The Senate convened at 1:00 p.m., pursuant to adjournment, the President presiding.
The prayer was offered by the Chaplain, The Reverend Linda Logan, followed by the
Pledge of Allegiance led by Senate page Allyson Friez.
Roll Call: All members present except Sens. Daugaard, Dennert, Hainje, Halverson, and
Munson who were excused.
The Senate proceeded to the consideration of the executive appointment of James Sheridan
of Beadle County, Huron, South Dakota, to the State Board of Pardons and Paroles.
The question being “Does the Senate advise and consent to the executive appointment of
James Sheridan pursuant to the executive message as found on page 12 of the Senate Journal?”
And the roll being called:
Yeas 30, Nays 0, Excused 5, Absent and Not Voting 0
Yeas were:
Aker; Albers; Benson; Brosz; Brown (Arnold); Drake; Dunn (Jim); Dunn (Rebecca); Everist;
Flowers; Frederick; Ham; Hunhoff; Hutmacher; Johnson (William); Kleven; Kloucek; Lange;
Lawler; Morford; Olson; Paisley; Reedy; Rounds; Shoener; Staggers; Symens; Valandra; Vitter;
Whiting
Excused were:
Daugaard; Dennert; Hainje; Halverson; Munson (David)
So the question having received an affirmative vote of a majority of the members-elect, the
President declared the appointment confirmed.
The Senate proceeded to the consideration of the executive appointment of Daniel J.
Nichols of Minnehaha County, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to the State Board of Pardons and
Paroles.
The question being “Does the Senate advise and consent to the executive appointment of
Daniel J. Nichols pursuant to the executive message as found on page 12 of the Senate Journal?”
And the roll being called:
Yeas 30, Nays 0, Excused 5, Absent and Not Voting 0
Yeas were:
Aker; Albers; Benson; Brosz; Brown (Arnold); Drake; Dunn (Jim); Dunn (Rebecca); Everist;
Flowers; Frederick; Ham; Hunhoff; Hutmacher; Johnson (William); Kleven; Kloucek; Lange;
Lawler; Morford; Olson; Paisley; Reedy; Rounds; Shoener; Staggers; Symens; Valandra; Vitter;
Whiting
Excused were:
Daugaard; Dennert; Hainje; Halverson; Munson (David)
So the question having received an affirmative vote of a majority of the members-elect, the
President declared the appointment confirmed.
The Committee on State Affairs respectfully reports that it has had under consideration SB
14,15, and 25 and returns the same with the recommendation that said bills do pass and be
placed on the Consent Calendar.
The Committee on State Affairs respectfully reports that it has had under consideration the
nomination of John N. Jones of Hughes County, Pierre, South Dakota, as Secretary of the
Department of Human Services and returns the same with the recommendation that the Senate
advise and consent to the confirmation of said appointment.
Also MADAM PRESIDENT:
The Committee on State Affairs respectfully reports that it has had under consideration the
nomination of Curt Jones of Marshall County, Britton, South Dakota, to the State Board of
Regents and returns the same with the recommendation that the Senate advise and consent to
the confirmation of said appointment.
Also MADAM PRESIDENT:
The Committee on State Affairs respectfully reports that it has had under consideration the
nomination of Ronald L. Morrow of Douglas County, Armour, South Dakota, to the South
Dakota Lottery Commission and returns the same with the recommendation that the Senate
advise and consent to the confirmation of said appointment.
Also MADAM PRESIDENT:
The Committee on State Affairs respectfully reports that it has had under consideration the
nomination of Jack G. Rentschler of Minnehaha County, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to the State
Board of Regents and returns the same with the recommendation that the Senate advise and
consent to the confirmation of said appointment.
Also MADAM PRESIDENT:
The Committee on State Affairs respectfully reports that it has had under consideration the nomination of Dennis E. Wagner of Minnehaha County, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to the South Dakota Lottery Commission and returns the same with the recommendation that the Senate advise and consent to the confirmation of said appointment.
The Committee on State Affairs respectfully reports that it has had under consideration the
nomination of James A. Ahrendt of Yankton County, Yankton, South Dakota, to the Career
Service Commission and returns the same with the recommendation that the Senate advise and
consent to the confirmation of said appointment.
Also MADAM PRESIDENT:
The Committee on State Affairs respectfully reports that it has had under consideration the
nomination of Marvin G. Schamber of Bon Homme County, Springfield, South Dakota, to the
Career Service Commission and returns the same with the recommendation that the Senate
advise and consent to the confirmation of said appointment.
The Committee on Health and Human Services respectfully reports that it has had under
consideration SB 18 and 26 and returns the same with the recommendation that said bills do
pass.
The Committee on Health and Human Services respectfully reports that it has had under
consideration SB 27 and returns the same with the recommendation that said bill do pass and
be placed on the Consent Calendar.
Also MADAM PRESIDENT:
The Committee on Taxation respectfully reports that it has had under consideration SB 70
and returns the same with the recommendation that said bill do pass.
The Committee on Taxation respectfully reports that it has had under consideration SB 71
and returns the same with the recommendation that said bill do pass and be placed on the
Consent Calendar.
"
Section 7. Whereas, this Act is necessary for the support of the state government and its
existing public institutions, an emergency is hereby declared to exist, and this Act shall be in
full force and effect from and after its passage and approval.
"
The Committee on Local Government respectfully reports that it has had under
consideration SB 4 and returns the same with the recommendation that said bill do pass.
The Committee on Local Government respectfully reports that it has had under
consideration SB 3, 5, and 12 and returns the same with the recommendation that said bills do
pass and be placed on the Consent Calendar.
The Committee on Education respectfully reports that it has had under consideration SB
29 and returns the same with the recommendation that said bill do pass and be placed on the
Consent Calendar.
The Committee on Education respectfully reports that it has had under consideration the
nomination of Charles E. Clay of Fall River County, Hot Springs, South Dakota, to the State
Board of Directors for Educational Telecommunications and returns the same with the
recommendation that the Senate advise and consent to the confirmation of said appointment
Also MADAM PRESIDENT:
The Committee on Education respectfully reports that it has had under consideration the
nomination of Robert D. Hofer of Hughes County, Pierre, South Dakota, to the State Board of
Directors for Educational Telecommunications and returns the same with the recommendation
that the Senate advise and consent to the confirmation of said appointment
Also MADAM PRESIDENT:
The Committee on Education respectfully reports that it has had under consideration the
nomination of Tony L. Berg of Tripp County, Winner, South Dakota, to the State Board of
Directors for Educational Telecommunications and returns the same with the recommendation
that the Senate advise and consent to the confirmation of said appointment
Also MADAM PRESIDENT:
The Committee on Education respectfully reports that it has had under consideration the
nomination of Peter A. Gustaf of Lake County, Madison, South Dakota, to the South Dakota
Board of Education and returns the same with the recommendation that the Senate advise and
consent to the confirmation of said appointment
SB 74
Introduced by:
Senators Drake, Benson, Brosz, Frederick, Johnson (William), and
Kleven and Representatives Jaspers, Brown (Jarvis), Chicoine, Duenwald, Duniphan, Hassard,
Koskan, Kredit, McNenny, Napoli, and Putnam
FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act
to limit Board of Regents tuition and fees increases
to the rate of inflation.
Was read the first time and referred to the Committee on Appropriations.
SB 75
Introduced by:
Senators Drake, Kleven, and Vitter and Representatives Duenwald,
Brown (Jarvis), Kredit, and Matthews
FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act
to require that school officials be notified of certain
student alcohol violations.
Was read the first time and referred to the Committee on Judiciary.
SB 76
Introduced by:
Senators Aker, Drake, Dunn (Jim), Kloucek, and Vitter and
Representatives Derby, Apa, Duenwald, Duxbury, Hunt, Jorgensen, Koskan, McNenny,
Pederson (Gordon), and Wetz
FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act
to establish the last Friday in April as Arbor Day.
Was read the first time and referred to the Committee on Agriculture and Natural
Resources.
SB 77
Introduced by:
Senators Aker and Drake and Representatives Monroe, Brown
(Jarvis), Cerny, and Duenwald
FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act
to establish certain fish possession limits.
Was read the first time and referred to the Committee on Agriculture and Natural
Resources.
SB 79
Introduced by:
Senators Olson and Staggers and Representatives Roe, Fiegen, and
Schaunaman
FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act
to increase the amount allowed for costs and expenses
for the collection of a dishonored check or draft.
Was read the first time and referred to the Committee on Judiciary.
SB 80
Introduced by:
Senators Vitter, Aker, Albers, Benson, Dennert, Hainje, Halverson,
Ham, Hutmacher, Kleven, Lawler, Munson (David), Shoener, Staggers, and Whiting and
Representatives Pederson (Gordon), Duniphan, Fitzgerald, Hassard, Koskan, Napoli, and Van
Gerpen
FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act
to permit school districts to enter an agreement with
a nonprofit organization to provide for construction, operation, and maintenance of facilities.
Was read the first time and referred to the Committee on Education.
