This week members of South Dakota’s legislature are going on tours. Lawmakers are traveling to schools, businesses, and state operations to see processes firsthand.
Lawmakers spend most of their time serving the public in the State Capitol during the winter, but this summer they have a chance to visit places across South Dakota. While in Sioux Falls, State Representative Justin Cronin and other legislators toured the state penitentiary.
"Saw a lot of the safety stuff that’s come along in the last four or five years that they have added. That was good to see," Cronin says. "One of the things that I noticed was just the fact of how orderly everything is. You don’t think of a prison – you see it on television; it’s nothing like that. Everybody’s walking around. They were cordial. Everybody acted like it was its own little city."
Cronin says visiting places allows lawmakers to ask questions and gain perspective on the decisions they make during the regular session.
"One of the best things we can do is go and see the progress that is made as a group, because we all remember about the different things we talk about, but one person can’t remember everything about every single issue and department in the state," Cronin says. "It’s well worth our time away from home to see where the money has worked and where maybe we need to spend a little more."
Cronin says this year lawmakers are touring places both east river and west river.