NEW: Rounds wants higher minimum wage, crackdown on sex offenders

By Chet Brokaw, Associated Press Writer | Tuesday, January 10, 2006

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PIERRE - Gov. Mike Rounds wants the South Dakota Legislature to raise the state's minimum wage, crack down on sex offenders and methamphetamine makers and encourage ethanol plant expansion.

Rounds said South Dakota's minimum wage should be raised above the federal level of $5.15 an hour but will decided later what he will propose. The state minimum wage should balance the benefit of higher pay for some workers against the harm caused to some people whose jobs likely will be eliminated by the higher minimum wage, he said.

"I don't want to cost jobs in South Dakota, but I think this is the right year to make a change in the minimum wage," Rounds said before delivering his annual State of the State address to start the 2006 legislative session.

The proposal puts the Republican governor, who faces re-election this year, on the same side of the issue as the only announced Democratic challenger. Former Democratic lawmaker Ron Volesky has said he is helping with a petition drive that would seek a statewide vote on a measure to boost the state minimum wage.

Rounds said that when he was a state senator in 1997, he sponsored the measure that raised the state minimum wage to match the federal level. He said he believes the time has come for South Dakota to raise its minimum wage above the federal rate.

"I've been working with economists to find out what the right number would be so that I can increase the minimum wage and at the same time have the least impact on individuals who are in that bracket losing their jobs," he said.

The 2005 Legislature passed a bill aimed at curbing the manufacturing of methamphetamine by regulating key ingredients, but Rounds said more needs to be done. South Dakota must match steps taken by surrounding states so meth makers are not attracted to the state, he said.

"It will make South Dakota less interesting for meth users and meth manufacturers until such time as the federal government actually passes effective anti-methamphetamine legislation at the national level," Rounds said.

The governor said South Dakota's prison population increased by 11 percent last year, and one of the biggest reasons was meth use. Seventeen percent of the men and 41 percent of the women who entered prison last year had problems with meth, he said.

The 2005 measure prevented businesses from selling customers more than two packages of cold and allergy medicine that contain pseudoephedrine or ephedrine as their sole active ingredients. Some kinds of medicine must be kept behind the counter or in locked places, but stores with electronic anti-theft systems are exempt.

The governor said he will introduce a measure requiring retailers to keep logs identifying customers who buy products containing pseudoephedrine or ephedrine and keep the products behind a counter or locked up. Liquid gel caps, which were excluded in last year's law, would be included this time because officials now know they can be used to make meth, he said.

An exception to the two-package limit would be granted to people buying the products with a doctor's prescription.

Rounds also wants the Legislature to approve spending $10,000 to set up an Internet site that would list all registered sex offenders in the state.

Another bill would increase the penalties for repeat offenders and create two new felonies. One new crime would make it illegal to harbor a sex offender. Another would make it a felony when a convicted sex offender threatens to commit new crimes when released from prison.

The measure would set up a procedure for determining that some sex offenders are ineligible for parole, the governor said.

Rounds has worked with Attorney General Larry Long, lawmakers and prison officials on a package of bills dealing with sex offenders. Lawmakers will introduce bills authorizing the statewide Internet registry, barring released sex offenders from living within 500 feet of schools and other locations, and tightening registration requirements.

Another proposal would expand a program now used in eight counties that tries to keep convicted drunken drivers out of prison. Those convicts must stay away from bars and must take breath tests twice a day to make sure they do not drink.

The governor said he will ask the Legislature to help promote ethanol by providing tax refunds to expanding plants. Those refunds now are intended to help new projects by giving tax breaks to large agricultural processing projects.

Rounds said the proposal would help Brookings-based VeraSun expand its plant, and it could help smaller plants considering expansion.

Another measure is designed to help the Big Stone II Power Plant near Milbank by providing tax incentives for pollution-reducing equipment, the governor said. After Big Stone II is built, it will double the amount of electricity produced while reducing the amount of pollution released, he said.

The governor endorsed an advisory council's proposal for fixing the unemployment insurance system, which is expected to be in trouble by March 2007 unless changes are made. Officials have said benefits have risen automatically with inflation while tax payments have not been adjusted.

See more updates to this story in Wednesday's Rapid City Journal.