SB 81
Introduced by:
Senators Shoener, Hutmacher, and Vitter and Representatives
Kooistra, Lee, and Matthews
FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act
to define the roads shown on the map prepared by the
county auditor.
Was read the first time and referred to the Committee on Transportation.
SB 82
Introduced by:
Senators Shoener, Flowers, Lawler, and Munson (David) and
Representatives Pederson (Gordon), Brown (Gary), Crisp, Davis, Duniphan, Roe, Schaunaman,
and Wick
FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act
to prohibit certain deceptive acts and practices with
regard to lodging establishments and campgrounds and to require that certain records be kept.
Was read the first time and referred to the Committee on Commerce.
SB 84
Introduced by:
Senators Hunhoff, Halverson, and Hutmacher and Representatives
Duniphan, Broderick, Chicoine, Moore, and Weber
FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act
to authorize sheriffs to collect fees for expenses
incurred in executing court orders.
Was read the first time and referred to the Committee on State Affairs.
SB 85
Introduced by:
Senators Albers, Benson, Halverson, Kleven, Reedy, Staggers, and
Vitter and Representatives Broderick, Apa, Chicoine, Pummel, Weber, and Wick
FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act
to limit the number of court-appointed attorneys and
experts and the amount of money that can be paid to them for an indigent criminal defendant.
Was read the first time and referred to the Committee on Judiciary.
SB 86
Introduced by:
Senator Halverson and Representatives Belatti, Brooks, and
Kazmerzak
FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act
to authorize the adoption of certain federal poverty
guidelines by administrative rule.
Was read the first time and referred to the Committee on Health and Human Services.
SJR 1
Introduced by:
Senators Staggers, Aker, Albers, Benson, Brosz, Dennert, Drake,
Flowers, Hainje, Hutmacher, Johnson (William), Kloucek, Lange, Lawler, Morford, Munson
(David), Olson, Reedy, Symens, and Valandra and Representatives Pederson (Gordon), Apa,
Brooks, Cerny, Chicoine, Collier, Davis, Duenwald, Eccarius, Fischer-Clemens, Gleason,
Hagen, Hassard, Johnson (Doug), Koetzle, Kooistra, Kredit, Lee, Lockner, Lucas, Madden,
Monroe, Moore, Napoli, Peterson (Bill), Pummel, Schaunaman, Schrempp, Smidt, Solum,
Sperry, Van Gerpen, Volesky, Waltman, Weber, Wetz, and Windhorst
SB 6
:
FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act
to specifically exempt lake sediment from
certain state mineral lease provisions.
Was read the second time.
The question being "Shall SB 6 pass?"
And the roll being called:
Yeas 30, Nays 0, Excused 5, Absent and Not Voting 0
Yeas were:
Aker; Albers; Benson; Brosz; Brown (Arnold); Drake; Dunn (Jim); Dunn (Rebecca); Everist;
Flowers; Frederick; Ham; Hunhoff; Hutmacher; Johnson (William); Kleven; Kloucek; Lange;
Lawler; Morford; Olson; Paisley; Reedy; Rounds; Shoener; Staggers; Symens; Valandra; Vitter;
Whiting
Excused were:
Daugaard; Dennert; Hainje; Halverson; Munson (David)
So the bill having received an affirmative vote of a majority of the members-elect, the
President declared the bill passed and the title was agreed to.
SB 7
:
FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act
to revise certain provisions pertaining to the
sale of small tracts of public land.
Was read the second time.
The question being "Shall SB 7 pass?"
And the roll being called:
Excused were:
Daugaard; Dennert; Hainje; Halverson; Munson (David)
So the bill having received an affirmative vote of a majority of the members-elect, the
President declared the bill passed and the title was agreed to.
SB 9
:
FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act
to repeal certain restrictions on agricultural
leases of school and public lands.
Was read the second time.
The question being "Shall SB 9 pass?"
And the roll being called:
Yeas 30, Nays 0, Excused 5, Absent and Not Voting 0
Yeas were:
Aker; Albers; Benson; Brosz; Brown (Arnold); Drake; Dunn (Jim); Dunn (Rebecca); Everist;
Flowers; Frederick; Ham; Hunhoff; Hutmacher; Johnson (William); Kleven; Kloucek; Lange;
Lawler; Morford; Olson; Paisley; Reedy; Rounds; Shoener; Staggers; Symens; Valandra; Vitter;
Whiting
Excused were:
Daugaard; Dennert; Hainje; Halverson; Munson (David)
So the bill having received an affirmative vote of a majority of the members-elect, the
President declared the bill passed and the title was agreed to.
SB 10
:
FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act
to revise certain provisions relating to the
annual sale of state school and endowment lands.
Was read the second time.
The question being "Shall SB 10 pass?"
And the roll being called:
Excused were:
Daugaard; Dennert; Hainje; Halverson; Munson (David)
So the bill having received an affirmative vote of a majority of the members-elect, the
President declared the bill passed and the title was agreed to.
SB 40
:
FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act
to permit contractors to offer and provide
design-build services.
Was read the second time.
The question being "Shall SB 40 pass?"
And the roll being called:
Yeas 30, Nays 0, Excused 5, Absent and Not Voting 0
Yeas were:
Aker; Albers; Benson; Brosz; Brown (Arnold); Drake; Dunn (Jim); Dunn (Rebecca); Everist;
Flowers; Frederick; Ham; Hunhoff; Hutmacher; Johnson (William); Kleven; Kloucek; Lange;
Lawler; Morford; Olson; Paisley; Reedy; Rounds; Shoener; Staggers; Symens; Valandra; Vitter;
Whiting
Excused were:
Daugaard; Dennert; Hainje; Halverson; Munson (David)
So the bill having received an affirmative vote of a majority of the members-elect, the
President declared the bill passed and the title was agreed to.
SB 55
:
FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act
to revise certain real estate licensing
application and examination procedures and to authorize the increase of license application fees.
Was read the second time.
Nays were:
Morford
Excused were:
Daugaard; Dennert; Hainje; Halverson; Munson (David)
So the bill having received an affirmative vote of a majority of the members-elect, the
President declared the bill passed and the title was agreed to.
SB 37
:
FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act
to provide a penalty for failing to annually
register as a sex offender.
Was read the second time.
The question being "Shall SB 37 pass?"
And the roll being called:
Yeas 29, Nays 0, Excused 6, Absent and Not Voting 0
Yeas were:
Aker; Albers; Benson; Brosz; Brown (Arnold); Drake; Dunn (Jim); Dunn (Rebecca); Everist;
Flowers; Frederick; Ham; Hunhoff; Hutmacher; Johnson (William); Kleven; Kloucek; Lange;
Lawler; Olson; Paisley; Reedy; Rounds; Shoener; Staggers; Symens; Valandra; Vitter; Whiting
Excused were:
Daugaard; Dennert; Hainje; Halverson; Morford; Munson (David)
So the bill having received an affirmative vote of a majority of the members-elect, the
President declared the bill passed and the title was agreed to.
SB 38
:
FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act
to increase the liquidated costs imposed for
law enforcement training.
Sen. Flowers moved that SB 38 be deferred until Tuesday, January 20, the 6th legislative
day.
Which motion prevailed and the bill was so deferred.
SB 41
:
FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act
to allow certain adjudicated children to be
placed in the juvenile prison or the state training school.
Was read the second time.
Sen. Whiting moved that SB 41 be deferred until Tuesday, January 20, the 6th legislative
day.
Which motion prevailed and the bill was so deferred.
SB 42
:
FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act
to clarify the disposition of certain funds
collected from inmates.
Was read the second time.
The question being "Shall SB 42 pass?"
And the roll being called:
Yeas 28, Nays 0, Excused 7, Absent and Not Voting 0
Yeas were:
Aker; Albers; Brosz; Brown (Arnold); Drake; Dunn (Jim); Dunn (Rebecca); Everist; Flowers;
Frederick; Ham; Hunhoff; Hutmacher; Johnson (William); Kleven; Kloucek; Lange; Lawler;
Olson; Paisley; Reedy; Rounds; Shoener; Staggers; Symens; Valandra; Vitter; Whiting
Excused were:
Benson; Daugaard; Dennert; Hainje; Halverson; Morford; Munson (David)
So the bill having received an affirmative vote of a majority of the members-elect, the
President declared the bill passed and the title was agreed to.
Pursuant to the Joint -Select Committee report found on page 19 of the Senate Journal, the
following is Governor William J. Janklow's State of the State Address:
This is the time when the Governor comes before you to give the State-of-the-State
message. It's always done in January, and it's always done in the cold.
You know, as we assembled last year, and as we began to go through what was the year
1997, we convened under as difficult a circumstances as probably has been done for decades
in South Dakota. It really was a time of adversity. Throughout the Legislative Session, in the
period of time that you, Ladies and Gentlemen, were here, South Dakota was suffering; and it
was suffering in as significant a way as it could due to weather elements. It continued on after
you ladies and gentlemen left, and we moved into the spring, and the thaws came, and the water
came. I don't think there were any of us, any of us in South Dakota, that didn't think that we
were under as much adversity as you could possibly be in and the outlook really looked grim.
