Have you ever visited your local library? Has your child or grandchild, student or family member? Maybe you don’t check out books, but do you attend programs at your library or participate in a summer reading program or read a book through the Libby app? 

I hope for everyone reading this the answer is a resounding yes, and I also hope that means that you will reach out to your elected officials urging them to fight Gov. Noem’s proposed $1 million cut to the South Dakota State Library. 

The proposed cut would be devastating for local libraries like our vibrant Doland Community Library, the Watertown Regional Library and all of the patrons who rely on the programs and services offered through them. 

Consider this: In 2024, more than 6,200 people visited the Doland Community Library. In a community of fewer than 200 people. That’s incredible.

Now imagine if the proposed cut to the State Library funding happens – what programs and services will be lost? Well, take a look at what’s at stake:

The State Library helps with the costs associated with this service to allow patrons who are registered users to check out e-books on their devices. 

The Doland Community Library has a certified librarian thanks to the State Library, which opens our library up to additional services and grants.  

Our State Library provides crucial guidance and education to our librarian and library board members in the operating of our library as an accredited library.

The Doland Community Library offers a top-notch Summer Reading Program that brings hundreds of adults and children to our community on several days of the six-week event. The training, manuals and funding for the program comes from the State Library.

Interlibrary Loan Support: Thanks to this program from the State Library, patrons can access books from across the state.

SD Reads: This program promotes reading across the state and you yourself were a recent participant who read to our students.

Legal guidance: The State Library holds each library accountable and helps ensure applicable laws are being followed. 

The State Library pays for several free databases available such as Ancestry.com, SAT study guides and practice tests.

The State Library provides additional tools to promote literacy such as Birth to Five, 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten, Canva, and the Stephanie Miller Summer Reading Program Grant. 

It goes without saying that the State Library is an incredible resource for our local libraries. Any cut would be felt not just at the state level through reduced staff and diminished services, but also by me, my family and every other patron in our rural area. 

If you’re alarmed by this potentially devastating proposed cut, please consider contacting your elected officials. You can find your legislators at https://sdlegislature.gov/legislators/find. The more we can let our elected officials know how valuable our State Library is, the more inclined they will be to preserve the funding for our State Library, which serves so many of us at the local level.

Danielle (Troske) Teigen, Doland Community Library Board Member, Turton

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – A new report from the South Dakota Childcare Task Force, along with additional research from the Hunt Institute, revealed the difficulties of finding and paying for childcare in South Dakota.

Over seventy percent of young children in South Dakota have all parents working. With weekly costs for a toddler being as much as $260 per week, affording childcare expenses can be difficult.

Adding to the burden is finding daycare for your children.

Senator Tim Reed believes a higher wage for childcare workers will allow centers to open existing rooms they already have.

“We need to be able to increase what we’re paying at the childcare assistance level and I think it’s going to have to increase in other levels too, but we need to start there,” Sen. Reed said.

There are communities that have demonstrated how working together can solve the problem. The focus of the future: Braided funding.

“Tri share is three entities that are helping to cover child care for the family. The parent has a part of it. The employer has part of it and then some other funding source has part of it and in most states that other funding is coming from the state. What’s really unique about the program in Rapid City is that it’s coming from philanthropic funds,” said South Dakota Association for the Education of Young Children executive director Janessa Bixel.

The Black Hills Area Community Foundation is funding a portion of a childcare program in Rapid City.

In Madison, TIF funding is helping the launch of a new childcare center. Could more state funding happen in South Dakota?

“And the budget cuts, obviously that makes some of the items that we want to do tougher to get done because they all do cost money. And so, I mean, we’re going to have to work on that, you know, and promote how important this is. We just. To talk through all of the possibilities of where we can fund this,” Sen. Reed said.

Reed said the lack of affordable childcare is costing South Dakota $329 million each year.

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South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley hopes to prevent and catch future criminal conduct by state employees with new reporting requirements, protections for whistleblowers and a bigger role for the state auditor, according to a package of legislation he released Tuesday.

Jackley unveiled seven bills for lawmakers to consider during the annual legislative session that kicks off next Tuesday at the Capitol in Pierre.

Jackley’s bills focus on government accountability, human trafficking, prison contraband and probation.

Government accountability

Jackley’s government accountability measures come in response to several prosecutions he began last year against former state employees.

Those cases include allegations of former Department of Revenue employees creating fake vehicle titles to secure loans and avoid excise taxes, a former Department of Social Services employee allegedly embezzling $1.8 million, and a former Department of Public Safety employee allegedly filing fake food-service health inspection records for inspections that were never conducted.

“Protecting taxpayer dollars and restoring the public’s trust in government should be given high priority,” Jackley said Tuesday in a press release.

One of his proposed measures would require state employees in supervisory roles to report suspected unlawful conduct to the attorney general and state auditor. Failure to report suspected violations would be classified as a felony.

Additionally, the attorney general would be required to submit an annual report to lawmakers on the state budget committee outlining the number and outcomes of misconduct reports received.

Another bill seeks to shield state employees from retaliation for reporting misconduct or participating in audits and investigations. The bill would:

• Prohibit state supervisors from discharging, discriminating against or taking any other retaliatory action against whistleblowers.
• Establish a process allowing state employees to file complaints with the attorney general within two years after experiencing retaliation.
• Authorize courts to reinstate employees and award back pay if they suffered illegal retaliation.

A third measure would authorize the state auditor to access all financial records of every state agency to conduct audits, investigate improper conduct and ensure internal controls are in place and maintained.

The fourth bill proposes state agencies conduct mandatory annual risk reviews, with results submitted to the Board of Internal Control. The reviews would assess agencies’ risk management practices and identify vulnerabilities.

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Human trafficking

Another proposal would revise human trafficking laws and prohibit the obstruction of their enforcement.

“Human trafficking remains a national concern that we are not immune from, and this legislation strengthens victim protections and enhances our ability to hold offenders accountable,” Jackley said.

The bill would update the definitions of human trafficking in the first degree and second degree and would:

• Establish mandatory minimum prison sentences of 15 years for a first offense and 20 years for a second or subsequent offense of human trafficking in the first degree.
• Establish mandatory minimum prison sentences of five years for a first offense and 10 years for a second or subsequent offense of human trafficking in the second degree.
• Create the new felony crime of obstructing the enforcement of human trafficking laws.

Prison contraband

Jackley’s legislative package also includes measures dealing with contraband in state correctional facilities. Officials with the state Department of Corrections reported finding contraband during a lockdown last year at the penitentiary in Sioux Falls.

Existing laws prohibit inmates from possessing drugs, unapproved prescription drugs, alcohol and weapons. Among other provisions, the proposed legislation would add unapproved cell phones and electronic communication devices to the list of banned items, clarify that employees and other people are prohibited from giving a similar list of items to inmates, and adjust the severity of various penalties for the different types of contraband.

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Presumptive probation

Another proposal addresses South Dakota’s presumptive probation system, which mandates that some non-violent offenders receive probation instead of prison time. Jackley’s bill would make re-offenders who were already on probation or parole supervision ineligible for presumptive probation. 

The bill also adds those convicted of threatening public officials or fleeing law enforcement to the list of ineligible offenders, as well as sex offenders who violate safety zones.

“Sentencing courts need more flexibility to impose appropriate sentences for certain violent offenders, and those choosing to reoffend while on probation or parole,” Jackley said.

South Dakota Searchlight is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.