Representative Taffy Howard evidently got good help in drafting solid language for her government transparency bill, House Bill 1089 (which goes to House State Affairs this morning to die at the hands of the Governor‘s committed stooges). She should have enlisted the same help in drafting House Bill 1138, her effort to help South Dakotans go camping.
Representative Howard appears to share her neighbor Representative Phil Jensen’s (R-33/Rapid City) concern that South Dakotans should get special treatment over non-residents at our state parks. Where Jensen proposes HB 1133 to simply reduce state park entry fees for South Dakotans by 25%, Howard proposes (with Jensen as a co-sponsor) HB 1138 to give South Dakotans more time to reserve state park campsites. HB 1138 directs Game Fish and Parks to “give a resident of the state twice the amount of time to acquire a camping permit that it gives a nonresident.”
My first question is, which resident?
My second question is, how much time do non-residents get to acquire camping permits? I would assume that HB 1138 refers to the 90-day reservation period available for most state park and recreation area campsites. So this bill wants us to open the reservation period for South Dakotans to 180 days, right?
Already I can see the business opportunity: swoop in to the GF&P website on resident-reservation-opening day in January, grab twenty campsites, and then black-market them to my friends in Minnesota, Nebraska, and all points elsewhere.
But what about acquiring camping permits for additional days? Per ARSD 41:03:04:04, campers get until 4 p.m. on the last day of their reserved camping time to apply for additional nights on site, if their site hasn’t already been reserved for those subsequent nights. How do we give resident campers “twice the amount of time” to acquire their sites for additional nights? 4 p.m. times two is an 8 p.m. deadline? If I’m on military time, does 1600 hours times two give me until 3200 hours to acquire another night at camp?
That same administrative rule gives a same-day campsite reserver until 10 p.m. of the first night of the reservation to pitch a tent or park the RV or face cancellation of the reservation. Does HB 1138 mean South Dakotans get twice as long to show up and finally acquire their campaign permit? If so, well, again, how do we figure the time that needs to be doubled?
Or suppose a campsite is vacated by its occupant at 2 p.m. No reservation has been made yet for that site, and it’s the only site in the park not yet spoken for. The site sits empty for two hours, and then Joe from Fargo rolls in with his fifth wheel and fishing poles, hoping to spend the night with the glittering stars and a tummy full of fresh-caught walleye. Does the park ranger say, “Well, Fargo Joe, you had two hours to claim this site, so I’ve got to wait another two hours to see if anyone from Pierre or Pukwana comes looking to camp. The locals have dibs until 6 p.m. If the site’s still empty then, it’s all yours”?
We get the idea behind HB 1138… but getting the idea isn’t good enough for statute. Call the rewrite team… or consider hoghouse-melding this bill with Jensen’s to create a nice omnibus South Dakotans State Parks Preference bill to give residents all the discounts and reservation preferences our Rapid City legislators think we need to keep out great outdoors to ourselves.
Taffy obviously thinks that South Dakotan’s are a little slow.
Either that or Taffy is trying to keep the gays in MN away, gays that would like to come spend money in SD and enjoy the state but know that Pierre has a hatred for them. Did you know that Twin Cities Pride are really really good at boycotts, SD Repubicans?
The odd thing about this is that you don’t see Mr. Reynold’s fingerprints on it. Ms. Taffy and Mr. Reynold are joined together in most dealings of the legislatures, and on this one it is almost like young Ms. Taffy has gone of on her own without her “mentor” guiding her way.
You’re just jealous, grudzilla that Nesiba is not afraid to stand up against the Trumplicans. Nesiba is so above all the other legislators in intelligence, I’m sure it must bore him to death having to deal with these fruitcakes year after year. I feel bad for him actually, he deserves to be in a much more humane senate where he could really get things done for everyday average South Dakotans.
Ms. Jenny, I have no bones about Mr. Nesiba’s cajones. In fact I bet you Ms. Taffy is bolder than most despite her insanerism. What I am saying is that Ms Taffy is getting all her ideas from Mr. Nesiba.
I meant, Ms. Taffy has cajones the size of Mr. Nesiba’s, at least. I say this because she is so bold as to align with the libbies.
Sometimes Grudz is laughably off base. The Nesiba-Howard union exists only in his feeble mind.
Grudzie, do you recognize your own propensity to call male legislators by their surnames, and female legislators and females in general, by their first name as the sort of sexism and diminishment of respect that it is? I recognize some people will view my bringing language up as some sort of “feminazi-ism” but “I really don’t care”. Some of us call it as we see it. It’s been forever. Systemic racism exists. So does systemic sexism.
Many West River SD men tend to be chauvinists with a fair percentage fitting into the misogynist category, Robin. The lack of education and backwoods upbringing really come into play here.
Grudz, I really think you’re
due for a check-in with your doctor, just to make sure you’re at baseline mentally for your age.
And then there’s also the insistence on the use of the word “cajones” for fortitude, as if no person who is not male can have bravery/courage/determination. Learning doesn’t take place in the testicles.