We thought it was going to be a year of adversity, because that's the way it started for the first
couple of months. The elements were terrible, but there are a lot of things in South Dakota that
weren't.
First of all, in the political sense, and I mean with the small “p,” the nonpartisan political
sense, the government really came together. All the branches of the government, all the elected
officials irrespective of political party, really turned-to and decided they were going to do the
work of the people of South Dakota. I can report to you, ladies and gentlemen, and to the
people of this state, that in all the years I've had the privilege of serving in public life, I've never
had a better working relationship with the two United States Senators and the Congressman that
represent the State of South Dakota in Washington. Putting the politics aside, they're a pleasure
to work with. There isn't a single request that we make of them to do something or to move
forward with some effort on behalf of the people of this state that they don't turn to
immediately. Even just the other evening, we had the crisis with respect to those four students
down there at that college in Sioux Falls, when all of a sudden there were a hundred and sixty
of them that were faced with the prospect of having_many of them having paid their hard-
earned money, or the moneys that they'd borrowed.
South Dakota works, and I'm pleased to report, as I come before you today that South Dakota's working. I realize full well over the next several weeks we're going to have our political discussions, but it's my responsibility today, as I come before the people of this state
and this Legislature to give Bill Janklow's and this administration's perspective as to the state
of the state. What are the state of affairs in the State of South Dakota? And I think, by and
large, with respect to virtually most the areas that have been the trouble areas that we've had to
deal with over the last few decades, we've moved forward with great strides_all of us
have_have moved forward with great strides in terms of bringing about solutions, solving
problems and preventing problems.
You know, historically, we have to bring some kind of perspective to the Executive and
Legislative Branches. The Judicial Branch's responsibility, as we all know, is to interpret what
it is that the Legislature passes and the Governor may sign into law or what becomes law,
interpret the Constitution. But those of us that make the rules and those of us that administer
the rules; we have to bring a certain philosophy to it. My personal philosophy has always been
that there's probably a thousand things that we could be working on. I think one of the fallacies
of government, historically, is that governments always try and do too many things at one time
and not get that much done. My personal philosophy has always been, as I say as I travel
around South Dakota and I just use the figure figuratively, but rather than trying to do a hundred
things and getting them all done at 10 percent, I've always felt it's better off to maybe try and
address 10 things and get them done at 100 percent and then get them behind you.
Unfortunately, we hear too often about all things that out-of-staters have to say that are
negative about South Dakota. Frankly, we read in the media all the time how we rate a “D,” or
a “C,” or a 9, or a 49, or a 50, or something else, always by people rating us and organizations,
frankly, that have an agenda of one sort or another that they're pushing. That's fine, but what
I thought I'd do today, and I've got some special people to come here today, I thought we ought
to take just a little bit of a look at some of the people that really make a difference nationally
in South Dakota and some of the things about South Dakota that make a difference.
Over the past 10 years the State of South Dakota is number one in the nation for the
growth in manufacturing jobs. We've grown over 74 percent in the number of manufacturing
jobs in this state in the past decade. As a matter of fact, the Omaha World Herald, about 14
days ago, wrote a news story for the region wherein they indicated that the manufacturing
growth in jobs in South Dakota_percentage wise, because we're dealing with size_the growth
in manufacturing jobs in South Dakota over the past five years exceeds the States of Minnesota,
Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.
South Dakota's the number one State in the Union in the percentage of its graduates from
medical school that go into family practice residency. The one area where we sorely need
individuals to locate outside of the metropolitan areas and go out to where people live in rural
areas.
The State of South Dakota was number one in the number of Job Service individuals_and
there's a gentleman here today. Mr. Lloyd Schipper_I've asked him to sit above the clock
behind me, if Lloyd would stand up_Lloyd Schipper is the individual that works for the State
of South Dakota in the Labor Department who, he and his team, are responsible for having us
placed number one in the nation last year in the number of individuals who secured jobs that
applied for them through the Job Service.
The State of South Dakota, from 1995 to 1996, we were second in the nation in per capita
growth in income. Is that good enough for those of us that live here? No it isn't. But, it clearly
shows that South Dakota's headed and moving in the right direction in terms of the economic
growth that it has to have to give our people the greater opportunities and the better opportunity
that economic growth can bring both to a state and to individuals.
We're number two in the nation in the employment of individuals with disabilities.
We're number two in the nation on the Small Business Survival Index. The Small
Business Survival Index is a rating agency from the Small Business Administration that uses
11 criteria to gauge the economic climate of a state that's conducive to the growth of small
business.
The State of South Dakota is number three in the nation in the last year in the percentage
of its high school students that graduated through high school.
We're third in the nation in the percent of our budget that is spent on transportation. The
reason that that's important is it shows the incredible commitment that our people make to take
care of a transportation infrastructure that's immense taking into perspective the size of the
population that we have in this state.
South Dakota was also fourth in the nation_there's a gentleman here today by the name
of Jay Silvers that I'm asking to stand_Jay Silvers and his team were responsible for giving
us the fourth highest rating in the nation for the placement of veterans into the job market to find
employment.
Kim McIntosh was the 1997 EPA Regional Environmental Excellence Award winner from
the Environmental Protection Agency in Denver.
Bob Hanten from the Game, Fish and Parks Department was inducted into the Fisheries Management Hall of Fame, and Bill Shattuck has been selected as the National Hunter Education Coordinator of the Year, again, Bill being in the Department of Game, Fish and Parks.
Dave Miller won the National Leadership Award for the leadership that he's given in
employment of the blind and employment of individuals with disabilities.
Linda Bahr has been selected as the Outstanding Health Care Financing Surveyor of the
Year for the nation.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources was selected by the EPA in
Denver to receive the Regional Environmental Excellence Award.
The Petroleum Release Compensation Fund that we have in South Dakota for cleaning up
all the old tanks and the spills_Mr. Dennis Rounds, that manages that program, received the
national award for the Best Financial Achievements for any state fund in the nation.
In the Human Services Agency, Mr. Bruce Wright's division received the award for the
work, which he and his team did by the Social Security Administration's Award for Outstanding
Performance.
Public Broadcasting in South Dakota, which has been under the direction of Julie
Anderson most of the period of time as the Acting Supervisor for the department, has been
nationally recognized this year in a tremendous way. They were selected as having The Best
Web Site Award from C/Net. Time Magazine gave them an award for Outstanding Special
Programming, and at the national convention that was recently held for Public Broadcasting in
the nation, the State of South Dakota's Public Broadcasting Services_both video and
audio_received the most awards of any Public Broadcasting agency in the nation, including
an award for being Best in Overall Achievement, another award for being Best in Overall
Membership Growth, and another award for being Best in Development, as well as three Central
Education Network awards.
The South Dakota Army and Air National Guard, who've always made South Dakotans
proud every time they've committed themselves to training or been called to National or State
Service, received 13 additional awards in the past year that are called Superior Awards, and they
won the 1997 Connelly Award For Excellence.
In the Tourism Department, the Travel Industry Association gave our Tourism Department
the First Place Award for Marketing and Creativity. There's a gentleman here today by the
name of Gary Keller who, at the recent National Exposition, for the display which he put
together in the recruiting of the film industry to come to South Dakota to make movies, received
the Best of Show Award at the National Film Location Exposition.
Mr. Jim Jenssen is here, he's the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Transportation,
and he and the employees in that department have earned the Award of Excellence from the
Federal Highway Administration.
There's one other individual that I want to introduce to you, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Legislature and South Dakota. This young lady_some of you know her_many of you
don't_truly, truly epitomizes what's unique about South Dakota. Because whether you're
talking about adversity, or you're talking about growth with adversity, or you're talking about
developing under difficult circumstances, or you're talking about success and knowing how to
deal with it, this young twelve-year-old lady epitomizes all of that. She recently was selected
as Miss Pre-Teen in competition. The Pre-Teen competition that she entered was not a beauty
contest; it dealt with other things that human beings have to have. It dealt with academic
achievement. They tested and examined one's volunteer service to their church and to the
community. They checked to see how the young person performed in school and what kind of
honors and activities they were involved in. They examined what kind of personal skills had
been developed and what abilities the individual has been able to apply. They examined general
knowledge ability and communicative ability and expressiveness and the overall individual.
During the competition, this young lady won five additional trophies. One of them was a
trophy, a medallion, a shoulder sash, and a $1,000 scholarship for winning the Junior Pre-Teen
of South Dakota award. She won the First Place trophy in her age division for selling the most
ads. She won the First Place trophy in her age division for community service, and she tied for
the Fourth Place trophy in the talent competition where she performed a gymnastics routine.
