Future of drainage task force cloudy; Vehle’s bill was nixed in Pierre

• Mike Vehle

Mike Vehle

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PIERRE — If House Speaker Brian Gosch, R-Rapid City, has his way, the state’s drainage task force will be scrapped.

Gosch used a series of parliamentary maneuvers in the House Judiciary Committee on Friday to turn a bill dealing with elections, HB 1235, into a bill that now would repeal the task force. He managed to find two common words in the title of the original bill — “public” and “resources” — that he could use in the title of the hoghoused bill. Some of the committee members claim they didn’t understand what was happening when they voted 11-0 to support Gosch. The bill goes to the full House this afternoon.

The 14-member regional watershed advisory task force was established by the Legislature last year.

Earlier this session, lawmakers were bombarded with emails, phone calls and personal visits from agriculture producers and ag service providers opposed to legislation that would create a standard drainage permit for county governments to use. That bill, SB 179, sponsored by Sen. Mike Vehle, R-Mitchell, was set aside.

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