PIERRE, S.D. (KELO.com) — Below is a machine-generated transcript from YouTube of Gov. Kristi Noem’s news conference Thursday morning.
After that is a YouTube video of the Governor’s news conference.
We’re trying something a little different at KELO.com News.
The transcript may include some errors in transcribing.
0:01
okay good morning thank you all for
00:03
coming
00:03
i want to start by going over some
00:05
legislation that we introduced this week
00:07
on monday
00:08
i introduced a bill that would ban
00:09
abortions based on a diagnosis of down
00:12
syndrome
00:13
in this particular case we’ve seen media
00:16
reports that have talked about
00:17
other countries like iceland and denmark
00:19
who are aborting nearly every pre-born
00:21
child that’s been diagnosed with down
00:23
syndrome
00:24
research estimates that two out of three
00:28
pregnancies that are diagnosed as down
00:30
syndrome are being aborted here in the
00:32
united states and in south dakota
00:34
we do have a 20-week abortion ban
00:36
codified
00:37
in law at times people have said that we
00:39
don’t need this bill that i introduced
00:41
this week and i would disagree with that
00:43
because we do have the ability to test
00:45
for down syndrome
00:46
after 10 weeks of pregnancy and again at
00:49
15 weeks there is another test that is
00:51
available
00:52
so this legislation will protect
00:54
pre-born children
00:55
that are diagnosed with down syndrome
00:57
from being discriminated against solely
01:00
because god gave them
01:01
an extra chromosome on tuesday i
01:04
introduced two bills that would protect
01:06
private property rights both bills are
01:08
related to the department of game fish
01:10
and parks
01:11
we announced open fields legislation to
01:13
codify current game fish and parks
01:15
policy
01:16
that protects the property rights of
01:17
landowners
01:19
under current legal precedent
01:21
conservation officers can go
01:23
on to open fields without a warrant but
01:26
thankfully game fish and parks does not
01:28
follow that statute
01:29
they have a separate policy where they
01:31
do not do that the legislation that i
01:33
have put forward
01:35
would make sure that the policy is
01:36
followed and that it is placed
01:38
into our code now lieutenant governor
01:40
larry rhoden has brought similar bills
01:42
to this one
01:43
when he served in the legislature and
01:45
i’m proud to help him get it
01:46
accomplished today
01:48
or this week we also announced civil
01:50
asset forfeiture reform as it pertains
01:53
to conservation
01:54
officers this legislation will protect
01:56
private property rights
01:58
when it comes to the enforcement of game
01:59
and fish laws it ends the ability
02:01
of conservation officers to take and to
02:04
keep property
02:05
of hunters and fishermen who happen to
02:07
break these laws
02:08
now we want to make sure that the
02:09
punishment fits the crime
02:11
and that the law is enforced but when
02:13
someone violates a game and fish law
02:16
they should be fined they should be
02:17
punished but they shouldn’t forfeit
02:19
their boat their truck
02:20
their gun or their dog that’s a penalty
02:23
that often
02:24
far exceeds the mistake in virtually
02:26
every single case
02:27
now game fish and parks does support
02:29
this legislation
02:30
to strike the right balance between
02:32
enforcement efforts and property rights
02:34
and both of these bills will work
02:36
together to build on game fish and parks
02:38
excellent work to protect property
02:41
rights and also make sure that everybody
02:42
gets to enjoy the great outdoors
02:44
now yesterday we announced legislation
02:47
to require that law enforcement officers
02:49
shall attend response to resistance
02:51
training at least
02:52
once every two years and we’re working
02:55
with the attorney general’s office on
02:56
their legislation to create
02:58
a law enforcement officer standard
03:00
commission
03:02
now under this legislation the
03:03
governor’s office would
03:05
be tasked with appointing two citizen
03:07
lay members
03:08
to the commission to provide a citizen’s
03:10
viewpoint on interactions with
03:12
law enforcement this is the culmination
03:15
of a process that we started early last
03:17
summer
03:18
in several meetings that we’ve hosted
03:19
with law enforcement
03:21
next wednesday is the last day that we
03:24
have to file legislation
03:25
we will have more announcements between
03:27
now and then on what we’ll be bringing
03:29
forward so stay tuned to press releases
03:31
that we’ll be bringing to all of you
03:33
keeping you up to date on what our
03:35
priorities that we’ll be pursuing
03:37
and with that i will open it up to any
03:38
