Lawmakers discuss Noem's involvement in legislative session

Democratic and Republican leaders spoke on what they say is a lack of action taken by the governor’s office this session during Thursday's legislative press conference.

Sen. Reynold Nesiba is the Democratic Minority Leader. He said many bills were affected by Governor Kristi Noem’s absence from legislative session.

“We really had a lost opportunity here that the governor has been missing for the last six weeks, where she could have been reaching out to her colleagues in the House and in the Senate - particularly reaching out to House appropriators - making it clear that this was a priority, working with Democrats to talk about a compromise to take two cents off and she wasn’t here. And so, again, the main reason the that sales tax on food cut failed is because Gov. Noem wasn’t here to lead it,” said Nesiba.

Leaders from both parties spoke on the effects of the governor’s absence from legislative session.

Rep. Will Mortenson is the Republican Majority Leader. He said legislators on both sides respect the governor, but important work cannot be done without the governor’s involvement.

“You know, on our side I didn’t hear one of my members say, ‘Were gonna go look at this proposal and it’s the governors and that’s why we are going to treat it different’ its not the case, its just not the case. There is a lot of admiration for the governor that comes from our caucus and I said it on the last bill but we have the same goals, we are just kind of tussling over the mechanics,” said Mortenson.

Noem's spokesperson tweeted a response to Thursday's comments, specifically those made by Democratic leaders, calling allegations the governor did not do enough to promote her proposal eliminating grocery sales tax "false."