SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — South Dakota’s top law enforcement official has announced where his legislative priorities will be for the fast-approaching legislative session in Pierre, with recent South Dakota history set to impact the session. Seven bills backed by South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley follow several cases of state employees allegedly misusing public money.
“I feel from the investigations we’ve been doing that the people deserve better when it comes to the financial happenings in our state,” Jackley said Tuesday.
Now, bills backed by Jackley will be considered by lawmakers in the coming weeks.
“We have three pending cases, and I have a couple of additional investigations that are ongoing,” Jackley said. “And so, when you look at what we found in those investigations, I think additional access by the auditor and better accounting would help. I think mandatory reporting and whistleblower protections would improve the system.”
One of the bills would set up mandatory reporting rules, and another would protect a state employee if they report a crime. Another piece of legislation would drop a requirement to sentence certain offenders to probation if they were already on probation or parole supervision when committing a crime.
“What I’ve tried to do with presumptive probation is pick a couple of what I feel are violent crimes and remove them from probation including aggravated eluding,” Jackley said. “I mean, that’s the start of the death penalty case with Officer Prorok.”
Ken Prorok, a chief deputy with the Moody County Sheriff’s Office, lost his life in a high speed chase in February. Joseph Hoek has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and aggravated eluding in the case.
The upcoming legislative session in Pierre begins Jan. 14.
