Video: Legislative Crackerbarrel Discussion of HB 1157

South Dakota Rep. Chip Campbell

During the legislative crackerbarrel meeting in Rapid City this morning, South Dakota Rep. Chip Campbell brought up HB 1157 which is the the agriculture future development subfund to provide funding for the State Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory.

Campbell pointed out that when the legislature voted last year to increase the sales tax (ostensibly for teacher pay), there was $47 million of funding in that bill that was totally unrelated to teacher pay. Campbell said $40 million was for property tax relief, and $7 million was property tax relief for agriculture, which wouldn’t go very far in agriculture. Now, said Campbell, the legislature is looking to spend that $7 million for the agriculture future development subfund.

It was brought out during the ensuing discussion that the state already has a State Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory in Brookings, and they just want to improve on that lab. There are already similar labs in Iowa and Colorado, so the need is questionable.

Senator Lance Russell said information is once again being put out by the political establishment that we have a “crisis” that needs to be dealt with. Russell said Governor Dennis Daugaard already has funds available which are totally under his control which could be used for this purpose, if it were really needed, but the executive branch doesn’t want to touch that existing money.

Russell said it really comes down to priorities.


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Woodrow Wilcox

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Bob Ellis has been the owner of media company Dakota Voice, LLC since 2005. He is a 10-year U.S. Air Force veteran, a political reporter and commentator for the past decade, and has been involved in numerous election and public policy campaigns for over 20 years. He was a founding member and board member of the Tea Party groups Citizens for Liberty and the South Dakota Tea Party Alliance. He lives in Rapid City, South Dakota with his wife and two children.
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