(Dakota Broadcasting – Aberdeen, SD) The South Dakota Senate State Affairs Committee Tuesday rejected a bill which would bar state officials from hiring relatives. The committee voted 9-0 to table the bill, effectively killing it.
The legislation was brought up this session after Governor Kristi Noem announced she would be hiring her daughter Kennedy to serve as a policy analyst. Kennedy Noem worked on her mother’s transition team earning $40,000 and now makes $50,000 working for her mother’s administration. Former South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard also received accusations of nepotism after hiring his son-in-law as chief of staff at $146,000 a year.
One of the bill’s sponsors Senator Stace Nelson spoke in favor of the legislation calling nepotism government corruption.
Nelson brought this bill forward for a multitude of reasons, including the fact that 34 other states already have anti-nepotism laws on the books. Also, according to Nelson, it is not fair to state government employees.
District 2 Senator Brock Greenfield moved to table the bill until the 41st legislative day. Greenfield defended his position by questioning whether or not limiting the individuals who can work in state government is good for the state as a whole.