Voluntary sobriety-testing program among laws signed by Rounds

By Chet Brokaw, The Associated Press | Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Previous Page

Share

• del.icio.us
• Digg
• NewsVine
• Fark

Print

Email

PIERRE - A measure to expand a pilot program that requires repeat drunken drivers to check in at jails twice a day for breath testing has been signed into law by

Gov. Mike Rounds.

Rounds announced Tuesday that he has signed the bill, which allows for statewide expansion of a voluntary program designed by South Dakota Attorney General Larry Long.

Judges could give repeat drunken drivers the choice of participating in the breath testing program or going to jail. People who fail the breath tests or don't show up are arrested and put in jail.

The governor also signed into law a measure setting up an Indian Education Office and an advisory council with representatives from each of South Dakota's nine tribes.

The efforts are aimed at making sure teachers and students gain an understanding of American Indian Culture in South Dakota.

The bill, suggested by the governor, requires all new teachers from out of state and those who were certified after 1993 to complete a three-hour course in South Dakota American Indian history and culture.

It also will set up a pilot program to offer Lakota language instruction to teachers. A curriculum in American Indian history and culture will be developed by the state Education Department and Indian Education Advisory Council.

Another new law will set up a task force to study permanent funding for South Dakota's four technical institutes. The 19-member task force must make recommendations by Nov. 1 for changing the funding system for the schools.

In addition, Rounds signed his proposal for encouraging utility companies to build a new kind of power plant in South Dakota.

The measure expands existing tax breaks for new power plants to include those that convert coal into a gas that is burned in a generator. Such plants release less pollution than traditional coal-fired plants.

Basin Electric Power Cooperative is considering building a power plant in North Dakota or South Dakota, and the plant may use the technology that turns coal into gas.