questions that you may have
03:41
governor uh my name is steve rodrick i’m
03:42
with uh rolling stone magazine
03:45
and um dr deborah burks gave an
03:48
interview last week
03:49
where they were asked her what
03:51
responsibility that governors
03:53
in i should say mass optional states had
03:56
for where we stood with the covet
03:59
outbreak
04:00
and she says they they bear a lot of
04:02
responsibility and then
04:04
specifically she said sturgis was not
04:07
okay
04:07
uh i wonder what your response to that
04:09
and is there’s another obviously large
04:13
event happening in rapid city this
04:14
weekend if you’ve taken any
04:16
different steps this time around
04:20
well i would say that in south dakota
04:21
throughout the pandemic
04:23
we have followed the science of the
04:25
virus and what we know about it
04:27
the data and the facts on the ground and
04:30
then we’ve
04:31
given the people that live here all the
04:33
information that we have
04:34
that of ways they can protect their
04:36
health take care of their family but
04:38
also
04:39
exercise personal responsibility so i
04:41
know dr burks has expressed lots of
04:43
opinions
04:44
in south dakota we did not mandate any
04:46
masks we told people that
04:48
they should wear one if they if they
04:50
feel inclined to do so
04:52
but also that i didn’t necessarily want
04:54
people shamed if they chose not to
04:56
but left that up to individuals to
04:58
decide so
04:59
we have gone through a very tough year
05:01
in this country
05:02
we’ve tragically lost a lot of people
05:05
but i think in south dakota
05:06
overwhelmingly
05:08
people have banded together work
05:09
together to protect our health
05:11
but also make sure that we protected our
05:13
way of life too they were able to put
05:15
food on the table
05:16
keep a roof over their heads and um that
05:19
we are going to continue to get through
05:20
it together
05:21
okay thank you governor gnome uh chris
05:23
von draczik from foreign news service
05:25
yes do you think that
05:26
we’re headed for a second wave and if so
05:28
would there be a change in course in
05:29
terms of like a mass mandate or a social
05:31
distancing kind of restrictions
05:33
you know i think it’s different when you
05:34
look uh from across the country on where
05:37
we see cases continuing to increase and
05:40
decrease
05:41
right now our case numbers are down
05:43
which is extremely encouraging for
05:45
everybody i know our department of
05:46
health and
05:47
the doctors and public health providers
05:49
in the state are very encouraged by that
05:52
at our peak dr fauci had told me to
05:55
prepare for 10
05:56
000 people in the hospital on our worst
05:57
day our worst day was a little over 600
06:00
people in the hospital i
06:01
told the public that we were going to
06:02
continue to focus on taking care of
06:04
people
06:05
should they get sick we were going to
06:06
make sure we had hospital capacity for
06:08
that
06:09
we still have that capacity available
06:11
today we have a little over 100 people
06:13
in the hospital so we’re in a good spot
06:15
i do want everybody to keep some
06:17
perspective
06:18
that we peaked earlier than other states
06:21
we are seeing
06:22
huge increases in cases in states like
06:25
pennsylvania
06:26
and arizona and rhode island those
06:28
states
06:29
have taken different enforcement actions
06:31
they’ve had mass
06:32
mandates they’ve had businesses shut
06:35
down they’ve devastated
06:36
many families economically throughout
06:38
the pandemic
06:39
and so as this virus travels across the
06:42
country
06:43
there may have been different decisions
06:46
that governors have made but in south
06:48
dakota we peaked early
06:50
we’re down now we see that also other
06:52
areas of the country are peaking now
06:54
and they took different actions and we
06:56
have to continue to watch that data
06:57
going forward
06:59
i don’t think the people of south dakota
07:02
agree that we should have done something
07:04
differently i think they’ve appreciated
07:06
the fact that i trusted them and i gave
07:08
them all the information that i had
07:10
austin goss dakota news now governor i
07:11
want to get your opinion on
07:13
hp 1089 regarding release of information
07:17
security costs and just your opinion on
07:19
that and if you think that coincides
07:21
with your campaign promise of
07:22
transparency
07:24
well i don’t talk about security um i
07:26
never have and
07:27
and no governor ever has it’s for
07:29
obvious reasons
07:31
that’s not something i should be
07:32
commenting on
07:34
governor steven groves from ap um
07:38
i’m going to take us back to november
07:40
okay uh so you’d call the election
07:41
