South Dakota Regents drop ban against employees in Legislature

MADISON, S.D. (KELO) — When the South Dakota Supreme Court declared earlier this year what is or isn’t a conflict of interest for members of the Legislature, that advisory opinion opened the door to another group of South Dakotans who previously were prohibited from serving.

They are the 5,000 people who work for the state’s Board of Regents at the eight public university campuses across South Dakota, as well as at the local Extension Service offices and the two specialty K-12 schools.

On Thursday, the regents reversed their official policy that said their employees couldn’t serve as state lawmakers unless they resigned from their jobs before starting their terms.

“This is just clarifying the judicial opinion and our employees’ ability to serve in elected office if they so choose,” the board’s chief legal counsel, Holly Farris, said.

The ban had resulted from a prior Supreme Court opinion issued in 2001 that said Carol Pitts couldn’t serve in the Legislature while employed by South Dakota State University’s Cooperative Extension Service.

Several of the current board members are former legislators: Tim Rave of Baltic, Jeff Partridge of Rapid City and Randy Frederick of Hayti. Tony Venhuizen of Sioux Falls resigned from the board when he ran for the Legislature two years ago.

Frederick had for several years chaired the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee that sets state government’s budgets, including for the regental system. On Thursday, he asked Farris whether the old regental policy would have prohibited the legislative service of another former lawmaker, Lyndell Peterson , who was employed by the Cooperative Extension Service.

Farris said she wasn’t familiar with the situation.

Peterson served on the Appropriations Committee and for several years was its chair. Frederick praised the change and said it would have been a loss to South Dakotans if Peterson had been banned because of his employment.

“I really, really like this because somebody like that wouldn’t have been able to serve,” Frederick said.

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