South Dakota
Medicaid work requirement authorization takes first step toward the ballot – South Dakota Searchlight
PIERRE — South Dakota legislators took the first step Wednesday toward asking voters for the authority to impose work requirements on some Medicaid recipients.
The Senate State Affairs Committee voted 7-1 to send the resolution to the full Senate. If passed by that body and the House of Representatives, the measure will be placed on ballots statewide in the Nov. 5 general election.
Voters would be asked to put authority into the state constitution for the state to impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients who have not been diagnosed as physically or mentally disabled. Medicaid is a federal-state health insurance program for eligible low-income adults, children, pregnant women, elderly adults and people with disabilities.
Advocates express patience as Medicaid expansion enrollments trail projections
South Dakota voters approved a constitutional amendment in the 2022 general election to expand Medicaid income eligibility, making South Dakota the 39th state to expand the program. Current data from the state Department of Social Services says nearly 126,000 South Dakotans are enrolled in Medicaid.
The proposed resolution, if approved by voters, would add an exception to the voter-approved amendment, which currently prohibits the state from imposing “greater or additional burdens or restrictions” on eligibility.
Rep. Tony Venhuizen, R-Sioux Falls, is sponsoring the resolution in the House. He testified that the amendment does not mandate a work requirement but opens the possibility for it.
“We’re honoring the will of the voters because we’re going back to the voters,” Venhuizen said. “We’re asking a clarifying question.”
Venhuizen said getting capable people to work is something that the state should incentivize with its social programs. He said exemptions from work requirements for people on cancer treatment or for a new mother are examples of things “we all agree about.” He said those exemptions are details that can be ironed out later.
However, opponents, including several health organizations, argued that Venhuizen could not guarantee those exemptions would be put in place. They said the amendment would threaten access to health care for some Medicaid recipients.
Governor Kristi Noem’s former Department of Health secretary, Kim Malsam-Rysdon, lobbied on behalf of Avera Health against the bill.
Malsam-Rysdon said most people on Medicaid are already working. She said “work requirements just don’t work” if the goal is to increase the labor pool.
Malsam-Rysdon said there is evidence, however, that work requirements may cause some people to lose their health care coverage.
Deb Fischer-Clemens, lobbying on behalf of the Catholic Presentation Sisters, who sponsor Avera, said the organization sees the potential effects of the proposed amendment “as a problem with ensuring people can get preventative care.”
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South Dakota
Republican businessman Toby Doeden advances to primary runoff in South Dakota governor’s race
Republican businessman Toby Doeden has advanced to a runoff in South Dakota governor’s race, NBC News projects.
Gov. Larry Rhoden, who replaced Kristi Noem last year when President Donald Trump nominated her to lead the Department of Homeland Security, was battling with Rep. Dusty Johnson and former state House Speaker Jon Hansen for a second spot in the July 28 runoff. The primary will go to a runoff because no candidate eclipsed 35% of the vote.
Trump did not issue an endorsement in the race. Doeden branded himself on his campaign website as “a total political outsider who’s tired of the government’s failure to deliver on its promises” and one of Trump’s “fiercest supporters.”
Rhoden, a former lieutenant governor, agriculture secretary and lawmaker, campaigned on property tax cuts and lowering crime in his bid for a four-year term.
Johnson is the state’s lone representative in the House, where he previously was chair of the Republican Main Street Caucus. Hansen, who was elected to the South Dakota House in 2010, held several leadership positions before he became speaker.
The Republican nominee will be the favorite to win the general election in the solidly red state this fall. A Democrat has not served as governor in South Dakota since the 1970s, and Trump carried the state by 29 points in 2024.
News
Agronomist: eastern South Dakota crops hit and miss
An agronomist in eastern South Dakota says corn and soybeans are hit and miss as the growing season begins.
Steven Zemlicka with AgTegra Cooperative tells Brownfield, “We’ve got corn anywhere from V1 all the way up to V4. Biggest stuff’s maybe touching V5. Corn’s coming right along, looks pretty good. A little bit of hail here too, but I don’t think it’s going to be much of an issue. Stands for the most part are pretty good, pretty solid.”
Zemlicka says soybean emergence has been slow due to the wet, cool conditions, and there are a few fields that still need planted.
“People were still working on planting soybeans when we got the recent rain.”
He says recent rain totals ranged from a half inch to as much as four inches in the northeast part of South Dakota; the southern part of the state has been drier.
South Dakota’s corn is rated 61 percent good to excellent, with soybean conditions rated 57 percent good to excellent, according to USDA’s first condition ratings of the season.
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – The South Dakota Community Foundation is encouraging nonprofits to apply for funding this June.
Beth Massa and Ginger Niemann joined us live with what you need to know before applying.
Watch the full interview above.
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