She's taken it upon herself as one of her endeavors in the community where she lives, the
community of Mission, to go around and erase from public and private buildings and paint over
swear words and bad slogans and things of that nature. She's a lady who dresses up and as they
go around and sing to the elderly people at Christmas time_Christmas Carols_she dresses up
as a little elf. She's a lady that every one of us are proud tells the story of South Dakota. And,
I talk about her accomplishments, but there's one thing that I'm mentioning at the end. She's
accomplished these things in life even though she was born with one of her legs missing and
one of her arms missing. I'd like to introduce all of you to Miss Ashlie Story from Mission,
South Dakota. Ashlie. Thank you Ashlie and thank you ladies and gentlemen. She's an
inspiration. She's an inspiration to all of us. That spirit that Ashlie has is a spirit that South
Dakota showed over the course of the last year as it truly came together as one great big family.
You know, last year I reported to the Legislature one of the areas where we were going
to take major initiative was in the area of immunization of children, immunization of our people.
This year, we have operating in 96 sites and 50 communities, an immunization program_and,
honestly, South Dakota started out pretty far behind the curve compared to a lot of other places
in the nation. Tragically, it was an outbreak of measles in the central part of the state between
the Pierre and the Highmore-Miller area that caused a lot of people to panic this year and it
caused emergency spending of over $1.4 million. We gave over 86,000 MMR shots_measles,
mumps and rubella shots_to individuals who had not been age-appropriately immunized when
they were young. Davison County, which we picked as one of our target communities to start,
in the past year has grown from age-appropriate immunizations from 45 percent to 60 percent.
Pennington County has grown from 64 percent to 70 percent. We will really only know the true
story of how these efforts are working out in the next couple years, because the time when we
really check on whether or not individuals had their age-appropriate shots_up from zero
through the age of two_is when they start kindergarten. By law, we have to examine whether
or not they've had their shots in order to attend school. But, the program's moving forward
very, very well.
Over the course of the last year, we have worked very diligently and a lot of you, ladies and gentlemen in this state, have worked very, very hard to try and do something about dealing with the problem, or I should say, the opportunity of providing day care assistance throughout
the state. South Dakota has a tremendously high percentage of the number of men and women
in the labor force. Given that fact, we have times of the day when, for obvious reasons, or at
the night, for obvious reasons, when there's an inability or a tremendous difficulty for some
individuals to find adequate adults to take care of their children.
We've begun pushing very, very hard to try and put the public schools of South Dakota
to use in terms of having the ability to utilize them after school hours for children who are of
the age where they can attend school, where they can just stay in school until 5:00 or 5:30 when
their parent or parents get the opportunity to get off of work. Today we have over 15
communities that, in one way or another, are making their school buildings available for after
school day care. But it's really my desire that over the course of the next 12 months, all of us
together band together to try and convince local school boards, school administrators, and the
individuals that administer these institutions that are owned by the public to make them
available under the appropriate circumstances for school-age children to be able to be cared for
after school hours. The need is huge, and of all the efforts that we can make, this is probably
one of the easiest, because the capital structure and the facilities are already in place. It's just
a matter of putting them to additional use for care of children and the nurturing of children.
We've started a program to build day care centers in the state. The first prototype has
been built in the state penitentiary by the inmates that are building the houses. The first
prototype has gone to Parmalee, South Dakota, on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. It's in
place, but it's not yet completed and dedicated, which it will be over the course of the next
couple of weeks. We're using it as the prototype to see if this building, which is approximately
50 feet in length, 24 feet in width and able to be moved down the highways of South Dakota to
be put into place under the appropriate circumstances_and, we believe, able to be built for
approximately $30,000. It will provide great opportunities in rural communities of South
Dakota to at least put a facility in place for day care facilities especially for the children that are
zero to four, before school age. I'm also pleased to report that 17 new day care facilities have
been built in South Dakota in the last year.
We now require, under our state welfare requirements, that every student that's of school
age must go to school or the parent or parents will not receive their welfare checks. No longer
is a person allowed to receive public assistance in South Dakota and not have their children sent
to school. It's one of the primary requirements of receiving your public assistance check.
I put up on the board one of the charts that deals with child support enforcement. I'm
pleased to report to you, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Legislature, that over the past year we've
increased to thirteen thousand three hundred and some individuals who the state is now involved
with on a monthly basis in seeing to it that they pay for the children as a mother or a father.
They pay for the children that they help bring into this world.
The next chart that we have is a chart that shows that the child support collections that
have been made through the Department of Social Services over the course of the last year.
We've now grown to $35.5 million that were involved in collecting payments on behalf of
children, and these are the kind of payments that historically the taxpayers would have had to
have been making instead of the mother and, or, father or both of them that had the legal
responsibility to support their children, and the state had the responsibility only if they had an
inability to, not because they didn't feel like doing it.
We've got the social worker program. That program is operating in Watertown,
Batesland, Mitchell, Sturgis and Rapid City, and next year we propose to add three school
systems over the course of the year to see how it goes. And, in the event it continues to be as
successful as it is, we will be back, or some other Governor will be back, to the Legislature to
be asking them for more positions because this is a program that works.
county in South Dakota that has 40 Fetal Alcohol Syndrome births per 1,000. That's 4 percent.
That's phenomenal. That's 20 times the national average. For every Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
child that is born, statistically there are 10 Fetal Alcohol Effect children that are born. None of
us as adults have the right to abuse a child before they're born so that when they're born they
spend the only life they ever get with these kinds of maladies or infirmities that are 100 percent
preventable.
We must, every tribal government in this state must, the federal Indian Health Service
must, the U. S. Department of Justice must, our justice system must, all of us have got to come
up with some methodology to start to address and deal with this. It is estimated nationally that
the average child born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome costs the taxpayers $1.5 million in special
education costs and criminal justice costs and medical costs and all kinds of expenses that
taxpayers have to expend to provide services and assistance or confinement to these individuals
over the course of their life. If the number $1.5 million is true, over a lifetime that means the
State of South Dakota, through all its agencies and local governments and charities, have spent
$80 million over the last four years taking care of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome children.
I just wish that everybody in South Dakota had the opportunity that Bill Janklow had to
go to some of these meetings and go to some of these conferences and meet some of the people
that I've had a chance to meet when it comes to what medical science, neuroscience is capable
of understanding today about a child's mind and the development of a child. I was
dumbfounded to know, as a matter of fact, last night at dinner; I asked Dr. Scott Eccarius, the
Legislator, if it was accurate. If a child is born with cataracts and they're not removed by the
age of two, if you remove them at the age of two they will be blind for life, because the brain's
development of vision only takes place during the first 24 months of our life. After that point
in time, it's too late, notwithstanding the fact there would be no medical problem wrong with
the child; they would be blind for life. If you take a child and teach them a foreign language
before the age of ten, for their lifetime they will have the ability to speak the language as a
native, without an accent. So, one thing we know is that Henry Kissinger learned English after
the age of ten.
Something, again, that dumbfounds me. Children from birth through the age of four that
listen to Mozart and other classical music on a regular basis exercise the same neurons that are
used in the brain to develop cognitive math skills, and on average in a lifetime score 20 to 30
percent higher for life than the normal in their ability to deal with mathematics. And, now
they've recently discovered that young children zero to four that are exposed regularly to hard
rock perform 20 to 30 percent less in their ability to do mathematics as they continue to grow
throughout their life. Prolonged exposure of a child to stress has a material effect on the
physiological development of a child's brain.
We're going to be approaching the South Dakota Unified Judicial System and ask them
if they would assist in a program that, when any person in South Dakota is sentenced for child
abuse or child neglect, that they be required as part of their sentence to attend parenting classes
to learn more about, not only the opportunity, but the obligations imposed on us as adults to be
parents.
We're going to be implementing_over the next couple months_a new program that's
truly unique in the nation. We're going to require that every inmate sentenced to the South
Dakota State Penitentiary_be they male or female_and every young person, teenager, that's
turned over to our custody for an out-of-home placement by the court system_whether they
be at Plankinton or they be at Custer or they be at the Lamont Center_wherever they may
be_or the Boot Camp_that they be required to have, as part of their other instruction,
parenting classes on, again, the opportunity and the responsibility of being a parent for young
children.
In terms of technology and education, I'd like to once again report to the Legislature where we're at in terms of wiring the schools. If they're up there on that chart in red, wherever you see any of them in red, we currently have inmates wiring those schools. If they're on there in blue, those have already been wired by the inmates. And, what you see there are not county or any other kind of boundaries, those are the school district boundaries for South Dakota. If you see them up there in green, they're a school district that has embarked upon it themselves to wire their schools without waiting for the inmates to do it, and we've offered free materials to any school district, whether it's the CAT 5 Cable, the R59 Cable, the Fiber Optic conduit or cable_or a combination of it because the schools we do, we're doing all three_or the electrical receptacles and electrical wiring where we are having to upgrade every school_even the new ones_that we go into to make them conducive to handling the electricity that the new computer technology will bring in the classroom. The green ones represent anywhere from 5 percent to 100 percent of completion by a school district that's done it on their own. We now have impacted 82 of the 176 school districts in South Dakota. Almost exactly half of them, and we have completed through the green and the blue colors, 64,000 of the 135,000 students that we have in the state. We're really working hard to try and get all the schools wired by within approximately a year to a year and a month from today. We're going to be approaching the
Legislature over the next week or so to ask them to please approve of us making the necessary
transfers from one-time funds that are available to continue the wiring program which is truly
one of the more exciting things that we've embarked upon in the state, for an opportunity for
children to have the ability to enhance_not to learn_but to enhance their learning process in
their K-12 education.
