The EB-5 program will continue in South Dakota after a bill to ban its use failed in Pierre. The Federal EB-5 program gives visas to foreign investors who put a half-million dollars into rural development projects. The program is the center of a scandal involving alleged miss use of state funds. The idea of banning EB-5 in South Dakota, created a lot of discussion in committee.
Republican State Representative Stace Nelson is the sponsor to House Bill 1176 and he says this program has shown to do more harm then good. Representative Nelson says the best solution is to just get rid of South Dakota’s involvement with the program.
"And I can tell you, having traveled across the great state of South Dakota. When you talk to South Dakotans about this program and they find out that access was being sold, here in South Dakota to the highest bidders, I have not found one South Dakotan that’s proud of this program or proud of the fact that South Dakota was involved in this," State Representative Nelson says.
Opponents to the bill say getting rid of the program is too extreme of a measure. Pat Costello with the Governor’s Office of Economic Development says his department as well opposes the bill. He says the EB-5 program won’t just go away.
"EB-5 is an emotional topic for a lot of people. I would just remind everyone that the EB-5 program is a federal program and it likely will exist in the state of South Dakota whether or not the state is involved. We believe that there are opportunities to use EB-5 in the future as an economic development incentive tool, for very large projects," Costello says.
House Bill 1176 was defeated 12 to 1 by the House State Affairs Committee
