BROOKINGS – District 7 lawmakers offered a collective “no” Saturday to a bill that aims to end collective bargaining rights at state public universities.

House bill 1199, if passed, would prohibit collective bargaining by employees of the Board of Regents.

The trio of Brookings legislators, Sen. Larry Tidemann and Reps. Spence Hawley and Tim Reed, offered their comments in opposition to the measure Saturday, at the Brookings Area Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Committee’s first legislative forum of the 2018 session.

Republican House Speaker Mark Mickelson, sponsor of HB 1199, has said it’s important the institutions can adapt and meet the needs of students and industry, the Associated Press reported. Gov. Dennis Daugaard has said he would support the legislation.

Union contracts cover more than 1,300 staff members in the state, according to the Associated Press.

Reed said he did not agree with and would not support HB 1199. 

But he said he did have some concerns related to HB 1198, a bill that would prohibit school districts from paying employees while they do union-related work.

“When union representatives go and do negotiations or go to an event, … I don’t think they should use taxpayer dollars,” Reed said. “I assume that’s what union dollars, membership fees and such, are used for. That’s how I thought it happened, and this is what I want to hear more about on HB 1198. I think it’s one that needs to be discussed.”

Hawley said he didn’t agree with any bills related to collective bargaining and called HB 1199 “a terrible bill.”

“We have done several things already to impede higher education in South Dakota already. No. 1 is we’re not giving them any increase of funds, is the big one, so they’re not able to give the salary increases.

“And if we get rid of collective bargaining, … just the message we send to our state employees: ‘We think you guys are getting too much already and we need to get rid of this.’ And the message that it sends to prospective professors and researchers coming in to the state of South Dakota is just terrible,” Hawley said.

Hawley said South Dakota’s economic growth is dependent on knowledge and research.

“We need to be sending the message that we’re wide open for education, fully supportive of it at the K-12 and Board of Regents level, and we’re fully supportive of research,” he added.

Tidemann said the legislators’ position on HB 1199 was unanimous, and when asked, he refused to sign on to the bill.

Just having a great retirement system is not enough to attract professors and researchers here, he noted.

“It’s the perception we send to the rest of the nation. We’re recruiting from the rest of the nation for professors, and that’s a negative message. Even not passing this bill will send a negative message,” Tidemann said.

“South Dakota’s a great place to come and raise a family. But if we can’t pay the salaries to compete with our neighboring states, and if we take away one thing they see as a perk, that’s another thing that drives them away.”

State lawmakers on Friday rejected a bill that would have banned public school administrators from collective bargaining in right-to-work South Dakota.

Contact Jill Fier at jfier@brookingsregister.com.