I've had an opportunity to sit down and meet with the presidents of all six of our
universities to talk about technology within the university setting and training the teachers who
will be coming out of school to be the new private and public classroom teachers of South
Dakota. I've had a breakfast meeting at my house that lasted for several hours with the
education deans at all the universities that have a college of education for educating educators.
I'm happy to say that every one of them has accepted the task and has agreed to move forward
on a very aggressive basis so that we can get the faculty trained so they can train the students
that'll be graduating so we don't just have to continuously try and train the teachers after they're
out of school on how they can put effective technology to use to enhance the learning process
for kids.
When you look at this next chart that I'm putting up, you can see that in a recent
publication, Changing Education, they listed the various aspects of technology programs for a
full, rounded technology program for schools. What's phenomenal about it, is, without having
had the benefit of that chart, or talking to those people, this is exactly the course that we've
embarked on in South Dakota. We are wiring the schools. We had the summer program last
summer where, at Dakota State University_which I explained to you ladies and gentlemen in
the Budget Message_we trained 143 classroom teachers from the K-12 school districts in the
state where, this next summer, in two sessions at Dakota State and two sessions at Black Hills
State University, we will train 660 classroom teachers. Over the course of the next three years,
we will train 2,200 classroom teachers in the utilization of technology in the K-12 system.
South Dakota Network, which is basically owned by the cooperatives in the state, and US West
are, in a collaborative way_one of the few areas where they're cooperating_are putting
together a proposal where they can offer ISDN services, frame relay services, in some instances
T1 services, which are 10 times the capability of an ISDN line, offering those services to every
single school in the State of South Dakota at a very, very favorable rate, which will bring about
an explosion in opportunity for our students and their faculty.
Right now, Dakota State University just started a course in local area networks. I just
agreed a week ago for the Governor's Office to partially subsidize the course. It's being taught
on the RDTN Network, and it's the first formal course that we're starting to offer state-wide in
network administration, because every school building that's wired will be a network, a local
area network bleeding into a wide area network, which will deal with the Internet and other
methodology to get back and forth between the various locations in South Dakota, and we need
the administration.
The school-to-home connection's a no-brainer. Once the school's wired up, once the
school has a server and a modem, if you've got a computer at home and a modem, you're into
the school. Then your access is only limited by what the school wants to make available, but
it opens up tremendous opportunities for parents to really get tuned in on an ongoing basis of
what's going into the school system.
The tech support ties into the local area network. The hardware and software support, the
BIT of state government, Harris Haupt, and the folks from TIE, which are part of the Black Hills
Special Services Cooperative working on contract with the school systems in South
Dakota_are all working together as a consortium to come up with recommended_not
mandatory_but recommended standards that we can apply statewide in South Dakota as we
move forward in getting all these schools tied into the modern technology that's available for
enhancing learning.
Let me show you California's. Now, just because a state passed a standard doesn't mean
they teach them. But, let's look at California's_and I'm not going to go through and read them
all_but, just take the first one, “Describe major events and explain ideas leading to the war for
independence. Analyze key phrases,” and, by the way, this is the eighth grade. This isn't high
school, this is the eighth grade_“Analyze key phrases of the Declaration of Independence and
explain how they justified revolution with special emphasis on the natural rights philosophy and
the concept of 'the consent of the governed,' etc.” Again, very specific, each and every one of
these.
Now, let me show you South Dakota's current standard. “Standard number six, The
Benchmark.” This is for nine to the twelfth grade. “Nine to twelve students will”_and let me
read this sentence_“reconstruct temporal structure of historical narrative or story based on
identifying connections between events.” Is there a human being that understands that
gobbledy-gook? Talk about gobbledy-gook and something that's embarrassing for this state.
You tell me that any kid nine to twelve will have any understanding what they're supposed to
learn about the Revolutionary War period. Let me take the next one. “Analyze and explain
multiple complex causation relationships through chronological organization.” You can all do
that can't you? After all, it's only nine to twelve. This is embarrassing, Ladies and Gentlemen,
for South Dakota. This makes us like buffoons, and we need to do something about it. We need
to do something quickly. Bill Janklow does not care, personally, what the standards are when
we're done, but when we're done, we need a consensus by the State Board of Education, the
Legislature, the local school boards, the parents_of, what is it that we want students to know
in each grade, and clearly, what do we want them to know when they get a high school diploma
and come out of our institutions with respect to United States history, and math, and science,
and the arts, and music, and English, and all of these things that go toward creating the basis for
making a well-rounded, educated individual.
Here's an amazing national poll. I'm putting it up only because I find it so amazing.
Seventy-four percent of the teenagers that were polled in a national poll said schools should
only pass students to the next grade when they've learned what's expected of them, and seventy-
six percent of the teenagers in America say students should not be allowed to graduate from
high school unless they have demonstrated a good command of the English language. I actually
had a young student, three years ago, who was a Mickelson scholar, who wrote me a letter of
criticism over that program and had twenty-one grammatical errors in the one-page letter that
that student sent me. Twenty-one errors in spelling, conjugating of verbs, tenses and Lord
knows what.
The next chart that we have tells you how we're going to deal with the standards. They're
going to be clear, measurable, specific, demanding and comprehensive. They're going to be
clear because the student and the teachers and the parents have to understand them. They're
going to be specific because they're going to include enough detail so they're not abstract or
general so that different people can interpret them in different ways. They're going to be
measurable because if you can't measure it, you'll never know if you've achieved it. And,
they're going to be comprehensive because they should cover all the area of the subject matter,
or all the components of the skill and not just a few selected ones depending upon someone's
bias. And, they have to be demanding because they have to require that every student has to
have the ability to think to go to the next level of knowledge or skill development and the
expectations and the results have to be higher and higher.
When we came before the Legislature a couple of years ago we had a tremendous problem with juveniles, a growing problem. We still have a tremendous problem with juveniles. But, we've been able to make very, very substantial headway against it. Two years ago, I came before the Legislature and asked them to allow a capital construction program to build some additional facilities, to change the Custer Development Center, to build a Boot Camp, to build a prison, to move the young girls from Redfield out to Custer. At that time, we had resources available for 25 girls in the Lamont Program, 50 boys in the Youth Forestry Camp, and 105 students at Plankinton, and that was it. Today, I'm happy to report to you, that we have a capacity for 105_as a matter of fact, we have 105_kids at Plankinton. In the new 40-bed prison, which is just being completed, there are 20 hardened, young criminals in that prison. The Lamont Center for Girls has doubled in size and currently is operating in its two units_the intensive unit and the other unit_with 50 young girls. The Boot Camp has an ongoing 120 and the program is a four-month program and they rotate in every 30 days. The first Wednesday of every month they start a new platoon. There are 120 boys in the Boot Camp. In the Living Center as of today there are 52 young people that are living in the Living Center. And, we've got a special unit that we've created over the course of the last year at the Redfield State Hospital. It's for individuals who have developmental disabilities or other types of disabilities who are criminals or prone to criminal activity_either as a sexual or a physical predator in one way or another. Given their mental condition, they are unable to control or deal with themselves and so we've started a special unit in the secure location up there in Redfield at the State Hospital, and we currently have, I believe it's 17 individuals, in that program.
Some people still have trepidation about whether or not a Boot Camp works, if it's structured right. The University of Maryland has recently conducted an analysis of two-and-a-
half dozen boot camps around the nation under a contract with the US Justice Department.
Although the report's not yet been issued, the letter that I received from the evaluators from the
University of Maryland, told me that they_although there's skepticism on whether or not Boot
Camps work_they think South Dakota has the absolute best program that they've looked at.
They're recommending it as a model to other states and other communities that are looking at
setting up a Boot Camp.
In terms of recidivism, and I realize the jury's still out on this, Ladies and Gentlemen, I
understand that. But, the average young person that goes to the State Training School at
Plankinton for the last several years has spent an average of eight months at Plankinton. The
recidivist rate is 26 percent_that means for all practical purposes_one out of four is a
failure_or, we've failed. So far in the Boot Camp_and I realize the Boot Camp is only one
year old_our recidivist rate is running one out of five instead of one out of four, at 21 percent.
But, we also recognize that in the first year of Boot Camp we're picking up a five-year backlog
of immense problems in the juvenile justice system where there were juveniles that have been
in and out of court many times, a lot of them, many of them have been to Plankinton more than
once. There was just no place to put them, because the judges couldn't put them in a
penitentiary. They were too young and too fragile as human beings. So, we recognize that
we're going to get a disproportionate share of failures, on the front end of the Boot Camp, but
by the same token, we get a disproportionate share of failures, because we're going to have a
disproportionate share of problem kids. Now, young people are being sentenced by the courts
to out-of-home placement far faster than they were before, because thanks to you, Ladies and
Gentlemen, and the support of the people of South Dakota, we have the facilities available to
deal with them in a cost-effective, reasonable way.
