The most recent meeting of the Senate Ag and Natural Resources committee brought out a who’s-who of the state’s major players in farm and ranchland. The topic: the ever-embattled state Brand Board.
HB 1266 would move the state Brand Board to the jurisdiction of the state Schools and Public Lands office. It failed but saw travelers from organizations and operations across South Dakota make the trek to the capitol to advocate.
The prime sponsor of the bill is Dupree Republican Rep. Jana Hunt.
“It doesn’t change the appointment process, and it doesn’t remove the governors’ involvement in the Brand Board," Hunt testified. "It does require the Brand Board give their financial reports to School and Public Lands and no longer report those to Ag and Natural Resources. Our brand inspectors are frustrated, our producers are frustrated because we’re seeing an increase in fees, but we don’t have financial transparency.”
Much of the heartburn came from a vote to increase certain fees for producers despite vacancies on the board. For proponents, that means no quorum was ever achieved and that fee increase should be nullified.
On the proponent side was the state Farmers Union and Stockgrowers Association. Opponents included the state Farm Bureau, Cattlemen’s Association, and the Brand Board itself. Officially, School and Public Lands stayed neutral on the matter.
It also faced opposition from the executive branch. Megan Goltz is a policy advisor for Governor Larry Rhoden.
“Many comments we hear is regarding an audit, I don’t see anywhere in this bill guaranteeing an audit," Goltz said. "Another argument proponents make is their desire to see accountability, specifically accountability to an elected official. The Department of Ag and Natural Resources (DANR) is under the oversight of Gov. Larry Rhoden, a West River rancher who knows this issue incredibly well. Gov. Rhoden is best equipped to maintain this through the DANR.”
The bill was killed on a 4-3 vote.