The Legislature killed both Rep. Tom Pischke’s latest Angry Dad Vengeance Act and a meeting mandate for the Tribal Relations Secretary this week on the argument that we can’t mandate cooperation.
On Wednesday, House Judiciary killed Reps. Pischke and St. John’s House Bill 1052, which would have made joint custody the default setting for custody disputes, on an 8–5 vote. One impassioned vote against the bill came from rookie Representative Taylor Rehfeldt (R-14/Sioux Falls):
Republican legislators who voted against the bill noted that the law would apply to divorce proceedings that are already contested, and that requiring joint custody would become problematic.
Rep. Taylor Rehfeldt, a Republican from Sioux Falls, became emotional discussing the difficulty of divorce, but said she opposed the bill because it took the focus away from the well-being of children.
“I don’t believe we can legislate parents to get along,” she said [Stephen Groves, “House Lawmakers Kill Bill to Push Joint Custody in Divorces,” AP, 2021.02.03].
Across the hall on Wednesday, House State Affairs refused to give the Legislature and the Governor joint custody of the Secretary of Tribal Affairs. Republicans killed Representative Shawn Bordeaux’s (D-26A/Mission) House Bill 1104, which would have required the Governor’s Secretary of Tribal Relations to report to the Legislature’s State-Tribal Relations Committee, because the Governor alleges that the State-Tribal Relations Committee has not been nice to the Secretary:
“Anyone who listens to the disrespectful way that certain committee members have treated Secretary Flute at past meetings will understand why this invitation was declined,” the governor’s spokesman Ian Fury said [Stephen Groves, “Lawmakers Kill Bill to Put Requirements on Tribal Secretary,” AP, 2021.02.03].
Republicans say they can’t even make branches of government communicate:
Republican lawmakers said they would prefer to see Noem’s administration and the committee find ways to communicate without intervention.
Republican Rep. Kevin Jensen said, “I have a hard time with legislating cooperation” [Groves, “…Tribal Secretary,” 2021.02.03].
There’s a world of difference in the state’s authority over family cooperation and the state’s authority over the branches of government. In the case of Pischke and St. John’s joint-custody ploy, Representative Rehfeld at least enunciated an overarching principle of seeking the well-being of children to guide her vote for the proper role of the Legislature and the courts in resolving family disputes. In the case of Bordeaux’s accountability measure, Representative Jensen is hiding the real principle of his vote: protecting the Governor and her Administration from answering anyone’s hard questions about policy.
“…a hard time with legislating cooperation.”
Granted, it would be difficult to legislate something you don’t understand. SD seems to be the Republican way or the highway, or in George Bush terms, “You are either for us or against us.” Cooperation seems like such an ancient concept, right now. :-(
Cory: “protecting the Governor and her Administration from answering anyone’s hard questions about policy.” Throw these bastards out.
There are still only two issues facing us in SD, the nation (and the world):
1.) Global Warming (opening up Russian arctic seaports perhaps?); and
2.) Economic Inequality (which is *everything* else. Jamal Khashoggi. GOP Coup. BLM. Black Hills. Militarization (of police too). GOP austerity. Health care. Education. Pivot from fossil fuels. Guns. Environmental, ethical, financial, cyber ryegulation. Etc.)
“Andrea Junker ®
@Strandjunker
Jan 17
Jeff Bezos’s Wealth
2009: $6.8 billion
2020: $184 billion
Mark Zuckerberg’s Wealth
2009: $2 billion
2020: $103 billion
U.S. Minimum Wage
2009: $7.25
2020: $7.25
It’s about time for an economy that works for all of us, not the 1%.”
And not the GOP. Joe, come on, man!
Mr. Pischke is insaner than most and a deadbeat dad, however some of the tribal committee are rude and disrespectful indeed. Perhaps Mr. Flute doesn’t attend because he knows how useless and incompetent the tribal committee has become. They should just disband it.
It’s hard when you get the GOP in charge of anything, talk about cancel culture you definitely have it with them going to town. Go back to Karl Mundt whose name was spelled with a K, in the 50s canceling out communism, indeed making it illegal, one of the biggest red scares in history, still on the books all over the country. You’d think with their wonder boy Putin in charge…., but they know he’s really a fascist like themselves. A felonius senator, wild Bill something or other from the north dakotas did the same with comic books the same year. Now its voting, you can’t have everyone vote or the grand old boys can’t win. When they are in charge they want to control every aspect of your life, its just their nature. Pick, pick, pick…but no masks they never did like the Lone Ranger, his best friend was Native American you know. I know the mask was over his eyes but the analogy works.
We should not force parents together. We should not force them apart. But as a society, we should take the responsibility of bringing children into the world more seriously (even those who don’t make it far past conception). Sexual liberation has mammoth negative externalities.
Gosh, do you really have mammoth externalities John. Sorry it’s a pig out tax joke.
Really John Dale?
To a social scientist, sexual liberation is when some men get erectile dysfunction so they can’t have sex, impregnate a woman, or father a child. It liberates all of us in society because it gets rid of dead beat dads.
Look around…where have all the fathers gone?
Easy to sow the seed but not so easy to raise the crop.
Venus de Milo has no arms and likely a broken nose. When the Trump mob was incited to rage they broke beautiful treasures.
….“protecting Ivanka’s daddy and her Administration from answering anyone’s hard questions about policy.” Or insert “Liz Cheney”.
John missed the rabbit hole, but, does explain where zombie magats come from. They be the zygotes brought forth after abortions and miscarriages. At least as far as I coukd understand his comment.
And Leslie, it appears the Legislature is doing absolutely nothing to address either of those problems. Senator Maher’s bill rolling back green building standards reduces the state’s effort to reduce pollution. They are reducing the cost of living adjustment so retired state workers have less income security. They’re working to push new premiums for health insurance onto state workers so they have less income to spend on other things. They’re promulgating some smoke-and-mirrors fake health insurance for the Farm Bureau that will reduce the funds going to support real health insurance for other South Dakotans, raising costs for those who don’t have the privilege of barking up the pro-corporate Farm Bureau tree.
The South Dakota Legislature doesn’t want to solve problems. It doesn’t even want a debating society. It just wants an opportunity for certain club members to pretend to be statespeople as they ape the talking points fed them by the corporate elites.
John, no one is forcing parents to live together or apart. Divorcing parents are making that choice themselves. Society shouldn’t have to force parents to do what’s best for their kids. Unfortunately, parents like Pischke don’t understand that, and the courts have to step in to quash those selfish urges and protect the children’s interests.
Nor should we have to force the Executive Branch’s office of tribal relations to come talk to the Legislative Branch’s comparable committee. Nor should we see updates and practical problem-solving stymied by the personal pique of the Governor. But when the Executive Branch won’t put the interests of tribal people first, someone has to try to get the Governor and her Tribal Relations Secretary back to doing their jobs.
It was United States senator Wild Bill Langer.
Mr. H, that reduced cost of living adjustment will smite the retired teachers just as much as the state workers. Today, at the Conservatives with Common Sense, we will be debating the Farm Bureau insurance idea. I expect passionate arguments from many.
It will smite all the good public servants on SDRS. This state is committed to sucking its talent dry and rewarding them as little as possible while making sure their rich friends pay no taxes.