Jackley's government-corruption package moves forward

Yahoo

26-02-2025

PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — Four measures intended to discourage corruption in state government and provide protection for state employees who blow the whistle are advancing in the South Dakota Legislature.
Three will be up for final legislative approval on Thursday from the state House of Representatives.
Senate panel approves expanding hunting safety zones
But the fourth piece of the package — Senate Bill 61, which would modify the authority of the Board of Internal Controls — was amended on Wednesday by the House State Affairs Committee.
Because SB 61 was amended, the earliest that the House could consider it is Monday. Depending on what the House does, it could need to return to the Senate — and then could wind up in a House-Senate conference committee — and in the end could possibly die.
State Attorney General Marty Jackley brought the package. Jackley says he's responding to recent cases of state government employees enriching themselves at taxpayers' expense, as well as past EB-5 and GEAR UP scandals.
Here is what each proposes to do:
Senate Bill 60 would expand the access and investigatory authority of the state auditor. The Senate approved it 35-0, and on Wednesday the House committee endorsed it 13-0. Jackley, State Auditor Rich Sattgast and citizen Rick Weible of Elkton spoke in support Wednesday. There were no opponents.
, which calls for modifying the seven-member Board of Internal Controls, had passed the Senate 31-2. On Wednesday, it received an amendment from Republican Rep. Spencer Gosch.
Currently the commissioner for the state Bureau of Finance and Management chairs the board, the governor appoints three other members, the Supreme Court chief justice appoints a member, the Board of Regents has a member. The state auditor is the seventh member.
Jackley wants to stiffen the board's requirements, such as proposing that each agency go through an annual review of its internal controls. He also wants eliminate the state courts' seat on the board, because the courts are a separate branch of government, and then have the governor make four appointments.
Gosch's amendment would designate the state auditor as the chair and give the state treasurer the courts' current seat.
The board, established in 2016, hasn't yet worked through all of the executive branch.
'Seven years and only 50 percent of our agencies have gone through the process of internal control — I think we can do better,' Gosch said.
Auditor Sattgast and state Finance Commissioner Jim Terwilliger said they didn't support the Gosch amendment.
The auditor and treasurer are elected offices, but the candidates are nominated every four years at state political-party conventions, rather than chosen in party primary elections.
'I would like to remove the politics out of the checks and balances of it,' Sattgast said.
Terwilliger said that, looking back, the board should have had more staff. He said putting the auditor in charge would probably be a violation of auditing standards.
The committee nonetheless voted 7-6 to make Gosch's changes, and then voted 12-1 to send it forward. Because of a procedural hiccup, the committee later reconsidered the matter and ultimately voted 11-2 to move it ahead.
Senate Bill 62 would establish mandatory reporting requirements for supervisors related to improper governmental conduct and crime. The Senate passed it 33-2.
Jackley wants failure by a supervisor to forward a report of suspicious activity to the attorney general and the state Department of Legislative Audit to be a Class 6 felony, punishable by up to two years in prison and a $4,000 fine.
Katie Hruska, the governor's general counsel, disagreed. She said it should remain a Class 1 misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a $2,000 fine. Terra Larson, representing the South Dakota Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, agreed.
'This is a felony for remaining silent. That is concerning to us,' Larson told the committee.
Jackley asked the committee to hold firm on the felony penalty. 'I really believe this nonsense will stop,' he said.
But Republican Rep. Tim Reisch, who served a total of 17 years as cabinet secretary for the state Department of Corrections and the state Department of the Military, pointed out that many of the people convicted of Class 6 felonies serve little time, if any, behind bars.
'People don't know what the punishments are for crimes. They don't,' Reisch said.
Hruska's proposed amendment was rejected. The committee then voted 13-0 to send SB 62 forward to the House.
would establish protections for state employees who report improper governmental conduct and crime. The Senate had passed it 35-0.
This time, Hruska fully agreed with Jackley. 'These are good additions,' she said. The House committee sent it out 13-0.
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