Annexation Legislation Fails

Of course we can mostly thank the Anti-Citizen League for killing the bill;

Yvonne Taylor of the South Dakota Municipal League told lawmakers that there are two steps in the annexation process that already require certified letters and a public vote.

Nothing gets me hotter than my tax dollars paying this lobbying organization and it’s anti-citizen, pro-corporate welfare agenda. They consistently lobby against bills that improve transparency and help citizens navigate local government. If I was the next mayor I would fire them so fast their heads would spin. Actually, I think the city council controls that expenditure, they should cancel it. We pay an operations manager almost $100K a year to help follow legislation in Pierre, why do we need a lobbyist, especially one that lobbies against the best interests of the citizenry?

It also didn’t help that Mike Cooper and Council Chair Rick Kiley showed up to talk against it. A witness told me that Kiley claimed that only ONE person complained about the annexation process when it comes to notification. What a stretch.

Investor Notification Legislation

While I think this is a great idea, like annexation, this will probably get killed in committee;

The bill, which hasn’t been assigned a formal number by the Legislative Research Council, would require companies working with governments on public-private projects that have been in existence for five years or more to disclose the names of any investors who own 5 percent or more of its shareholders or investors.

Like I said, great idea, but there is always loopholes in any of this stuff, just ask former city attorney Fiddle-Faddle. I also think it is sad that we have to pass laws in order to get the information the public should have a right to. And if any developer had one ounce of integrity, they would give up that information on their own. Oh, nevermind, I forgot we do business with people who drag cancer causing agents through out town without a care in the world. Real pillars of our community.

HERE is an interesting story about how well private/public partnerships work. I really believe the Village project will never happen, or we will be left holding the bag.

Alcohol Distributors still crying in their beers

While the craft brewers do 99% of the work creating their delicisousness, the beer distributors still want a cut for being a taxi service;

South Dakota beer distributors said this week a proposal aimed at letting craft brewers sell their beer directly to stores and restaurants gives them unfair advantages over other players in the beer industry.

Oh, baloney. They are simply saying it is foolish to go through a distributor to sell to someone next door. They will still have to use distributors for large scale distribution.

The greed the distributors are showing is the reason why people are buying online more and more, besides the fact that sales taxes are regressive, people are tired of paying a middle man (salesperson) for essentially not doing much. It is similar to art galleries taking a 40% commission for hanging a painting on a wall.

It also doesn’t help that we have legislators who have a direct conflict of interest with the legislation. Kolbeck and Beal should excuse themselves from voting on this legislation.

7 Thoughts on “SD State Legislature & City of Sioux Falls

  1. Knothead Peasant on January 31, 2018 at 3:02 pm said:

    All these conflicts of interest in the legislature and out of state groups like Alliance Destroying Freedom. Just another legislative session in Cuckoo Puff Land.

  2. Warren Phear on January 31, 2018 at 3:41 pm said:

    If kiley said only one person complained, then he is a flat out liar. He chaired the task force. Unless he was asleep, which he could have been, many, many citizens voiced concerns about the notification process. Four months into the task force, as the chair, he was still confused about how landowners would be assessed on linear footage. selberg appeared just as clueless. Neitzert did an outstanding job of researching annexation issues, as did all the other citizen task force members. Theresa did what she always does in matters like these. She made sure the citizens were aware of what was happening, or what would have happened, had large crowds not been in attendance to monitor what this city is doing.

  3. Warren Phear on January 31, 2018 at 3:46 pm said:

    The South Dakota Municipal League? City taxpayers pay them to lobby for citizens rights? Tell me more.

  4. I’m trying to find the hearing audio to hear exactly what Kiley said.

    Yes, we pay the ML for them to lobby against citizen rights, it’s f’ing pathetic and irritating.

  5. Warren Phear on January 31, 2018 at 5:33 pm said:

    Sioux Falls citizens pay for this. How?

  6. Cities that are members of the SD Municipal League pay them to lobby for them. Not all cities in SD belong. The ones that do, like SF pay for it. Not sure what budget it comes out of (I think city council). Like I said, I don’t think we need them since we pay Jim David $98K a year to be our legislative expert and city council operations manager.

  7. Kiley another one of the stamp team for slick Mike.

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