South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem hosted a townhall meeting with residents in Spearfish Thursday to tout some policy successes from this year's legislative session.
In a packed coffee house, Noem spoke to a standing room only crowd, touching on the subjects of two education bills she signed into law on Wednesday, one dealing with teacher pay and the other to train teachers in phonics-based reading instruction.
She also shared her thoughts on minimizing the reach of government over family control and preventing the purchase of South Dakota agriculture land by foreign entities considered adversaries to American interests.
Concerns about high property, grocery and tourism taxes were also mentioned by West River residents in attendance.
Noem mentioned how 63 of 66 counties in South Dakota were declared federal disaster areas when she took office in 2019.
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“We spent all of 2019 putting communities back together,” Noem said, going through events since she took office in January of that year.
“Our state was dying,” she said of when she took office. “Our economy was going down. People were leaving our state. Our kids were not finding the jobs they wanted here in South Dakota; they were moving to the careers that they needed.”
Briefly mentioning COVID-19, Noem reminded the attendees of the challenges faced, while being focused on growing South Dakota in both population and economy, and how she was attacked for not making the same choices as other states.
“If you want to live somewhere you can be free — then move to South Dakota,” Noem said to the crowd.
She touted the growing economy and businesses and families moving into the state since she came to office.
“We have done some incredible things together,” she said. “We have started new businesses, we’ve expanded businesses that were here, set historic revenues in our state, paid off our debts.”
She mentioned universities that have paid off bonds early, repairs to bridges and dams, and wages that have increased, along with a growth of women-owned businesses, and how overdoses have declined across the state, according to Noem.
“So, for me, it’s a testimony to the fact that when you give people more personal responsibilities (sic) to make decisions for their family, when you give them the opportunity to protect their constitutional freedoms, that they’re happier. That they’re happier, they do better, they thrive.”
She spoke about education and the bills she signed into law Wednesday.
“We have a responsibility to make sure that our kids in our K-12 system get a public education and a great education that is a free education,” she said.
Regarding Senate Bill 127, which sets a minimum public school teacher salary across the state at $45,000, she said, “We have done 27% of increases in funding to schools since I’ve been governor. That’s a lot, more than any other governor has ever given to education in dollars before.”
“This year we passed a comprehensive bill that salaries will go up,” she said, mentioning how it took much longer than she wanted.
The second education bill she signed into law was the training of teachers for phonics-based reading. That bill was called House Bill 1022.
“Remember phonics? Well, it actually works,” she said. “We’re going back to phonics, and we’re going to start using that as a way to teach our kids so they can read and be successful.”
She ended her speech on agricultural land purchases by foreign entities.
From buying fertilizer companies, to chemical companies, and meat packing plants, Noem told the crowd that this past summer Chinese spies dug up seeds to copy their genetics and avoid their own research and compete on a global scale.
“You don’t know this, but this summer we had Chinese spies digging here in South Dakota digging up our seeds out of fields to copy the genetics that they could copy and proliferate and compete against us without having to put in the research.”
Noem said the increase in agriculture land purchased by foreign entities has increased by 5,300%.
Noem touted House Bill 1231, which was signed into law at the beginning of the month, and prevents countries such as China, Cuba, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela from owning agricultural land within the state. The new law is meant to close any loopholes in the current foreign ownership of agricultural land statutes, including limitations for domestic businesses and other similar entities, such as trusts, that are owned by foreign entities.
Noem answered questions about the grocery tax repeal which also includes repealing taxes on cigarettes and alcohol which she believes should be separate from groceries.
She said the state would have to decide what will be taxed and what will not if the grocery repeal passes since it is tied to other items.
Property taxes were mentioned by several in the audience, concerned with how property taxes have increased so much in just a few years. It was suggested by a few in the crowd a bigger tourism tax could help offset rising property taxes.
Noem said she would not advocate for higher taxes, saying cities are responsible for raising alcohol and tourism taxes.
As for property taxes, Noem agrees South Dakota has a problem with rising property tax bills.
She said legislators are looking into a way to make property taxes more fair, but reminded everyone that the state doesn’t receive the property taxes. The funds collected remain local, paying for education and county services. She suggested talking to board members in their respective school districts and county commissioners.
“I love my counties and I want my road and bridges to be great,” she said. “Just ask them to spend it wisely."
While Noem agreed this needs to be addressed, she said legislators take a lot of heat for this and are aware of these issues, but local government is where the property tax concerns need to be addressed.