Legislative session is nearly here, and that means South Dakota’s decision makers are laying out the groundwork for the next 10 weeks. That includes the state Attorney General.
Marty Jackley, South Dakota’s Attorney General, has had over a decade of experience in the role and understands its value in proposing legislation in the Capitol.
This year, he shared those priorities in an interview on SDPB’s In the Moment with Lori Walsh.
“As Attorney General, my priorities this session include government accountability, fighting human trafficking, and improving corrections,” Jackley said.
That first matter has proven especially pertinent for Jackley in the last year, with a full slate of government employee corruption cases on South Dakota legal dockets, namely financial crimes.
“Public corruption remains important, and I think there’s a way to be proactive," Jackley said. "The proactive part is to bring in the people’s auditor – their elected auditor – to give that auditor access to the state record. The second part of that is with the internal control board. We have an internal control board that was never given any powers or any teeth. I’m asking to give it those.”
Currently, Jackley said state law does not allow a voter’s local auditor, elected at the county level, to access those vital state records.
Additionally, Jackley said human trafficking has been a major priority over his career. Alongside victim protections, the AG says he hopes to address some gaps in South Dakota code.
“The federal authorities under federal law have one set of rules, the state and local law enforcement have another set of rules by the legislature," Jackley said. "Sometimes that’s okay, but we’ve seen some challenges with that. So, I’m asking for the legislature to more closely model the federal rules, and I’m asking for the worst of the worst offenders to have a mandatory minimum.”
The 100th South Dakota legislative session formally opens Tuesday.
