A spirited, respectful crowd of citizens from in and around Jerauld County filled the back room of Springs Inn Cafe earlier this month to hear what their District 20 legislators had to say about the current legislative session in a Cracker Barrel sponsored by Jerauld / Sanborn / Aurora County Farm Bureau, Jerauld County Republicans and Jerauld County Farmer’s Union.
District 20 Senator Josh Klumb opened the legislative cracker barrel, thanking local folks for a great turnout. He told the group of his constituents that he’s been a legislator since 2015 and after this session, will term limit out and his focus will turn to raising his family.
Representative Ben Krohmer, in his first term in the state legislature, said he still sometimes “pulls out the rookie card,” but is enjoying learning, representing District 20 and that session has been moving along at a brisk pace.
Wessington Springs High School and Wessington Springs Academy alumni and retired banker Representative Lance Koth shared that through serving on the House and Joint Committees on Appropriations, he spends most of his time meeting with his peers to take the information from policy committees and government recommendations then figure out how to put all of it in a balanced budget.
After introductions, the Cracker Barrel moderator, Gail Arnott, opened the floor to questions.
“I’ve heard a lot about eminent domain. What is your opinion?” — Amber Kolousek Koth: “It has sucked a lot of oxygen out of Pierre. We need to protect the landowners, there is no doubt about that. We also need eminent domain, it’s been around forever. You go back to the railroad and Interstate days, the damming of Missouri River, and natural gas lines. Ag is our number one industry — nearly 70% of corn in South Dakota goes through ethanol plants. Would you rather have it transported by pipe, rail or truck? The bottom line is that property rights and eminent domain are a collision course.”
Krohmer: “I serve on the commerce energy and have heard a plethora of bills on this. Under oath, ethanol folks have said the pipeline isn’t necessary for their viability. I’ve heard bills that strip local control. Probably 12 bills already and more to come. A lot of it here is one bad actor vs. a lot of utilities that have done it right. Utilities were honest and willing to work. The carbon pipeline came through swinging a baseball bat.”
Klumb: “I don’t buy the green new deal crap. I don’t believe capturing CO2 is going to save our environment. We are up against a wall though. It’s the world we live in, a national movement. Whether or not you agree with it, a pipeline is under the ground and it’s gone, you can farm over it. When in our industry, 70% of our corn goes to ethanol, we have to protect the industry. As a legislator we have to figure out what’s best for more people. We can’t change Washington, we can only work with what we’re dealt here. We have to make it work somehow.
“Intalkingabouttheprisonconstruction, in some of my construction experience, architects blow it up as fancy as they can. Do you guys have authority when big shot architects come in, can you say anything about it?” — Dale Paulson Koth: “As it relates to the men’s prison, I had the opportunity to tour that last summer. It’s 104 years old, land locked. Built in an era when someone committed a crime and the sentence was go to the pen, you put them in a cage and forgot about them. Society has moved us to where we need to treat them like humans. Try to rehabilitate them. We are 140 people short in the prison system. We can’t get employees because it’s unsafe. Do we need to spend $650 million? We don’t have land space, we need a new prison. Experts say it all has to be on one level. That’s why there are competing bids. State government also has an engineer staff. We control the course but don’t have expertise and time to say trust me on this. Men’s pen at 180% of capacity. 80% for non -violent crimes.
Klumb: “It’s sad we are using your state dollars to build this costly facility to lock up bad people. Look where society has gone.”
“What about the daycare situation? It’s too expensive and causing people to have less kids. Anything in works?” — Drew Kraft Klumb:” Government might be bad to get into this.”
Koth: “I attended a meeting. Rapid City Foundation raised $500,000 and encouraged employers to be a part of it and find a solution. Personally I can’t see state government getting involved in this problem. Communities are saying let’s try to solve this without tax dollars.”
Krohmer: “It would seem government is trying to say one way is better than another. It’s really nothing government can fix.”
“I hear a lot about funding for border security — and we have answered by sending our Guards. Where is the money coming from? — Jim Burg Koth: There is a fund out there called a disaster fund. Last year the governor used that. In appropriations, we backfill that every year. Does she have the authority to do that? That’s a gray area. Can we stop her? Probably not.
Klumb: Whatever gets reverted back goes into the fund. It’s not ongoing like education.
“Lance I appreciate your concern about funding. Ben I thank you for property rights. Josh I agree your comment about green new deal. My suggestion would be to put a stiff tax on what they’re shipping through our state. That would soften blow to the state and increase our revenues.” — Scott Kolousek Klumb: “I believe there is stuff like that. That’s part of what we’re trying to find - a compromise. To make sure they (carbon pipeline companies) aren’t getting a free ride.
