionally funny. One Meems joke heard around the capitol: “If Weems was my Uber driver I’d get out & walk”.

I really do think that more Normies would find this whole experience quite entertaining, and worth following, if it were presented the right way. Like, with humorous commentary by a knowledgeable host or two. Think John Madden & Pat Summeral. Something to work on for next year, perhaps….

Now for some Bad News:

Two of the biggest disappointments coming out of this session are the failure to make any real gains on : School Choice/Education rebates & Property Tax relief.

The governor did manage to get his preferred bill passed, which limits increases to 3%, but only for homes worth up to $500k. This doesn’t help the retirees – or anyone else for that matter -who still have to pay the State a lot more “rent money” than they did 5 years ago, even though they may not have done any improvements whatsoever. Now Larry is going around making statements about the need to “make up” the “lost revenue” through new “revenue sources”, which we in the grassroots call BullShift. I don’t really want to get into the weeds here, so let me just make my position clear: NO NEW TAXES. Ever. Like George H.W. Bush said, but I actually mean it. If it means cutting spending, well then gosh darnit I guess that’s what you’ll have to do. Some people are OK with shifting the burden of tax collecting to retailers, but I am not one of them. It may make sense if property taxes were completely eliminated, but we know that’s not going to happen. So NO, I will not be negotiating in that manner. No increase in sales tax. Reduce or eliminate property taxes. And NEVER even think about implementing a state sales tax. Let’s encourage our political friends to think bigger, outside the box. For example, it makes no sense for enormous companies – yes, they are companies not charities- like our huge hospital systems to be exempt from paying property taxes. I don’t care what they claim as their “status”. Any organization that spends tens of million$$$ in advertising dollars each year is to be considered a BUSINESS ENTITY. And no I don’t care about the federal law. This is South Dakota. Figure it out! Furthermore, why in the world do they need to advertise so much? All they do is drive up the cost of advertising for all of the small businesses. Shoot, I can’t even afford to be in the 6 o’clock news anymore, not that that many people even watch it.

Meanwhile, the most powerful lobby in Pierre remains the government school paid lobbyists, including all of the paid staff that enjoys the privilege of paid trips to Pierre to testify against the People, in furious defense of the Status Quo. One big theme that became obvious to me was that Big Ed will fight to the death ANY attempt to reduce their money, or influence their policies in any meaningful way. Perhaps it’s time we outlaw public sector labor unions. They don’t seem to be doing the kids much good. For you fans of Big Ed who might be reading this, “the kids” are those little noisy humans that fill your buildings every day that you are in charge of turning into intelligent young adults. The kids are the reason we collect SO MUCH property taxes. The schools were never meant to be a jobs program.

The school choice/ESA is way too complicated to rehash, so I’ll just repeat what I said before: We need to deal Big Ed some defeats. We failed to do it this time, but hopefully Team Patriot can find a way to bring the different (warring) factions together for next years’ fight. I would suggest finding someone like Jessica Polema to lead the group of homeschool, private & micro school advocates to increase their chances of success, if that person exists. I actually DO think they exist, because like the election integrity warriors, the anti-government school coalition is filled with passionate believers. And passion is the fuel that powers the Patriot locomotion.

My biggest takeaway from observing this session is that our number 1 priority for the GC’s is to marshall our forces against the TransRepublicans’ Cabal that absolutely exists as nothing more than a foil for conservative bills. Their mission, besides serving their money god, was on display for all the world to see and it was frustrating to watch. I mean, many of the bills are not easily categorized into “conservative” boxes, like the Ingestion Bill for example. So there is ample opportunity for legislators to use their judgment, and place their votes in the spirit of what hey think is best for the people of our state. No one is expecting our allies to vote in lockstep on every bill. But on the ones that are clearly “conservative” in scope, we rightfully expect those legislators who ran their campaigns as self-identified “Conservative”s to vote the right way. The Cabal voted as an unthinking herd against the conservative bills every single time, and those of us who’ve been paying attention are SO OVER IT. Honestly, I have way more respect for Peri Pourier (D) than I do any of the TransRepublicans who are incapable of critical thinking.

I think that we need to start a PAC <right now!> which will specifically target Rehfeldt & Mortensen, to name just the ringleaders, but could use a volunteer to run it. I will make the first donation. Please comment below.

Lastly, I want to touch on what I see as the two main drivers of the passion in the grassroots movement: Anger and Distrust.

Most people are angry about the fact that we can no longer trust in our institutions any longer. While there are many well known reasons for this, I think it is imperative that we demand from our leaders in government total transparency and accountability. In the coming months, there will be visible efforts, by groups within the state government, and by private citizens. (((Yes, it is DOGE SD))).

The goals will be to expose corruption and fraud, fight for transparency at all levels, and to change the narratives around how we view subjects like Labor Trafficking (bringing in migrants to work as indentured slaves for companies like Smithfield), tax breaks as incentives for new businesses, Economic Development schemes, NGO’s getting massive amounts of money for spurious reasons, and any

of the other public/private partnerships we’ve turned a blind eye to our whole lives.

Stay tuned, stay thirsty, pray incessantly, and please go talk to your Normie friends. We could use their help!

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