systems rigged
07:42
shortly after the election was that a
07:45
mistake and were the presidential
07:47
elections free and fair
07:49
you know president biden is in office if
07:51
you’ve watched what he’s been doing
07:52
since he’s been in office he’s done a
07:54
lot of executive orders and taken
07:56
actions
07:56
that are going to be very hard for the
07:58
state of south dakota to cope with
08:00
and will impact each of our families and
08:02
our economy going forward
08:04
so i think from here what i choose to do
08:06
is to look forward
08:07
and to know that this is the
08:08
administration that i’m going to have to
08:10
work with
08:10
to try to make sure that south dakota
08:12
continues to excel and our people do
08:14
well
08:15
and i’m focused on that um so i took
08:18
a little bit of a road trip and i talked
08:20
to republican voters
08:22
just to get their feelings on the
08:23
election i encountered a lot of
08:25
confusion
08:27
do you think it’s your responsibility as
08:29
governor um as the highest elected
08:30
official in this office
08:32
to provide some clarity
08:35
and speak to whether the election was
08:37
free and fair i think i’ve been
08:39
extremely forthright on
08:42
on the election i think that we went out
08:45
and spoke about the election said that
08:48
president trump
08:49
after the election deserved his day in
08:51
court he went to court
08:53
did not get a different result therefore
08:55
we now have president biden
08:57
and i have talked about president biden
09:00
my willingness to work with this
09:01
administration to do my job
09:03
as governor of the state of south dakota
09:05
and i’ll continue to do that
09:07
in being forthright was the election
09:09
free and fair
09:10
i think that we deserve fair and
09:13
transparent elections i think there’s a
09:15
lot of people have doubts about that i’m
09:16
really hopeful
09:17
that across this country that we can see
09:19
some efforts to
09:20
bring more transparency to the election
09:22
process in many states
09:25
distribute your sdpv you talked about
09:27
civil asset forfeiture with game wardens
09:30
following the death of george floyd you
09:32
said that also maybe may need to be
09:33
looked at in terms of law enforcement
09:35
you talked about
09:36
looking at police union contracts and
09:39
discussing qualified immunity
09:41
is that are those other proposals that
09:42
you plan on bringing we’re still having
09:44
discussions on some of those issues but
09:46
when i referenced in my opening comments
09:48
about having meetings with law
09:49
enforcement
09:50
it was after that event that happened in
09:52
minneapolis and recognizing that we
09:54
needed to get people in the room and
09:55
start talking about solutions
09:58
and you know i’ve appreciated the
10:00
partnership we have with law enforcement
10:01
here in south dakota
10:02
a lot of outstanding men and women step
10:05
up and serve
10:06
and they’ve been partnering with us and
10:08
dci and the attorney general’s office
10:10
to come up with some solutions that we
10:12
think the people of south dakota will
10:13
appreciate and value
10:15
and as for the two citizens on the
10:18
review board um should that include
10:22
a black and indigenous people
10:25
we’re not specifying that in the
10:27
legislation at all
10:29
governor when you were talking about
10:31
that police reform bill and that like he
10:32
has said you had been talking about that
10:34
since
10:34
june of last year what conversations
10:36
have you had with law enforcement
10:38
officers around the state to make it
10:39
feasible for both citizens
10:41
and law enforcement officers to make
10:43
what feasible
10:44
just your your legislation and proposals
10:47
well i think that the citizens of the
10:49
state appreciate our law enforcement
10:51
they recognize the sacrifices that they
10:53
make and how they put their lives in
10:54
jeopardy for us each and every day
10:56
um but they also want to know that that
10:59
there’s conversations going back and
11:01
forth communications and i think this
11:02
commission’s an important part of that
11:04
so it’s a great step and something that
11:07
we’re seeing a lot of support out of
11:08
legislators for
11:09
and we’re continuing our work i don’t
11:11
think we’re finished when we pass these
11:12
bills
11:14
but we will continue to work to make
11:15
sure that we have the great relationship
11:17
with law enforcement that we’ve always
11:18
had
11:20
mark with the pioneer mark i’m going to
11:22
go to jonathan in the room and then i’ll
11:23
come to you
11:25
uh yeah governor yesterday we were
11:27
treated to a great
11:28
several hours of constitutional law
11:30
thanks to the amendment a challenge that
