South Dakota lawmakers reject longer wait for officials taking private jobs with state contractors

A bill to require South Dakota officials who award or oversee major state contracts with private companies to wait longer before accepting jobs with those companies was defeated on Monday, per the request of the bill’s own House sponsor. 

Under current law, such state officers and employees must wait one year.  

The bill’s defeat came after the speaker of the house amended the bill back to its original form, against the wishes of the senator who introduced it.

South Dakota Senate approves longer wait for officials turning state jobs into private employment

A Senate-amended version of the bill would have extended the waiting period to two years for contracts exceeding $5 million. The bill originally proposed a two-year wait for those involved with contracts of $1 million or more. 

Sen. Tim Reed, R-Brookings, introduced the bill and the amendment that increased the dollar amount needed to trigger its two-year waiting period. The amendment was necessary because the state handles many million-dollar contracts, Reed said, and he did not want the extended wait to apply to routine matters. 

The amendment also added a waiver process that would have allowed a governing body to authorize earlier employment in certain cases. 

The amended bill passed 34-0. In the House State Affairs committee, House Speaker Jon Hansen, R-Dell Rapids, asked the panel to amend it back to its original form. He said the Senate changes weakened the bill’s protections, particularly by adding a waiver option. 

Sen. Reed asked committee members to oppose the change. He said the waiver was added to avoid unfairly blocking state employees, especially those early in their careers, from taking private sector jobs unrelated to a contract they touched.  

The committee adopted Hansen’s amendment on an 8-4 vote, and then voted 11-1 to send the bill to the House floor. 

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On Monday, Brookings Republican Rep. Mellissa Heermann asked her fellow House members to table the bill, effectively defeating it. They voted 37-28 to do so. 

Reed filed the bill in response to South Dakota Searchlight reporting about former state economic development commissioner Steve Westra. A year after leaving state government, Westra took a job with CJ Schwan’s. While working for the state, Westra had signed the first pledge of state aid benefiting the construction of the company’s $550 million, 650-employee food production plant in northern Sioux Falls. State aid benefiting the project now totals $69 million worth of tax rebates, loans, and grants. 

Reed has repeatedly noted that Westra followed the law as it stands.