I wholeheartedly support Speaker Steven Haugaard (R-10/Sioux Falls) in his bid to reassert the Legislature’s coequal status in South Dakota government by calling for a Special Session.
Why? Because a billion dollars of federal coronavirus/recession aid is a whole lot of money for a Governor to sit on or spend without Legislative direction:
“It’s a ton of money,” Haugaard said. “That’s why I think we have to have a special session.”
He said the situation is comparable to the financial crisis that farmers fought in the 1980s. South Dakota legislators as a group went to Washington, D.C., to make their case.
“There are a lot of people on the ropes with their businesses,” Haugaard said. He suggested lawmakers could work with U.S. Senators John Thune and Mike Rounds and U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson to get leeway to steer more of the federal aid their way [Bob Mercer, “S.D. House Speaker Wants Covid-19 Session,” KELO-TV, 2020.08.17].
What I don’t support is Haugaard’s narrow vision of what the Legislature could achieve in a Special Session. Mercer reports that Haugaard would like to convene the Legislature to give the LRC some direction in “holding public meetings for business owners and other citizens to tell their stories about the effects of COVID-19 on their bottom lines.”
Mr. Speaker! Point of Order! You are The Legislature. You have the power of appropriations. There’s a billion dollars sitting in Pierre that could do a whole lot of good for a whole lot of South Dakotans who’ve had their budgets overthrown by the coronavirus recession. Subsidize businesses, hire teachers, buy everyone masks and hydroxychloroquine—we’ll probably disagree on how exactly to spend that money, but bring 105 legislators together (via Zoom, please, and this time with less beer!), and I’ll bet they can come up with more helpful things to do with that money than shooting Tourism videos.
Quick, while the Governor’s away in Tennessee ensconcing her daughter at a pricey, mask-mandating out-of-state university—call the Special Session, and pass some emergency appropriations!
Clearly there are some well respected fellows in the legislatures who could convince the Governor to make the sessions happen in this special way. Mr. Haugaard, the ineptest of any since the behemoth Mr. Nelson, is not that fellow. He needs to get a couple of his saner minions to reason with the powers that be, in grudznick’s opinion. I am surprised on his list there were no fancy Covid-funded tape measures or scanning devices to ensure the women in what used to be Mr. Haugaard’s side of the legislatures are wearing panty hoses and long enough skirts.
Requires a petition signed by 2/3 of the legislature. Unless called by the Governess.
Wait. Haugard’s special session plan doesn’t involve writing any bills or enacting anything? At all? Does he think allowing people to speak about how much they need $ to get by will put pressure on Kruel Kristi to act? Where has he been since she was elected? She does not care about the needs of others. She cares about familial greed and whatever Demented Donny has going on.
Don’t you love how Republicans discover Keynesian economics in times of crisis?
The only reason why the GOP is struggling with a second stimulus package in Washington right now, is because their new, or renewed, fling with Keynesian economics pits their protection of low paying employers against the new possibilities for workers, if workers are given a continual $600 a week for their pockets.
Perhaps, it is fairer to say that Republicans are pro-Keynesian for businesses, but not so much for the workers. It’s a perverted consistency, however, that matches their interest in tax cuts for the rich and other trickle-down ideas.
Constant situational ethics and situational economic theory, John KC. That’s all we get from Republicans: politics of the moment instead of lasting principles.
Daugaard has 2/3 of the House behind him; the Senate hasn’t indicated a similar supermajority seeking to convene. Haugaard should be on the horn whipping those colleagues across the Rotunda into a Special Session mood and urge them to come together to make some big investments, not just talk.