Black Hills university civics center initiative defeated for second year in a row

One vote margin stops bill from reaching Gov. Kristi Noem's desk

Rep. Scott Odenbach visits with Rep. John Mills on the House floor. (Austin Goss/The Dakota Scout)

PIERRE — Rep. Scott Odenbach’s run at creating a civics education center on the campus of a university in his district was defeated for the second year in a row.

And like last legislative session, the bill met its demise by a slim margin, 17-16.

Had Odenbach’s House Bill 1213 been adopted into law, it would have granted the Board of Regents permission to create the “Dr. Nicholas W. Drummond Center for Civic Engagement,” named for a former political science professor who passed away suddenly last year. Drummond was an advocate of Odenbach’s efforts to create a civics center on the campus of BHSU.

The center would have been tasked with teaching students on and off campus about political and civil engagement, hosting programs related to the center’s core mission, and also in helping the Board of Regents craft curriculum.

But unlike last year’s bill — which would have created a more ideologically bent “Center for American Exceptionalism” and required a special appropriation — Odenbach’s 2024 proposal required only a simple majority of each chamber of the Legislature. That’s because the Board of Regents intended to fund the center with money it already had.

“This would bring more focus on civics education, and our exceptional American institutions to our college students,” Odenbach told lawmakers during debate on the House floor. “We should have the opportunity, even the requirement, when attending a South Dakota university to be exposed to the truths about America’s unique system of government.”

Overwhelming support in the House did not stop skeptics in the Senate from raising questions about some of the specifics of the measure.

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