Letters to the Editor - Luschas: A tale of two District Representatives

I want to follow up on my letter to the editor about HB1198 that was published in the Brandon Valley Journal on 02/04/2026. This bill was motivated by District 2 residents who are concerned about the potential construction of a mega data center less than half-mile away from Brandon’s “The Bluffs” neighborhood. It was written in cooperation with Rep. Sjaarda, who then introduced the bill in the House. HB1198 was heard in committee on 02/11/2026. 13 residents made their way to Pierre that day to testify in support of the bill. The committee passed it by a 9-4 vote and most of the committee members were very appreciative of the public interest and support on display.

HB1198 was heard on the House floor the next day where it was resoundingly defeated by a 21-41 vote. The defeat of the resident’s effort is unfortunate but a result of the Democratic process. What is much harder to accept is that our second representative from District 2 was the main force behind the defeat. Rep. Kull read a prepared five-minute floor speech explaining that this is a bad bill, that it will mess up the relationship between two neighboring cities, and that it is a carve out among other things. He did not seem to be concerned about the fact that his constituents were asking for support. It became clear that what Rep. Kull cared about was the impact on municipal administrations, mostly the Brandon City Council, which he is a member of.

I was not surprised to read Rep. Kull’s “Details from District 2” article in the BV Journal on 02/25/2026 where it was his turn to report on highlights of the previous week’s legislative sessions in Pierre. There is no mention of the topic of mega data centers despite the fact that on the Wednesday of the previous week there was a whole day of committee sessions filled with 8 bills pertaining to data centers. Given the obvious interest in the district in the process of bringing a mega data center to the Sioux Falls/Brandon area, it seems to me that this would have been worth mentioning.

In conclusion, I think it is plain as daylight by now which one of our two District 2 Representatives is taking his job of listening to and representing his constituents seriously and which one is there to do the bidding of big corporate interests. 

Manuel Luschas

Brandon