The last statistic I want to give you, which I think is incredibly important, although the
failure rate is one out of five at Plankinton, and one out of four at the Boot Camp, the program
at the Boot Camp is half as long as Plankinton, so for half the time and the investment, we're
now getting a better result than we were with just Plankinton.
We've started a new program. Actually, this program came to me as a result of Judge Patrick McKeever out of the judicial circuit here in Pierre. He wrote me a letter telling me about an experimental program that he tried within his circuit, I then sat down and had a meeting with him, with some of my staff and he explained his enthusiasm for the program after having had some of our people at Human Services and the Chemical Dependency program review it. Honestly, no matter how you looked at it, it was something I thought we should give an attempt to try. The net result is that I've used some of the Byrne money_Edward Byrne money_available to me on federal grant funds to fund the program in the judicial system. We've offered it to every circuit court presiding judge to put in their circuit at their discretion. I believe I'm accurate when I say it's been implemented by all the presiding judges. It's available in all the circuits. But, it was something we made available to all of them. I can report to you that based on the statistics at present, in the six-hour primary program_and these are for kids that basically have indicated some problems and it's been brought before the court system, for chemical or alcohol violations or dependency. We've had 1,800 that have gone through what's called the Six-Hour Primary Program. Some of them don't go through the primary program, and some who fail the six-hour program are then required_as an alternative to being formally pushed through the criminal justice system as a juvenile_to take the 36-hour Intensive Program. The 36-hour Intensive Program has handled 421 kids, or approximately 17 percent,
and this, if it's going to be done, the parent or parents have to agree to be an integral part of the
program with the children. One hundred and one have been referred to some type of outpatient
treatment for chemical or alcohol problems_97 of them have gone to in-patient treatment as
a result of the 36-hour program moving forward. But, Ladies and Gentlemen, the cost per child
at this point in time has been $112 per child that's been in the program. Referred to the next
level of service has been $200 and so far, of the 2,054 children, or young people, or teenagers
that have been through this program, it appears at this point we have a recidivist rate of only 129
kids. If this program continues to work like it looks like it is, it's one of the best investments
that any of us have been able to make in straightening out kids in a long period of time.
The next chart that we have, let's take a look at adults and crimes for moment. Starting
in 1992, the arrest of adults_misdemeanors and felonies_actually 1991 peaked and has been
dropping at a steady rate of a little better than 1,000 or more every year since then. Where,
although we had 31,000 adult arrests in 1991, we now have 25,000 plus adult arrests for
misdemeanors and felonies, at a time when our penitentiary population continues to grow and
grow and grow. Before I became governor this time, the Legislature commissioned a study
which came back which indicated that we would have a certain population by, I believe, the year
2002. We exceeded that number my first year and a half in office this time. There is no human
being that can ever come in and take our money and waste it telling us what the prison
population's going to be in the future. They don't know any more about it than we do, and we
don't know any more about it than they do. Our population is going to be whatever it takes to
protect the public in their persons and their property because the will of the people of South
Dakota is when people become dangerous to other people or other people's property, they want
them locked up until they are no longer dangerous to other people or other people's property.
At the same time we see the precipitous drop in arrests by adults we have continued to grow at
an ever-increasing rate, again about 500. We've continued to grow in the number of arrests of
juveniles since 1996.
work with the families like that 36-hour program that Judge McKeever and his people came up
with that requires not just the kids but the families to get involved, is starting to show a direct
impact on the number of juvenile petitions being filed. The programs, it looks like, at this point
in time, all together are really, really working very, very well.
If you look at the next chart, it's got my theme on it_“More active aftercare cases for
juvenile causes fewer petitions to commit juvenile crime.”
Building homes within the correctional system_as you all know, we have a home
building program. The next chart, I'm putting it up just to show the impact of the success of
that program so far. Every place that's a star is a community where one or more homes have
been placed. Of the 168 homes that have been built by the inmates, 135 to 138 of which have
now been delivered to some community in South Dakota. You can go up to a community like
Britton where they bought two of them, moved them close to each other, put them on a lot, and
the community built the garage between them_so they both share a garage, and they have
elderly people living in them, to all kinds of creative things that are being done. But it's the
hottest deal in America, $20,000 a building delivered any place in South Dakota to a person
who is handicapped, disabled, or over the age of 62 in a community of less than 5,000. What
you see in the three red dots, the three red circles, are where we have delivered two of the actual
homes that have been purchased to be used as day care centers within a community. I did attend
a dedication in Mellette where the community up there bought one and turned it into a senior
citizens' center. I was there the day they dedicated it. It was just marvelous the way they turned
that into a lovely little senior citizens' center for the community of Mellette. And the last red
dot you see down here in Todd County is where our new pilot one is that's 50 feet long and 24
feet wide that's our prototype of a real day care center built to day care specifications that we
are going to see how that program works.
How are inmates doing in working? I report to the Legislature every chance I get. I can
report to you that over the course of the last year, the inmates of South Dakota worked over
800,000 hours outside the prison walls doing everything from wiring the schools to_we now
have, we had one, we then had two_now we have three crews where we've hired roofers or
retired roofers to teach inmates how to put roofs on buildings so we can go around and really
materially attack this immense problem we have of the roofs for state buildings. So, we've got
inmates learning the roofing trade. I can report to you also that one-half of all the inmates that
have been involved in the wiring project that are out of prison are now employed in the wiring
industry in a meaningful occupation.
As you know, they tuck-pointed the state Capitol saving $3 million a couple of years ago.
They've tuck-pointed the School for the Deaf in Sioux Falls, the Old Soldiers Home in Hot
Springs. They've worked on the college campuses. We're having them move around wherever
there are state buildings tuck-pointing the buildings, and they've been involved in all kinds of
community activities that you can imagine from hauling sand bags to helping people move their
stuff out of the way of floods to moving things back into people's houses after the floods. I can
report that the inmates have done a phenomenal job and the leadership in the correctional
system has done a phenomenal job in fulfilling the philosophy that this administration has, that
there's dignity in work and everybody that works for a living has a far better chance of going
straight, being straight, and staying straight than those that don't work.
The South Dakota Highway Patrol, Ladies and Gentlemen, this is one that I just have to
talk about every year. It's something that only Bill Janklow really cares about, but as long as
I am in public life I am going to beat it to death, because whether I have been a defense lawyer
or a prosecutor throughout my life, my legal life, I've seen nothing but the impact drugs are
having on our kids. I guess I didn't grow up in the '60s and '70s, so I can't say we all smoked
a little dope, we turned out all right. I didn't understand it. It didn't happen to us. We grew up
in the aspirin and Coke era is when we grew up and that was a long time ago. But, over the
course of the last year, and the aggressive program_and these statistics are just from the South
Dakota Highway Patrol's 155 men and women that are out patrolling the roads. In the last year,
our number of DWI arrests actually went down approximately 400. They went down 8 percent.
But, the number of drug arrests just by the South Dakota Highway Patrol went up 24 percent
over the course of the last year.
Last year, we recorded almost 2,500 drug arrests. And, everybody talks about getting the
users or the pushers. Maybe it's just time we started looking at how we get the users, because
if you didn't have users you wouldn't have pushers. Drugs are not a highly profitable trade in
South Dakota. They're so available, they're cheap. There's no supply and demand equation
problem. The fundamental law of economics works very, very well with drugs. There's a lot
of them so they're cheap. And the cost that we pay in diversion programs, in treatment
programs, in in-patient programs at the Yankton State Hospital and the other private nonprofit
institutes around the state, at the Custer Unit where we've had a chemical dependency program
operating, the cost that we have in terms to our criminal justice systems in investigations and
prosecutions and taking them before the court system_the costs that we have in incarceration
are astronomical and we're losing the battle more every year.
This is the greatest political issue of all, because the real people in South Dakota are sick of drugs. I realize some politicians aren't. I realize some people who write letters to the editor aren't. But, I also know the real people are sick of it. That's the silent majority. And, I can tell you the students hate it! The students despise the druggers in their peer group, but they're afraid and can't do anything about it. And, deterrent works because we started going into the school system with those drug dogs a year ago. The second school we went into, the fourth, fifth and sixth schools we went into we found drugs in the schools. Then we got into an argument on how we were going to deal with it_not when they marked somebody, but when they found the
drugs. I said that since the Highway Patrol worked for the Governor, you will remove them
from the building in chains in front of their classmates. You will take them into arrest as a
Felony arrest. You will remove them from the building in front of their classmates. I want all
the other students to see and know what happens when someone is found with drugs on them
in a school building. Miraculously, this year we've only had one school search since September
where they found drugs. I don't know what the reason is, but I can tell you we have only had
one where they found drugs this year. But, I'm asking you Ladies and Gentlemen of the
Legislature to take serious consideration on dealing in a very, very material way, in how we are
going to address and deal with this drug question. And, it isn't good enough, frankly, to
continue to make excuses for people that are involved in the criminal aspects of dealing with
drugs.
