The 100th legislative session ended a little over a month ago, but many interested parties are already planning for the next one. That includes the economic community.
Many believe HB 1052, a law banning eminent domain use for a carbon pipeline, essentially killed Summit Carbon Solution’s proposed project. With that, some worry about the broader economic environment in the state.
The economic development community saw other bills struck down. Some industry leaders believe some of these bills will be brought back – including a tax incentive for data centers and bills support airport improvements.
Mike Bockorny is the CEO of the South Dakota Economic Development Professionals Association. He said there are some things the group is focused on for the 2026 legislative session.
“Pro-growth initiatives, trying to educate people. We know there are some good, solid questions that people are asking about: different projects or potential projects, or different focuses, etc. And a lot of those are new,” Bockorny said. “And anything new sometimes can be a little bit scary. That’s why I’m doing this speaking tour. Part of the reason is to educate and listen and learn and make sure we’re hearing people, and we’re providing the information, the correct information, out to people so everybody can be totally educated.”
In a legislature with a Republican majority skeptical of economic development, Bockorny said he thinks the best way to navigate is by providing everyone information.
“One of the things I really try to key in on when running the organization is not only listening to our members, but we also need to listen to legislators. I want to know what their concerns and questions are, and I want to talk to them,” Bockorny said. “Because sometimes I have realized, yeah, I understand maybe we didn’t provide the right information, or we could have provided some additional information that would eliminate some of that skepticism. We also want to talk about like what are their priorities and make sure that we’re listening to all sides because economic development really shouldn’t be a partisan issue. Sometimes over the past couple years it has turned into that. We’re trying to do our best to eliminate that.”
He said that includes starting conversations about growth and development in a “positive fashion, and what the long-term results of that can be.”
