South Dakotans Leading The Nation In The Fight For Private Property Rights

Something incredible is happening in South Dakota, and the entire nation is watching.

Patriotism. Passion. Purpose. The spirit of 1776 runs deep in the heart of my home state. United. Strong. And True.

Anybody paying attention can clearly see, our precious God-given, Constitutional rights are under attack. Our family farms and ranches hang in the balance. And it’s all over a climate change boondoggle that has politicians on the right and left clamoring to grab every federal tax dollar incentive coming this way.

This agenda is playing out in every state in various forms. And in South Dakota, it’s coming in the form of the passage of South Dakota Senate Bill 201 (“Provide new statutory requirements for regulating linear transmission facilities, to allow counties to impose a surcharge on certain pipeline companies, and to establish a landowner bill of rights.”)

Passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Kristi Noem in the last session, the bill was strongly opposed by the people in South Dakota, and instead of backing down, this grassroots movement of citizens working hard on their own time and own dime to push back has only gotten stronger.

Let me paint a picture — A dozen legislators who supported SB201 lost their primary re-election bids in June, replaced by strong Constitutional conservatives who believe in standing up for private property rights and protecting local control. This was an election with a commanding message that the people of South Dakota were not pleased with how these politicians voted in Pierre this past session.

Immediately following the conclusion of the session, a referendum effort began to get SB201 on the ballot in the November election. A total of 17,508 signatures would be required. And in 90 short days, with a citizen-led effort of volunteers, a whopping 34,000+ signatures were ultimately turned in to the Secretary of State’s office.

With the signatures verified at a 90%+ accuracy rate, it’s now official — the voters of South Dakota will be able to have the final say on this issue. Now referenced as “Referred Law 21,” voters will decide whether this law should go into effect or be eliminated altogether.

For myself and so many others, it’s an easy and firm, “NO” On Referred Law (RL) 21 in November. RL21 erodes local control and strips away the ability for communities to make decisions close to home.

It does not create a "landowner bill of rights” as proponents claim; instead, it reads more like a “pipeline bill of rights” or a “bill of sale.”

Simply stated — RL21 includes vague, ambiguous language that leaves landowners’ future in the balance and creates a big brother nanny state dictating our lives in Pierre.

RL21 strips away local control from counties, townships, and municipalities. It changes 134 years of state precedent for one private, out-of-state corporation. It brokers an easement between a private company and does nothing to protect the citizens who do not want to participate in this climate capture project.

It also ushers in provisions of the Green New Deal, cloaked under the premise of “economic development” and “value-added agriculture,” with promises of “increased tax dollars.” They claim that the pipeline will get done no matter what, so they better give us peasants a few crumbs to appease us.

While the devil is really in the details of this awful bill, the will of the people will soon become clear. Today, we celebrate a victory that SB201 (Referred Law 21) has been halted from becoming the law of the land. Our private property rights and local governance live to see another day!

And it’s all thanks to the tireless grassroots efforts of so many. You all serve as a beacon of hope and an example to follow for other states who are seeing similar attacks on their private property.  

Without question — South Dakota will lead the charge in this fight.

Now prepare for the big money to come into town with their smear campaigns and attack ads. We’ve already been told out-of-state interest groups are coming in to push back against the will of the citizens.

These entities know they need SB201(RL21) to lay the ground work for their Green New Deal pipeline, and to set a precedent to take more land for their 50+ years of pet projects they have planned across the state.

But I’m putting all my chips on the hard-working, honest grassroots people in my beloved home state. I would never bet against these great folks, and the avalanche of people waking up to this blatant attack on our private property rights and local control continues to grow.

Next stop, the November ballot where we the people will stop the egregious power grab that is SB201.  

The message is clear — South Dakota may be open for business, but we are not for sale! We will not bend to this agenda. We will not give up our local control. We will not yield our private property rights.

We will fight to maintain control of our land, our homes, our backyards, our communities, and our futures in the beautiful state of South Dakota.

We stand together in unity. This issue knows no party line because the neighborly thing is to take care of each other, and that’s exactly what we intend to do. May God bless and protect the great people and communities of South Dakota!