11:32
you’re behind
11:33
um i’m curious the supporters have said
11:35
that
11:36
if they lose here they’re coming back
11:38
with something again
11:40
that would probably be less favorable
11:42
than what the state would get out of
11:44
what a pass in terms of tax revenue i’m
11:46
concerned i mean are you do you feel
11:47
like
11:48
on this you’re gambling and by winning
11:50
you might ultimately lose
11:51
down the road so i didn’t hear that
11:54
conversation i’m not sure what they
11:55
would come back
11:56
with all i can do is look at what’s
11:59
happening in the court system
12:01
today and wait for a result that’s
12:04
that’s why this is in court
12:05
and the cases were presented yesterday
12:08
we’ll have to wait several more weeks to
12:10
see what the decision
12:11
is we expect that it could end up in
12:13
front of the supreme court
12:18
another question on that lawsuit
12:21
oh i’m sorry mark yes go ahead
12:24
thank you governor the bus resistance
12:27
training legislation
12:29
uh can you describe uh what that’s going
12:32
to be a little bit more
12:33
is that the buzzword ds collection trick
12:38
it’s specific legislation that would
12:39
allow our law enforcement officers to be
12:41
prepared to go into any situation that
12:43
they may face
12:44
and to be trained on a regular basis so
12:46
every two years
12:48
they would have the ability to go to a
12:50
training seminar or event where it would
12:53
prepare them to respond to resistance in
12:55
an appropriate manner
12:59
uh abby wargo capital journal i’m gonna
13:01
go to stephen and abby then i’ll come
13:02
use that okay
13:03
okay so uh going back to the lawsuit um
13:07
lawyers for colonel miller had um argued
13:10
in court yesterday that they effectively
13:11
brought the lawsuit
13:12
on your behalf as as colonel miller
13:16
being part of your administration um and
13:19
they said that you weren’t able to file
13:20
it
13:20
um yourself because you were dealing
13:23
with the global pandemic
13:25
i’m wondering if uh traveling out of
13:28
state and campaigning
13:29
also had to deal with um also affected
13:32
your ability to
13:33
file that lawsuit and or your ability to
13:37
present an effective campaign against
13:39
the mma which you opposed
13:41
so nobody has any doubt where i stand on
13:43
amendment a i’ve been very clear since
13:45
the beginning i’ve told you multiple
13:46
times i don’t think anybody
13:48
got smarter smoking pot and that
13:51
i think the it’s a bad decision for the
13:54
state of south dakota in fact i was
13:55
actively engaged in making sure the
13:57
people of south dakota knew how i felt
13:59
about these ballot measures before
14:01
election day colonel miller volunteered
14:03
to bring the litigation
14:04
and we are a part of this discussion
14:07
that’s ongoing
14:09
we have been focused on doing my job as
14:12
governor and what my role is
14:13
with whatever challenge may come we will
14:16
handle it and deal with it
14:17
and make sure that we’re creating
14:19
opportunities for south dakota to be
14:20
successful and
14:21
to build stronger families i
14:24
wholeheartedly believe that
14:25
that amendment a is bad for our state
14:28
and will be very clear
14:29
about my opposition to it governor um a
14:32
few minutes ago we heard you
14:34
not clearly say the election was free
14:37
and fair and accurate
14:38
so i’m gonna go report that and then
14:40
everyone’s gonna we’re gonna perpetuate
14:41
misinformation right
14:43
don’t you think you could say that right
14:45
now and block me from reporting that
14:47
right and just say hey
14:48
the election in november was a good
14:50
election i think there’s
14:52
instances and states where we have
14:53
questions and so people deserve what you
14:55
should report
14:56
is what i actually said is that the
14:58
people of this country
15:00
deserve to have transparent and fair
15:02
elections
15:03
so we have a result we have a president
15:05
that was elected
15:06
he is in office i am willing to work
15:09
with him and i believe he is our
15:11
president of the united states
15:13
and i also think there are some reforms
15:14
that should be pursued in some states
15:16
where we’ve seen
15:17
some places where there wasn’t potent
15:19
potential integrity
15:21
i’ve said many times to all of you in
15:23
the press
15:24
i wish every state had the same election
15:26
system that south dakota has
15:28
where you present an id a driver’s
15:30
license when you vote
15:31
we overwhelmingly vote on paper you vote
15:34
on or before election day
15:37
and that those are clear transparent
15:39
integrity driven processes that were not
15:40
followed in every other state
15:42
i would i would hope that people would
