District 20 lawmakers talk prison voting, education bills at Friday cracker barrel

Yahoo

01-03-2025

Feb. 28—MITCHELL — Area legislators opined on a number of topics Friday during the District 20 legislative cracker barrel on the campus of Dakota Wesleyan University, including the recent failed House Bill 1025, which would have authorized the construction of a new prison in Lincoln County.
Rep. Jeff Bathke, Rep. Kaley Nolz and Sen. Paul Miskimins all sat down for a panel question and answer session sponsored by the Mitchell Chamber of Commerce. The audience in attendance submitted questions to the panel, which were then put to the three lawmakers for a response.
One of the more intensely discussed topics was the recent failure of HB 1025. The bill would have specifically authorized the Department of Corrections to construct a prison facility for offenders committed to the department in Lincoln County and to make appropriations therefore and to transfer money to the incarceration construction fund.
The bill failed in the South Dakota House on Feb. 21 by a vote of 35-34, and was reconsidered, only to fail again three days later on a 35-35 vote. On both votes, Nolz voted against the bill and Bathke voted in favor of the bill. A question from the audience asked both representatives the reason they voted as they did.
Bathke, a Republican who spent over 17 years as a licensed counselor inside the prison system and as a private research analyst and is one of the few lawmakers in Pierre who has worked in the system, said he had seen firsthand how badly the current penitentiary in Sioux Falls is in need of an update — or in this case outright replacement.
"I worked in the prison and my office was on The Hill. This is a public safety issue. Overcrowding is one thing. Those cells are six by eight, and there's two inmates in a cell. There was a time when I worked there around 2008 our population started to grow and we had three inmates in a cell. Think of that — a 48 square foot room with three inmates in it," said Bathke, referring to the main penitentiary complex in Sioux Falls. "Do we or do we not need a prison? The answer is yes. We need a prison."
He recalled the 2011 death of corrections officer Ronald Johnson, who was beaten to death with a pipe by inmates who stole his uniform in an effort to escape. Bathke's office was only a few dozen feet from where the incident occurred. The two inmates were caught, but the conditions at the prison, which was built in the 1880s, makes the facility dangerous for both inmates and employees, he said.
The need is there, and the cost of a facility that will serve the state well into the future is only going to keep going up the longer the state puts it off.
"The reason I voted for it — one, we need it — but the other is if every year we kick this down the road, inflation is going to kill us. It's going to kill you, your tax dollars. And the women's prison is a perfect example," Bathke said. "It came in one year, here's the price. They didn't approve it, it comes back the next year and gets approved, and it was like 40% more. They're building it right now in Rapid City. So it doesn't make any sense when we have the money sitting there."
In its original form, the bill would have sent $182 million toward the proposed 1,500-bed prison in Lincoln County. It also would have cleared the Department of Corrections to tap into a prison fund worth more than $600 million, set aside by legislators in prior years, to begin building it.
To build the prison its funding package would need support from two-thirds of lawmakers in both the House and Senate. A later amendment was approved to keep the bill alive with a simple majority. It stripped the bill of everything but a provision moving $148.1 million into the prison construction fund. The original proposal also sought to spend $33.9 million from the state's budget reserves.
Nolz, the other Republican representative for District 20, said
her vote against the bill
came in part due to funding concerns as well as from a desire to get the job done right, even if that doesn't mean getting it done immediately.
"I voted the opposite," Nolz said, referring to Bathke's vote on the bill. "With the bill being amended down to just the transfer, I was concerned with how the budget looked and why we transferred money if we're not holding on to what they call Plan A, which was the Lincoln County facility," Nolz said. "I get the huge expenditure, and inflation is a problem, but I also think this is probably the biggest expenditure the state is going to do. I don't see the reason to rush it. If we're to have it for 100 years, let's make sure it's done right, something we can afford and something that is useful for the workforce."
The bill did not reach the senate, but Miskimins also chimed in with comments on the topic. He suggested now would be a better time to build a prison than a year or more down the road. Like Bathke, he feared taxpayer dollars needed for construction would go less far every succeeding year.
"I'll just give you an example of why waiting is, I don't believe, the best answer. Watertown built a new jail, they had a bond issue. It didn't pass. They brought it back. Finally, after three bond issues, they passed it nine years later, and with the amount of money that was there, they built 40% of the facility that they would have built nine years earlier," Miskmins said.
