Details from District 2: Defeated funding of proposed prison gets new life
Hello from Pierre! We have seven of nine weeks completed.
Many of you have been watching the bill pertaining to the proposed prison in Lincoln County. This bill did not pass as the vote for reconsideration failed in the House. I voted no on this. I do see the need for something to be done with our prison situation but I do not feel like the proposed bill that was before us and the ongoing costs of over $50 million per year after it’s built was fiscally responsible. After the original bill died, Governor Rhoden appointed a good group of legislators and a few non-legislators to meet every four weeks starting in April. We hope to have a solution by July and come back together for a special session to vote on a plan more of us can agree on.
After several weeks of sitting on the appropriations committee, I’m settling in and really enjoying it. We hear some really good things proposed to us yet, in order to balance the budget in a tight fiscal year, we have to vote against some well-meaning ideas. I’m looking forward to seeing the budget come together in the next two weeks as the session comes to a close.
Last week Wednesday was Brandon’s Day at the Legislature. It was great to see so many of your faces in our state capitol! We got to have a visit with Governor Rhoden and take a picture on the Capitol steps. They treated us to a wonderful meal from Tony’s Catering, which got excellent reviews from fellow legislators!
Last time I wrote to you, I shared that a bill I submitted about cash being accepted in schools died. I’m happy to report that a similar bill came from the Senate side and passed through Senate and I got to bring it to the House and it has now passed through the House! It is headed to the governor’s desk. It has been exciting to be a big part of getting this bill passed!
On Monday there were some bills related to the CO2 pipeline heard in Senate committee.
HB1052 is a bill that states no eminent domain for carbon oxide pipelines. It passed in the committee: 7 yeas and 2 nays. This was a big win for private property rights!!! At the time of this writing, we did not know the results of the Senate floor vote, but at the time of reading this, that vote has been cast and you should be able to know the result. A lot of new legislators were elected to office to fight for this cause in Pierre.
Thank you for taking the time to read this update and staying engaged in state politics. I have heard from many of you and I enjoy having my constituents reach out to me.
