Noem’s $200M housing initiative again splintering House Republicans

Lawmakers last year spent days bickering about same spending program

(Austin Goss/Dakota News Now)

PIERRE — It’s as if Ground Hog Day came early in the South Dakota Legislature.

Divisions within the caucus of Republicans in the state House over a $200 million spending package revealed last year were on full display again Friday when lawmakers were again at odds over those same dollars.

During last year’s legislative session, House members spent days playing politics over Gov. Kristi Noem’s initiative to use a combination of state and federal dollars to create a housing infrastructure program. But an error in that the final legislation that narrowly passed at the time has kept those dollars from being dispersed.

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