Knudson leading push to reorganize Tourism & Economic Development

By David Montgomery
Published/Last Modified on Thursday, Jan 28, 2010 - 01:58:11 pm CST

Sen. Dave Knudson introduced a bill today, SB140, which would significantly reorganize the Department of Tourism and Economic Development into independent departments.

The bill would create an independent Department of Tourism and an independent Department of Economic Development, outside the governor's office.

The division of the Arts would stay with Tourism. The office of Tribal Affairs would go back to the govenror's office. Cultural and archaeological activities would go into the Department of Education.

"Economic development is probably the number one issue in terms of importance for South Dakota," Knudson said. "Having a single-minded, single-focused department is the best bet for the future."

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Comments

1 comment(s)

Troy Jones wrote on Jan 28, 2010 8:34 PM:

" Good idea. As a former employee of the Governor's Office of Economic Development, it would be great of he called for a return to the Governor's Office of Economic Development.

Under the Mickelson structure, being part of the Governor's Office gave prospects the confidence employees spoke with the Governor's blessing but also gave the office the ability to cross department lines to address issues. A healthy business environment is not just maintained in one office but involves all of state government. "

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