The proposed prison has been a controversial topic, from hard nosed debates among lawmakers to strong opposition from Lincoln County landowners and residents who would be living and working next to the new proposed facility.
Another question from the audience asked the panel about teacher retention and legislation affecting state schools.
The question expressed concerns about bills such as HB 1201, which establishes requirements for school employees regarding gender ideology, HB 1020, the school voucher bill that sends funds to private schools or homeschooling and SB 51, which is an act to require the display and curricular inclusion of the Ten Commandments and other documents.
"As a veteran educator, I am concerned about the number entering the profession of education and also retention and keeping them in the profession," the question read. "I do not feel that the above bills are helping recruit and retain teachers."
Bathke said he tended to vote no on school bills unless it directly benefited them. He said he had only voted for one school bill so far this year, and that was a bill that funded equipment purchases for state technical schools. He voted against every other such bill that came along, and was likely to do so in the future unless it directly helped state school districts.
He said he was disappointed in many of the education-based bills that came through the legislature this year, such as the bill that would have defunded the Huron School District.
"Before I voted, I usually called (Mitchell School District Superintendent Joe) Childs and all the other superintendents in our district. We have a little email group, and the first thing I do is get hold of them and find out what their thoughts are, and they give me very good information back," Bathke said. "It's just crazy some of the things that have come across that we have to vote on. These bills should never get out of committee. But they do, and then they get on the floor. You saw the one to defund the Huron school. That was the biggest embarrassment up to that point."
Nolz again differed with Bathke on some points centering around education bills. She said she looked more at the effect the legislation will have on children themselves as opposed to its effect on district administration or operations.
She used HB 1239, another bill brought up in the audience question and one for which she voted in favor and Bathke voted against, as an example. The bill would subject schools, universities, museums, libraries and their employees to criminal prosecution and jail time for allowing children to view material defined in state law as obscene or harmful to minors.
"Rep. Bathke and I will differ on some of this. Some of these bills, you say they're for schools, but they're really about children. I know the librarian bill was very contentious," Nolz said. "There was a list sent out with all the schools and all these books that are pornographic in nature, and really what we're asking you to do to keep this pornography out of children's hands. I've read from the experts on these books, and I'd be horrified if a child got these."
Nolz said she too had issues with some bills that came around in 2025, and she agreed with Bathke about the bill to defund the Huron School District.
"I definitely don't agree with the defund Huron bill. I think that was totally unnecessary. It should never have been a bill," Nolz said. "But it really is more about protecting the children. We're not trying to put extra burdens on teachers and administrative staff, but what is most important to me is the children."
While the state legislature remains busy doing the work of the people, the three all seemed to agree that there was more division in Pierre this year than in some past years, particularly among the Republican party. One audience question framed the current scene in Pierre as having one Democrat party and two Republican parties.
Miskimins, who is also a Republican, said as much in his opening statement at the event.
"It is a very contentious year. We're very divided in both bodies on many issues, and the prison is just one example of being divided," Miskimins said. "It's been an interesting year, and we're making difficult choices."
Bathke said his voting record springs from his own decisions, saying that he votes the way he sees fit, not how any other individual or group tells him to vote. But the internal division has made it a challenge to get things done, he said.
How that can be remedied is a difficult call to make, he said.
"Look at the votes. Pull the vote sheets. The Republican party is completely divided. And I don't know how that can be fixed, I really don't. It's bad," Bathke said.
The three agreed that they would continue to work with their fellow lawmakers in the best interest of state residents and those of District 20, but it will require continued introspective and work from everyone involved.
As with past District 20 cracker barrels with the three current lawmakers, the discussion was lively and cordial. And as with any three individuals, not all shared the same opinion. That's just the nature of doing the people's business in Pierre in 2025, Nolz said.
"The split party, the Republic party, it's pretty clear. You can see it with us here, too," Nolz said.