15:44
consider putting some reforms in in some
15:46
of these states to make sure
15:47
that the people and the public of the
15:49
united states of america can trust their
15:50
election system
15:52
abby okay so i actually have two
15:54
questions now okay
15:55
um so if you’ll if you’ll indulge me um
15:59
so on your on the topic of wishing every
16:01
state has the same election system that
16:03
south dakota has
16:04
obviously there i think ours is a model
16:06
i think that ours is a model that should
16:08
be used
16:10
we had an election we had a result
16:12
president biden is the president
16:14
i think that when you look at some other
16:16
states where we saw
16:18
different actions going on there were
16:20
there were questions
16:21
president trump went to court he lost he
16:24
lost those challenges
16:25
therefore we have a new administration
16:27
and i’m working with the biden
16:28
administration to do all that i can to
16:30
make sure that south dakota and what we
16:32
value is protected
16:33
i was going to ask about specifically in
16:35
south dakota
16:36
there was some legis legislation brought
16:39
forward
16:40
about allowing online voter registration
16:42
in this state
16:43
that was um eventually struck down and
16:46
you know there have been some amendments
16:48
that will allow people
16:49
if it passes to change their voter
16:52
registration information online so
16:54
i just want to get your thoughts on that
16:56
and do you think that that was the right
16:58
choice do you think online voter
16:59
registration doesn’t have a place
17:01
in the electoral system now we’re
17:03
watching that bill go through the
17:05
process i know it’s still
17:06
under discussion and we’ll continue to
17:08
do that i have since i’ve been governor
17:10
not gotten into hypotheticals and tried
17:12
not to weigh in on legislation
17:14
legislation that’s still being amended
17:16
and worked on
17:18
as much as possible so we’ll continue to
17:20
monitor monitor it and be here to
17:22
give input as needed one more question
17:24
governor
17:25
who’s wondering we’ll go to stephen here
17:29
in the room and then i’ll go to
17:30
i think it was kellowland as someone not
17:32
from the state uh i wonder
17:34
when you were coming up with the your
17:36
final decisions on
17:37
on mass mandates if there was a clash
17:40
between
17:40
as you say the personal responsibility
17:42
that you let the people of south dakota
17:44
have
17:44
versus what some of the democrats say
17:47
that the long time
17:48
tradition in south dakota of looking out
17:49
for your neighbor and
17:51
you know personal responsibility and
17:52
delivering them food if they need it or
17:54
helping them bring in their harvest if
17:56
if they’re sick is there a clash between
17:58
those two ideals
18:00
i don’t think it’s a clash but we looked
18:01
at the science and the data making all
18:03
those decisions too
18:04
and there was not a lot of data to back
18:07
up that mask mandates work
18:09
now there are some masks that work and
18:11
when worn appropriately and when people
18:14
wear the right ones appropriately in the
18:15
right situations they can make a
18:17
difference
18:18
but mandates if you look from state to
18:20
state city to city that’s enacted them
18:23
it’s hard to see a consistency and
18:24
result and in fact the
18:26
three states i mentioned earlier have
18:28
had mass mandates
18:30
for months and now they’re seeing huge
18:32
increases
18:33
in cases and in hospitalizations and in
18:35
deaths
18:36
so i think it it would be difficult to
18:39
say
18:40
that we picked in either or i think that
18:43
there wasn’t
18:44
a lot of data there wasn’t a lot of
18:46
science that said mask
18:47
mandates work the actual mandate of it
18:51
and also i do value personal
18:53
responsibility i
18:55
is my job as governor is
18:58
very defined what authorities i have and
19:01
what authorities i don’t have
19:02
and i recognize that that it’s important
19:05
to have a leader that doesn’t overstep
19:06
their authority
19:07
especially in a time of crisis i think
19:09
there’s a a breaking
19:11
of our republic when leaders overstep
19:14
the authority that they have an infringe
19:16
on personal rights and responsibilities
19:18
let’s go to kelloland
19:22
thank you governor i want to circle back
19:24
to hb 1089.
19:26
just ask you what does releasing the
19:28
overall costs of traveling security to
19:30
lawmakers
19:31
have to do with your safety and are
19:33
those costs being reimbursed in any way
19:36
well again i don’t talk about security
19:38
and i don’t believe
19:39
any governor ever has in this state
19:42
and we’ll continue to follow that
19:49
legislation