We've started another unique program in conjunction with the Catholic Diocese in Sioux
Falls. Actually, it was a grant that they put in for that we supported them on. It's a program
that's called “Project Alert.” It is the most successful program in the nation based on
evaluations and analysis for dealing with children in the grades one through seven to stay away
from drugs and alcohol. The RAND Corporation is the one that basically invented and put
together and nurtured this program. It's got the highest documented, as I said, the highest
documented success rate in the nation. We're the first State in the Union to move it into our
high schools. And, through the Catholic Diocese, some of their schools east of the river, as well
as some of the public schools in South Dakota, we're sharing a funding program and we're
sharing the individuals from the RAND Corporation and from the South Dakota community to
bring it to some of our high schools in the state to see how the program works. We are the pilot
project for the rest of America and that program is something that has just gotten up and running
and some Governor will be able to report to the Legislature next year on the success or the
failure of that particular program.
I can't resist showing all of you citizens this next comment. It looks like it was probably
written with the precision that Bill Janklow writes. In a recent news story the statement was
written “Despite,” and think through this, “Despite a rise in inmates, statistics show that serious
crimes are on the wane in South Dakota.”
Had I had the opportunity to be the editor of that story, I would have changed one word,
“Because” of the rise in inmates in South Dakota, serious crimes are on the wane.
We're having an impact, Ladies and Gentlemen, in terms of these programs that you've
supported and that all of us have moved forward with.
Last year it was quite a struggle, but we were finally able to convince you Ladies and Gentlemen, or at least a majority of you in the Legislature, to do something about the speed enforcement in construction zones where we had a nice history of just killing and injuring people because nobody would slow down, or very few would. I can report to you that since this new program went into effect July 1, we say fatalities are down 100 percent because we had none this year. In addition to that, injury_and, by the way, we had the largest construction operations and budget in the history of South Dakota this past summer. So, although we have far more construction than we had before, not only fortunately did we have no fatalities, but injuries were down 37 percent in the construction zone by motorists. Speed related accidents
were down 28 percent and $186,000 worth of fines were turned over to the school systems of
the state by people who paid fines for their violations.
If I can for a moment, I would like to talk about the world of the environment. Over the
course of the past year, 49 formal administrative actions have been filed dealing with
environmental problems for wastewater, drinking water or solid waste. And, those are formal
actions on the administrative side. Penalties were assessed to the tune of about $289-$290,000.
At DENR's request, the Attorney General's office just filed eight different pieces of litigation
against people we believe were malefactors with respect to coming to the environment.
My grandchildren, just like a lot of yours, drink the water in South Dakota. It doesn't
come from another state. We all bathe in it and we all cook in it. It's in our selfish interest to
make sure that we have the grandest and the best protection of these kinds of resources. And,
very candidly, part of our problem is, is that we lived not too many years ago in a world where
no one worried about where they poured the waste oil out of the car when they changed the oil
in the back yard. Nobody worried about, if they had some stale gas in a container of just
dumping it out into the yard. Nobody worried about when a gas station was abandoned because
the tanks leaked and they just let it leak. Nobody worried about an old battery just being buried
in the ground or buried rubber tires. Unfortunately, too many of us grew up in a time when that
was the habit and the custom of the way you got rid of things. And the world has become a lot
more enlightened in terms of the impact and what it means for the long-term survivability and
the long-term health of individuals to deal with those types of things.
As most people in this state know, I suffer from a very, very rare allergy that's called Acquired Cold Urticaria. I'm literally allergic to cold. For me, it can be life threatening. I know some of you grin when I say that, but it could be life threatening. It's a very serious problem. And, the Mayo Clinic has told me, in one of the studies I was in several years ago with them, that they don't know for sure, but they believe it may have come from a massive overdose of insecticide 20-25 years ago and not of a recent nature. They don't know, but as they continue to work forward on their research, they're focusing in on that. They believe that's where that kind of damage to the immune system may have come from which has caused those types of problems for me.
Virtually every feedlot in South Dakota was built on a hill because it flowed down hill.
Now we've come to realize that we can't flow all those things into the tributaries that go into
the creeks that go into the streams that go into rivers and what the long-term impacts are and
the short-term impacts and what the exposure of nitrates to children_more than adults, but even
to adults_can have an impact on people. The only point I'm belaboring on this is, dealing with
the environmental aspect is the government's responsibility. And, it is as much our
responsibility to deal with it when it comes from hogs or cattle or people. Waste is waste, and
what comes from an intestine from any mammal can be terribly dangerous and life threatening.
And, so we have to be concerned about all of it.
But, I submit we should look long and hard as a people before we start using an
environmental argument, which is legit to be concerned about, using that argument to restrict
the ability of agriculture producers or anybody else in America to make a decent living the best
way they know how.
Over the course of the last year, we've implemented the rules as required by the legislation
for animal feeding, animal operations and the inspection rules. We've developed and issued a
general water pollution control permit that establishes standards for the protection of the state's
water resources. We awarded $32 million in grants and loans, which generated $95 million
worth of construction in the last year for water, waste water and solid waste facilities. We were
one of the first five states in the nation that qualified and received our $12.5 million for the
special funding for public water system upgrades throughout the state. We've conducted a pilot
project in Plum Creek, which is a tributary to the Bad River which, at this point in time, it
indicates that the new practices that are being used in that Plum Creek drainage area are having
a 40 percent reduction in terms of impact on sediment flowing into the Bad River, which is
causing this incredible problem of flooding in southeast Pierre and really threatening to destroy
the areas_significant areas_in the community of Pierre and Fort Pierre.
Utilizing the discretionary money that was available to me through the block grant that Senator Daschle, Senator Johnson and Congressman Thune helped make available, I gave $2.3 million worth of funding to the Vermillion River Basin to start to deal in a very, very material way with putting in place the facilities that are necessary to provide up to a 22 percent reduction on the 10-year flood in that Vermillion River Basin south of Lake Thompson. We provided millions of dollars worth of funding to the community of Watertown to deal with their flood control efforts in terms of serious planning and implementation of flood control to be determined by the people that live in the area. And, we made the same thing available in the Pierre/Fort Pierre community in order to start to bring about serious results. I can report to you that I've dispensed, under that grant program, tens of millions of dollars throughout South Dakota for the building or the rebuilding of water, sewer, lagoon and other types of human
safety environmental structures and infrastructure as a result of the federal aid that we got from
the flooding in South Dakota this past summer and the threatened floods.
And, I can also tell you Ladies and Gentlemen, and I just think that, and I realize I get
some criticism when I say this, but I say it because I believe it. Senator Daschle in the position
that he is in and the cooperative spirit that he has, has been terribly beneficial in terms of Bill
Janklow and his administration's ability to work with him. I've been able to sit down and have
in-depth discussions with Senator Johnson. I've talked to him about enhancing the aspect of
the way we work together. And, both of us are very committed to moving forward in that
direction. Between those two Senators, they command significant committees in the United
States Senate. I've a great working relationship as does my team at the state level with
Congressman Thune. I realize this is an election year, and I realize the impact, frankly, of what
it is that I am saying. I report to South Dakota, in terms of the ability of elected officials to
work after the election, I've never in all my years in government had better ability to work with
the broad group that we have with this group as we work with them_Thune in the House and
the other two in the Senate_and what we are able, frankly, to get done teaming together for the
people of South Dakota.
In terms of welfare reform, Ladies and Gentlemen, this is just headed towards a
phenomenal set of accomplishments. Given the authority that you gave us last year when you
passed the legislation in what we call TANF which is the old ADC/AFDC program, I can tell
you that in December of 1996, we had_the red bar represent those people who are drawing
public assistance. Now, this excludes Sisseton, because I can report to you the Sisseton-
Wahpeton Sioux Tribe has taken over the operation of the TANF program within the area where
the former reservation was located up there in northeast South Dakota. And, they have taken
that over, provided the seed money and they are operating and we have turned over to them their
proportionate share of the federal grant that was made available to us. They're providing their
resources for the local money and they are operating that program. We continue to operate it
in the other eight tribal areas in South Dakota. The red line represents the individuals who draw
assistance living within the boundaries of one of the reservations or in one of the Indian-
controlled areas.
In 1996 in December, we had 1,885. At the end of December this year, 1,652. A 12
percent reduction. We had 1,871 individuals off the reservation of all races on AFDC/ADC in
December of '96. Today we have 939; we have a 50 percent reduction. This program is a
phenomenal success. I can also report to you that the average wage earned this past year by
people going to work under the Welfare Assistance Program, except for Minnehaha County, is
$6.05 an hour. That's almost a dollar above the minimum wage that this Legislature raised it
to a year ago. So, they are not going to work on average for, as somebody said, just minimum
wage_as if that lacked dignity when they made that statement anyhow. If you work honorably
for your work and you get paid, there's dignity in it and some people have just never figured
that out. But, the average wage is $6.05. In Minnehaha County, the average wage for people
going to work under the TANF program is $6.75 an hour. These individuals are making money
instead of taking money from the taxpayers and, at the same time, and more importantly,
building themselves towards their self-sufficiency and being able to take care of themselves and
their families in the future as we slowly wind down the assistance that we still provide to these
people and individuals as they go to work.
