A Legislative Cracker Barrel was held on Sunday, March 8 at Venue 519 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. in Belle Fourche. Representatives Jana Hunt (District 28A House), Sam Marty (District 28 Senate) and Travis Ismay (District 28B House) stood in front of a crowd of locals to answer questions, address concerns, and explain their stances on pressing issues. The Chamber of Commerce provided a live stream of the event for those who could not attend in person and refreshments were available.
The cracker barrel began with each legislator introducing themselves. Jana Hunt explained that she served on the Judiciary and House Ag committees this session. “The bills that I brought kind of revolved around House Ag, our state not using taxpayer dollars to fund the distribution, development, or research of self-cultivated proteins,” she said. “That was passed and signed by the governor.” Another bill that she worked on about loosening regulations on horse dentistry did not make it through. This session, Hunt explained that her main focus is the budget and how the state spends money. “We are now committed to a 30-year contract where we’re going to spend 300 million dollars to rent out a facility in Sioux Falls,” she said. “The legislature had a problem with this, we’re tight on money this year.”
Sam Marty explained that he is on the Senate Education, Ag, and Military/Veteran Affairs committees. “I’m not a big bill person, so I brought one bill,” Marty said. “It’s called Sparsity Factor. Which doesn’t affect Belle Fourche, but it does real small schools.” 12 schools are affected by the bill. Marty explained that negotiations for the bill started in 2013 with a cap of $110,000. He said that due to “inflation” the current bill asked for an additional $65,000. “Not very good,” he said. “It’s gone through the senate side and the house side. It will be voted on. It will probably pass.” Marty also mentioned property taxes.
Travis Ismay is on the House Ag and Education committees.
The audience inquired about property taxes for new homeowners and raised concerns about the possibility of higher taxes. “You have to cut spending before you cut taxes,” said Ismay.
A significant topic of discussion was government oversight and control of what books kids are allowed to read. Officer Wolfe with the Belle Fourche Police Department said: “We laughed about this very hard. At no shape and form shall a librarian have any say in what a kid wants to read. If a kid nowadays wants to be transgender, what stops them from getting a transgender book?” He went on, “They have no right to say, you’re a female, you’re going to stay female, right? That’s not their job. Mom wants to get mad, they come to us. If you’re checking out a transgender book to a female that wants to be male, are you going to tell them no?” Another audience member asked how this issue is one to be focusing on when spending is “a real issue.” “I want you guys to explain to me how this is less government and less bureaucracy,” she said. Jana Hunt explained that she ran her campaign on “God and family values, promoting South Dakota culture. Having our children read obscene material is not something that parents want. So that’s why I voted yes. If we’re going to have obscene material in our libraries, we shouldn’t be exposing minors to it.” Travis Ismay said, “You can check out whatever book you want as long as the parents say it’s okay.” Teachers in the crowd pushed back. One said, “Let’s say as science teacher, I teach about something else, (like) biology. And in one of my textbooks, there’s some diagram. You’re going to say that (it’s exempt) and then turn around and go, oh, but this objective standard for obscenity is at the discretion of the parent who seems to be upset that when they come to the school board, they don’t get any response on their thing.” Hunt responded, “It’s statute. You have artistic liberty, scientific liberty, and historical liberty.”
The Cracker Barrel once again proved that Belle Fourche residents are passionate about local and state politics and that elected representatives take the time to meet with constituents.
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