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SD House approves permanent tourism tax rate
• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- The South Dakota House has approved a permanent extension of the special tax rate applied to the receipts of tourism-related businesses.
• The tourism tax rate was temporarily raised from 1 percent to 1.5 percent four years ago and is due to fall to 1 percent on July 1. The House voted 64-4 Friday to make the 1.5 percent rate permanent. The bill now goes to the Senate.
• The tax is applied to the receipts of motels, campgrounds, visitor attractions and other tourism-related businesses during the months of June, July and August. The tax money is used for tourism marketing, the state arts council and archaeological research.
• House Republican Leader David Lust of Rapid City says the tax collects $3.3 million a year. He says it's helped boost the tourism industry.
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SD Senate panel approves criminal justice plan
CHET BROKAW,Associated Press
• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- A wide-ranging plan to cut South Dakota's prison costs by treating more nonviolent offenders in community programs passed its first test Friday in the state Legislature.
• The Senate State Affairs Committee voted unanimously to approve the measure, which is backed by Gov. Dennis Daugaard, Supreme Court Chief Justice David Gilbertson and legislative leaders. The bill, written by an appointed panel, next goes to the full Senate.
• The measure would use intensive probation and parole, along with special courts and other programs that treat drug and alcohol offenders, as part of an effort to divert offenders from prison and prevent them from committing future crimes.
• If nothing is done to curb a rapid increase in adult inmates, the state would have to spend an estimated $212 million to build and operate a new men's prison and a new women's prison in the next decade, officials have said. The proposed programs would cost about $51 million, a difference of $162 million.
• Sen. Craig Tieszen, R-Rapid City, a former police chief, said the measure is a compromise reached by all those involved in the criminal justice system, but represents a change in how they'll seek to rehabilitate offenders.
• "I think that profound shift in policy will not only save tax dollars, it will certainly change lives in South Dakota for the better," said Tieszen, a member of the panel (Continued on page 29)
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