Over the last couple of years, we've been dealing with a Beginning Farmer Program in the
state. That Beginning Farmer Program, I can report to you, has issued $6.2 million worth of
loans that have helped 71 beginning farmers. This is a program really where we issue the bonds
and we make approvals, but it's not state money or a state program. It's really something
through the Bankers Association. These beginning 71 farmers have been involved in the
purchase of almost 21,000 acres of ground and basically 560 head of livestock. The initial loan
rate is about 7.15 percent, which is anywhere from 2.5 to 3 percent below the market rate. The
average age is 30, but the recipients of this program as beginning farmers run the age of 18 all
the way to 48 years of age.
Hunting. It's an emotional issue that Bill Janklow's been staying out of for the last year. It's kind of like when two people are going to get a divorce. They hate each other so much in the beginning it doesn't do any good to work with them. They've got to cool down. And, here we've got an issue that involves people that want to hunt and people that own ground. And, it's an issue unfortunately that's really starting to tear the guts out of this state in a very personal way as people start making personal attacks on each other. You need only look at the comments in the newspaper. You need only read the letters to the editor. You need only see what's being said about each other to realize how destructive this is becoming. What we really need to do is all take a good deep breath. Take a walk around the block, tone down the rhetoric a little and see_maybe there's no solution. Maybe it's just destined by God that we have to hate each other forever. But just in case it isn't, let's just calm down a little bit and sit back and look at a couple things. One, we have an absolute responsibility to put mechanisms in place to protect a landowner's right to their land. Period. Period. Period. It's their land. And, absent some abuse they do to it as a tenant on the way to eternity, absent some abuse, they've got a right to deal with their land in their own way and determine who comes on it and who doesn't. Within that framework, South Dakota has always been a state where one of the great attributes of being able to live out here, even though we didn't have the economic basis and a lot of other things that others had, was the ability of families to come together in the great outdoors. One of them happened to be the experience of going out in a family sense with hunting and the outdoor
experience, whether it was bird, or upland game, or four feet. We've always had that harmony.
And, yes there's always been a little friction but not at this level. I realize there are certain
factors that are complicating it, but all I'm asking is that the Legislature_it's not a problem that
we should ignore and where we've got South Dakotans hurting like they are and at each other
like they are_I think we all have a responsibility to sit down and try and come up with some
methodology and some legislation that provides material protections to landowners. And
recognizing, that if we're going to have hunting in the long run in South Dakota, it's got to be
something that people that work for average means can afford to do, and not just pay $100, $200
whatever it is a day per gun to go hunting, because people out there that make $7 and $8 and
$9 a hour that have a family cannot afford to participate in it. And, once something loses its
broad-based political support, I can guarantee you in a democracy the first thing that happens
is we start regulating it, and then we tax it to death, and ultimately we destroy it. So for the
good of all of us, let's see if there's a way over the next couple of months to try and make some
definitive steps where we could really help try and solve the problem by protecting the
landowners' rights and at the same time protecting what has been at least the historical
opportunity of working people in South Dakota of average means to have an experience within
the framework of what they can afford to have access to hunting with themselves and their
families.
Very briefly, I'd just like to report to you that over the course of last year and in keeping
with my philosophy of really trying to get things done at a 100 percent, more work was done
on the Mickelson Trail in the Black Hills in 1997 than in the previous six years combined.
Fort Sisseton, almost all the work in the restoration of it was done in 1997.
We've recently made a land acquisition of 566 acres in Kingsbury County in the area
between Lake Thompson and Lake Henry. As I indicated when a newspaper man asked me
about it that day, a local newspaper, as long as we got lemons up here we might as well try and
turn it into lemonade. But the state will now own 5.5 new miles of shoreline that will be
developed along with the rest of it into a public access area for families in South Dakota to
come and enjoy the water, water skiing, fishing, boating, beaches, waterfowl hunting, and what
have you.
The Adams Homestead has been completed. It's a 1,500-acre donation down in the
southeast corner of the state that Mary and Maude Adams, Mary Adams is the sister that is still
alive and with us, who made the bequest on behalf of her sister Maude and the rest of the
family. It's still in its pristine original condition, a lot of it that was never farmed. It's the
ground never broken with hundreds of acres of cottonwood trees, 7.5 miles worth of trails have
been built down there. It's truly a treasure of South Dakota, this gift that those ladies gave us
and how Game, Fish and Parks has been able to develop it.
I can report to you that Blood Run the purchase was completed for the vast majority of it,
once I was made aware of how important it was that we do something with respect to Blood
Run in the state.
One additional thing. The issues that have plagued this state involve, property tax relief_being one of them. Everybody's got their view on it. Everybody's got their position. But I can tell you when I ran for Governor three years ago both Mr. Beddow and I, who were
opposed to each other, both made a commitment to South Dakota that we would work to get 30
percent property tax relief. I realize that some of the emotion has died down, not the
commitment, but the emotion by people. But I also know that revolt came from eight years of
property taxes growing for schools, for counties and for municipalities at three times the rate
of inflation, the largest sustained increase in the history of South Dakota over an eight-year
period. Therein were the seeds of the property tax revolt. When taxes are growing at three
times the rate of inflation, you better believe you're going to get into trouble at some point in
time. And that property tax revolt almost passed in its legislation. The only difference were a
few minor things and the time period within which the commitment was made to get it done.
As I've indicated before and I'll say again, I refuse to say that I would do it in three or four
years during the campaign because I said I've been there before in that office. I never know
what comes up, and I won't make a promise that I can't keep in that regard. But I will keep as
my goal leading my party and this Legislature and the people towards property tax relief of 30
percent.
During our budget we asked for 3.5 percent property tax relief. When we started out this
year we talked about adversity. When I started my speech today I talked about adversity. High
school coaches tell their kids that adversity builds character. I think adversity reveals character.
And, yes, after this spring's floods receded, God gave us some tremendous opportunities and
breaks. There's no question that God gave us breaks with the weather. South Dakota turned
to and really started building and rebuilding and reinvesting, and I can report to the Legislature
now that economically we look better than we did when I presented that budget a month ago,
because we have another month's worth of receipts in. So I'm asking the Legislature to modify
the budget request that I made when we presented it back the first of December and, instead of
3.5 percent property tax relief, that the Legislature award this year and additional 5 percent
property tax relief. That will take us to 25 percent. That will take us, if it's passed, to 25
percent of the 30 percent commitment that both my friends in the Democratic party, and my
party, the Republican party, made to the people of South Dakota during the election three years
ago. We've got a responsibility to keep our word to the public, and I can tell you, that with the
additional revenues that we see, it's going to be close. It's going to be tight. But, we will
manage the government in such a way that if the Legislature sees fit to authorize an additional
1.5 percent to the 3.5 percent that we asked, that we would have a total of 5 percent property tax
relief that would go to the people of the state beginning with the next go-around.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it's time for me to submit to you folks the work of creating the
laws for our people. It's something you all understand. Every one of you, including the one
that was appointed recently, the new member, are veterans of the legislative process.
Everybody talks in the press about how they're not going to play politics and then they go play
politics. I understand how that's done, but we've all got a responsibility within the framework
of what I'll call, playing the politics, to do the serious business of taking care of the needs of the
people of South Dakota so, we not only don't create problems, that we not only solve problems,
but we take what actions are necessary to prevent problems from happening. And, so it gives
me a great deal of pleasure, and I appreciate, and I say this in a humble way, the time you've
given me here today to run through these major things that I've addressed on what really is the
State-of-the-State in South Dakota and where we're at.
Yes, a year ago today I came before you in adversity. It didn't build anybody's character. It showed the character of South Dakota. Whether it was those snowmobilers that went out in
the night looking for folks by Sioux Falls, the people up there by Webster that went out looking
for Mrs. Nelson. Whether it was the National Guard man and a prisoner from the state
penitentiary who, after I gave a direct order to evacuate the James Valley Christian School
compound, begged, just the two of them, for one opportunity to go back down there where that
National Guard caterpillar was, at driving through four feet of water as it's coming in, and still
try and push and plug a hole in the dike with the possibility that a 15-foot wall of water would
fall down upon them, or, whether it epitomizes the spirit of what that young lady, Ashlie,
teaches all of us. Yours and my responsibility is to make sure that Ashlie and all the rest of the
young people like her are given the same opportunity that Bill Janklow and all of you had_to
live in a great place like South Dakota. To live in a place like South Dakota that offers the
opportunity and the enrichment, which South Dakota offers each and every one of us.
I look forward to working with each and every one of you. I look forward to the challenge
of addressing the issues of this state head-on and I look forward to the challenge of working
with all of you and the citizens of this state as we make sure that we don't create problems--we
solve them. That we don't ignore problems_we address them. That we do the people's work.
God bless South Dakota and thank you all very much. Thank you.
Sen. Vitter moved that the Senate do now adjourn, which motion prevailed, and at 1:45
p.m. the Senate adjourned.