Gov. Noem covers various topics in State of the State Address

PIERRE, S.D. — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem spent much of her speech on Tuesday’s State of the State Address talking about South Dakota’s values and freedom.

Gov. Noem expressed that she feels they’ve been under attack at the federal level by way of the Biden administration’s vaccine mandates and other COVID protocols. South Dakota and other states have sued to block these federal mandates.

She addressed abortion saying she wants to ban the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy and stressing that she wants to block the abortion pill in South Dakota, claiming its more dangerous to women than the surgical procedure.

Moving forward, she added that the state’s revenues are better than expected and wants to return some of that money to the people of South Dakota. One way of returning the money would be by dropping the fee for concealed carry permits and by getting rid of the state’s Bingo tax which Noem says effects elderly people and veterans.

Gov. Noem continued to touch on a number of topics and issues during her State of the State Address including an update on the state’s economy.

“South Dakota is the strongest that it’s ever been in our history,” said Gov. Noem. “This year, stronger with more economic revenue than we’ve ever had before.”

She also talked about more controversial issues like the regulation of medical and possibly recreational use of marijuana in South Dakota.

“Everybody knows that I’m not supportive of marijuana, but I don’t work in hypotheticals so I’m going to watch what the legislature’s doing,” she added.

Another one of the more controversial issues the governor mentioned was critical race theory, which is finding it’s way into some public education classrooms. Noem feels it presents an incorrect view of American history.

“It’s incredibly flawed and we’ve made many mistakes in the past as Americans, but we should learn from them,” said Gov. Noem. “I’m bringing the bill to ensure our kids get good content, good social studies standards that are backed up by a state law that says our kids will read the truth and the honest history.”

It remains to be seen whether or not state lawmakers are going to follow along with the governor’s agenda.