Democratic Leaders React to End of 2018 Legislative Session
PIERRE, S.D. – State Senate Minority Leader Sen. Billie Sutton (D-Burke) and State House Minority Leader Spence Hawley (D-Brookings) released the following statement upon the completion of the 2018 Legislative Session yesterday:
“While some good things happened this Session, the story of the 2018 Legislative Session is one of missed opportunities – an unfortunately common story over the years we have served in Pierre. We were glad to see that schools, state employees, and community service providers did get an increase in funding; unfortunately the majority party has let funding in these three areas fall so far behind what it should have been over the years, our state will still find it hard to meet the needs it has and to attract and retain qualified educators, state employees, and healthcare professionals.
“We were also disappointed to see the number of attacks on the ballot measure process from members of the majority party. While most of them were defeated, they should never have been introduced. And, while the majority party rejected our attempts to do something about the urgent issues facing our state, such as workforce development, early childhood education, affordable housing, campaign finance reform, and making state government more open and accountable, they themselves took little or no action on these important issues. The political establishment may be satisfied with the status quo, but we are not. We can do so much better, and our caucus will never stop working to move South Dakota forward so our state government and economy works for all the people of our great state.”
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