State House endorses millions for border deployment, phonics instruction and other projects

The South Dakota House of Representatives convenes on Feb. 5, 2024. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

PIERRE — Republican lawmakers voted to replenish the state’s Emergency and Disaster Fund on Monday, informally endorsing Governor Kristi Noem’s impending National Guard deployment to the nation’s southern border.

Rep. Tony Venhuizen, R-Sioux Falls, said the flow of people across the border is “a failure by the federal government,” and until the feds correct that failure, “we have to step up.”

House Bill 1061 passed in a 63-5 vote. If signed into law, the bill would put $4.28 million into the fund to cover the deployment costs and other emergencies and disasters.

The bill says the money can be used for “any emergency or disaster,” and it relies on an existing state law’s definitions of those terms. Those definitions include the phrase “in any part of the state.”

Noem deploying troops to Mexican border again

Yet the money is sometimes used to assist other states, typically through agreements that require repayment. Noem has not required repayment of at least $1.3 million in costs incurred during two previous National Guard deployments she ordered to assist Texas at the border.

Rep. Linda Duba, a Sioux Falls Democrat, voted no on the bill. She said the fund should only be used in other states if they intend to pay the state back. She said the Texas deployments are “the one case where this doesn’t happen.”

Noem announced last Tuesday that she will once again deploy National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. She said it will be the fifth deployment of South Dakota Guard troops to assist in border security efforts during her administration, including two deployments that she ordered and two that she approved in response to federal requests.

The legislation was one in a series of spending bills endorsed by the House on Monday, as a deadline arrived to pass the bills to the Senate.

Teachers and literacy

House Bill 1201 proposes to allocate $800,000 to continue the teacher apprenticeship pathway program. It helps teaching aides become certified teachers .

“I’ve never seen a teacher shortage like we have today,” said Rep. Roger DeGroot, R-Brookings, a retired educator.

The bill passed in a 69-5 vote.

House Bill 1022 would provide $6 million to the Department of Education to train teachers in phonics-based reading instruction. The Joint Appropriations Committee had amended the amount down to $3 million, but the House amended it back up to $6 million.

Duba, a retired educator, said reading proficiency is the key building block in a child’s education.

“When they have success with that, they read to learn,” Duba said. If not, “everything becomes difficult.”

The bill passed in a 62-6 vote.

LifeScape in need

House Bill 1093 would provide $8 million — rather than the lesser, $2 million amount endorsed by the Joint Appropriations Committee — to the Department of Social Services. The money is ultimately for LifeScape in Sioux Falls, to assist in the construction of a facility that would include a specialty rehabilitation pediatric hospital, a specialty school for children, an intermediate health care facility for children, and outpatient rehabilitation pediatric services.

Rep. Marty Overweg, R-New Holland, sponsored the bill. He said LifeScape’s current campus was built in 1948 and the organization raised $72 million on its own.

Overweg said his autistic brother received services from LifeScape.

“You know what he had? He finally had a life,” he said. “He felt human.”

The bill passed in a 68-1 vote.

The lone no vote came from Rep. Phil Jensen, R-Rapid City, who said LifeScape should rely on private donors.

New State Fair building, dam projects

House Bill 1065 would provide $4 million for designing and building a sheep and multi-use facility on the State Fairgrounds. The total project cost is an estimated $8 million, and fundraising is underway.

Rep. Roger Chase, R-Huron, said the project would be “the final piece of the puzzle” for several recent improvements at the fairgrounds in Huron.

The bill passed in a 57-12 vote.

House Bill 1064 would allocate about $2 million to the Department of Game Fish and Parks for contracting, construction, reconstruction, renovation and modernization of dam infrastructure at Lake Alvin and Newell Lake.

That bill passed in a 65-4 vote.

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