Dems Say Lawmakers Are Considering Workers' Wellbeing

At the state legislature this session, bipartisan discussions about economic development have become more focused on the good of the workers, according to Bernie Hunhoff, Democratic leader in the House of Representatives. Hunhoff made his remarks at a weekly legislative news conference Friday.
He says legislators met after a social event Thursday evening and discussed ways of improving conditions for individual workers while also building the state’s economy.
“It was a much broader economic development discussion than we’ve had in the past, and in fact, one of the questions from one of the economic development leaders was ‘How do we get the focus on the worker and on workforce development?’” Hunhoff says. “That was really an encouraging thing, because too often in the past it’s just been about how can we give the most money away to the biggest corporations and hope it all trickles down? And obviously, that’s what we’ve been doing, and it hasn’t been working that well in South Dakota.”
Hunhoff says South Dakota has a huge poverty problem. He referred to a recent news story that indicates reservations within the state’s borders are the poorest in the United States.
Hunhoff says the state should set an example by paying its own employees better. He says certain state workers have to take a second job to make a living, and some of them qualify for food stamps.
He says the Affordable Care Act should help small businesses provide insurance for employees and cap premiums paid by all employers.
Hunhoff says when the state offers tax incentives to draw industry to the state, there are no stipulations that the business offer a living wage or health insurance. He says the discussion has occurred at various times over the years, but so far, it has had no traction.