4 Ways the South Dakota Government is Planning to Waste our Money and Embarrass our State [OPINION]

Admittedly I can fall into my own little bubble and only pay attention to the things around me; family, work, zombie-related entertainment. So I may have missed the part where South Dakota solved all of its urgent issues and now is able to spend its legislative time on unnecessary, pointless and dangerous things.

In the 2016 legislative session there have been several bills introduced that are wastes of time, energy and taxpayer money. And just plain wrong. They are hateful legislation that will lead to lawsuits that the citizens will have to pay for. And for what? To prove how hijacked our political process has become? To continue to demonstrate that South Dakota is not a place for young professionals to move to, or stay in? Bike trails are all well and good, but if the state has a reputation of wasting tax money on fool's errands, and a reputation for hate, it's going to drive people away.

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1) The South Dakota Legislature's Obsession with Children's Bathrooms.

I don't know why, but it seems that Pierre has gone anti-trans crazy. Many there act as if a mythical army of interchangeable genitals is taking over high school bathrooms like they were wildlife preserves in the Northwest.

South Dakota House Bill 1008, would ban transgender kids from using restrooms that match their gender identity. HB 1112 would prevent transgender students from participating in high school athletics in accordance with their gender identity.

The SD legislature has demonstrated in the past that it's not a fan of SD's children. They think they're worth less, and don't need a quality education. Now they want to force our already overburdened schools to police their pees and poos.

Do we want to continue the state's brain drain and drive business away? This is how you do it. Not because people are all afraid of not being PC (that's just what the sponsors tell themselves), it's because things like this reinforce negative stereotypes of our region. It tells others that we don't care about real, pressing issues, we just want to fool around with this stuff.

Oh, and by the way, it's not just dumb, it's wrong. Why is it so hard to leave people alone? People are different, we all have different lives and experiences that others may not understand. Leave people alone, mind you own business if you can't be compassionate. A transgender person is not hurting you, not taking money out of your pocket, or doing anything other than trying to live the best life they can.

Plus, this stuff always comes from the same crowd that shouts about how they want the government out of their lives. What they seem to mean is: out of their lives and into our bath and bed rooms.

If any of these bills pass they will be challenged in court, the state will most likely loose and we the taxpayers will be on the hook for possibly millions of dollars. And as citizens we will be party to bullying our children.

2) The Anti-Gay, Women, Immigrant, Just About Anything an Employer Doesn't Like Bill

HB 1107 is a similar idea to the debacle in Indiana in 2015. I guess I didn't realize there were so many bakeries in SD that needed protection from the hordes of gay marriages on the loose.

Any reasonable person can see the abuses that a law like this will lead too. People being fired for being gay, not being married, being divorced, going to a different church, being accused of going to a different church, not going to church, being an immigrant, being children of immigrants, not voting Republican, voting for the wrong Republican, eating fish on Friday, not eating fish on Friday, having long hair (men), having short hair (women), wearing pants (women), breastfeeding (women), getting pregnant (women), being a women.

This is just hate dressed up as a call for freedom. I'm sure the sponsors of this type of legislation also didn't take the time to think that they will be subject to it as well. A business owner who is not a Christian could bar Christians, refuse service or fire them. And, how do you define "religious beliefs and moral convictions" as the bill says? What if someone's moral conviction is to be paid a living wage? Will business be subject to a lawsuit under this bill? What if my moral conviction is to not work with aging white baby boomers?

Would the next step be the government defining what a religion is? We kinda already settled that question.

Again, why is it so hard to leave people alone. Laws like this are pointless and wrong. This is a political argument that embarrasses the state and will cost us millions of dollars when it is challenged in court.

3) Anti-Science Education

Senate Bill 83 would have tried to force religious instruction into public schools under the guise of academic freedom. The bill died recently, but it represented another waste of our legislative energy.

Teacher's academic freedom is already protected by teachers unions and due process. If that's you real concern, maybe work on strengthening the unions.

If you don't believe in science, don't be science teacher, or use a computer, or modern medicine, or gravity (remember it's only a 'theory' too). Your religion is your business, can we please just let the schools teach. We need to prep our children for the 21st century.

And again, this would have been challenged in court and wasted tax dollars.

4) Lazy Clock Changers

This bill is not as serious as the others, but still it's a waste of time. Senate Bill 60 would would reject standard time and force the use of daylight savings time all year in South Dakota. Arizona and Hawaii do this already. Hawaii can get away with it because they are off the mainland and in a very different timezone no matter what. Arizona has the advantage of not dealing with a yearly Arctic invasion so people will put up with it.

But, South Dakota is already bisected by a timezone annoyance. Would this now mean that for about half a year we would be operating at a different time than Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, Wyoming and Nebraska? How much wasted energy will have to go to explaining that to clients and business partners when calls and meetings are missed? Think of the number of computer networks that would need reprogramming. And what about live events? When does the game start?

Sure, people may adjust, but why go through this? Why add another nuisance to our lives because some people don't like to change their clocks. Most of the clocks I use change automatically anyways (Phone, computer, TV). And do we really want to be like Arizona?

There are real issues that need the focus of our legislators. We must demand that they handle our business, not try to advance the agenda of outside, and out of state, interests.

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