What are your excuses for missing 120 votes?

The South Dakota 101st Legislative Session is officially over. It’s time to review how our District 27 State Senator, Red Dawn Foster, and State Representatives Peri Pourier and Liz May performed throughout the 38-day session in Pierre.

With no snowstorms to contend with this winter, preventing legislators from attending session, one could argue that there should be few excuses to make it to Pierre this session to cast a vote. However, that was not the case. See the report card below:

District 27 Legislators Absent during 2026 State Legislative Session
Dates Absent from Legislature	Rep. Pourier	Sen. Foster	Rep. May
January 13, 2026 (Opening Day)			X
January 14, 2026 (Second Day)	X		X
January 15, 2026 (Third Day)			X
January 16, 2026 (Fourth Day)			X
January 22, 2026 (Seventh Day)			X
January 23, 2026 (Eighth Day)			X
January 26, 2026 (Ninth Day)			X
February 9, 2026 (Eighteenth Day)			X
February 17, 2026 (Twenty-second Day)	X
February 19, 2026 (Twenty-fourth Day)	X
February 24, 2026 (Twenty-seventh Day)	X
February 25, 2026 (Twenty-eighth Day)		X
February 26, 2026 (Twenty-ninth Day)		X
March 10, 2026 (Thirty-fifth Day)			X
March 11, 2026 (Thirty-sixth Day)			X
March 12, 2026 (Thirty-seventh Day)			X
March 30, 2026 (Veto Day) (Thirty-eighth Day)	X		X
Days Absent During Legislative Session	5	2	12
Absent Rate (Excused)	13%	5%	32%
Votes Missed	47	22	51
Bills Introduced (Prime Sponsor)	6	2	1
Concurrent Resolutions (Prime Sponsor)	0	0	0
Commemorations (Prime Sponsor)	13	16	0
Co-Sponsor of Bills, Concurrent Resolutions, or Joint Resolutions	42	18	10
Legislative Term	4th	4th	3rd

Legislator (27)	Rep. May (R)		Rep. Pourier (R)		Sen. Foster (D)
Session	2025	2026	2025	2026	2025	2026
Days Missed	3	12	4	5	5	2
Absent Rate	8%	32%	11%	13%	13%	5%
Votes Missed	10	51	30	47	44	22
Bills Introduced	5	1	0	6	4	2
Bills Co-sponsored	47	10	46	42	26	18
Commemorations	0	0	1	13	2	16

This year, Representative May was absent 32% of the time during the scheduled 2026 legislative session, with 12 days missed, a 24% increase from last year. She also missed a total of 51 recorded votes on the House floor and only introduced one bill on behalf of her constituents and co-sponsored only 10 bills, a sharp decrease from the 2025 legislative session, when she co-sponsored 47. Her one bill (HB 1269) was deferred to the 41st Day by the House Ag and Natural Resources Committee, effectively killing the bill.

Representative Pourier's excused absence rate jumped two percentage points to 13% from the previous legislative session, resulting in her missing 47 critical votes on the House floor this session. However, she outperformed her colleagues, Foster and May, by introducing 6 bills this year, compared with 0 in the previous session. Note: One of her six bills was later withdrawn at her request.

Pourier’s prime-sponsorship of HB 1233, HB 1175, and HB 1232 were signed into law by the Governor. Perhaps switching her party affiliation from Democrat to Republican in September 2025 allowed her to caucus with the supermajority and introduce legislation she had been unable to do in the past. She is now term-limited in the House, so we shall see whether she decides to run as a Republican in a heavily Democratic district in the State Senate – stay tuned.

Senator Foster receives the award for Most Improved Attendance by a District 27 legislator in this session, with 2 days missing from this legislative session compared to the 2025 session, where she had 5 excused absences. Though she had a 5% absentee rate, she missed 22 votes in those two critical days when she was absent from the Senate floor. She was the prime sponsor for two bills this legislative session (HB 1293 and SB 141). Both bills were tabled and never got out of committee.

Along with Pourier, Foster focused much of her energy on introducing commemorations recognizing various Native constituents within her district.

Before the gavel came down, closing out the 101st Session of the State Legislature, Senator Foster was highly praised for her brevity and thoughtful communication by her Senate colleagues. After eight years in the state senate, she is now term-limited. It remains to be seen whether she will flip to run for the State House, or will she be picked up as a Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor. Time will tell.

Each legislator was paid $15,970  to represent you and to be your voice in this legislative session. A combined total of 120 House and Senate floor votes were missed because of our legislators' excused absence. Did the taxpayers of District 27 receive a satisfactory return on their investment? You be the judge.

Keep in mind that the number of missed votes is higher because there are voice votes that are not recorded. There are also critical committee votes I have not identified that impact overall legislation coming to the House or Senate floor. Every vote matters.

For the record, all the minutes for the 2026 legislative session show that all three legislators had excused absences documented in the minutes of the House or Senate Daily Journal. The question I have is: What is your excuse for missing a day of legislative session?

As I shared with you last year, when our legislators miss votes, that means your voice is not being heard in either of the two legislative chambers in Pierre. When you want your representative or senator to vote a certain way, and you call the Senate or House switchboard operator, and your legislator is not there, you are out of luck with that message getting to them. Keep in mind, there were 38 days in this session. Many legislatures have perfect attendance records and take their job seriously.

This past legislative session, for example, Senator Arch Beal of District 12 (Lincoln and Minnehaha Counties) was gone for the entire 2026 legislative session. The people in his district had no voice on any of the bills that were presented in the state senate throughout the entire session. And yes, Senator Beal gets to collect his full salary for not attending a single day of session – and he is running again. Imagine that! (Note: He was out for medical reasons.)

I recognize that there will be times when a legislator has urgent medical appointments, business commitments, illnesses or injury, unexpected deaths in the family, inclement weather, national guard duty, maternity leave, disciplinary action of the legislator and so forth that make them unable to attend to their official responsibilities as a legislator; however, if one runs for an elected office to represent their constituents, then they ought to do their best in making sure they are present to cast every vote.

For transparency purposes, it would be appropriate if the public knew why their legislator was excused from attending the legislative session. The excused absences are not documented for public inspection, making one wonder why they are not doing the job for which they were elected to do.

It should be a concern to all taxpayers when a part-time legislator has a consistent pattern of being absent during the legislative session. Our legislators are elected to do the work of the people. When there is observable chronic absenteeism by a legislator, the public has to hold our legislators accountable and be made aware of their "excused" absences. To state "excused" on the recorded minutes of each day doesn't tell the taxpayer the full story as to why they missed critical votes. If an elected official is receiving a salary from the taxpayers, then the public ought to know the excuse as to why a particular representative and/or senator continues to miss critical votes on the floor or in committee hearings while the legislature is in session.

In all fairness, only one of our District 27 legislators made the public aware of her excused absence. See her Facebook post of March 22, 2026 – ten days after the legislators went into recess before they arrived back at the Capitol on March 30th to consider gubernatorial vetoes.

Based on the little information available to the public, it appears “excuses” are granted and handed out like candy by leadership or the chair of a committee. One can make the argument that a legislator is marked “excused” during a committee meeting because the legislator had to miss part of a meeting to present a bill, or multiple bills, during another committee meeting that is taking place at the same time.

When one reviews the number of bills introduced by our three seasoned legislators this past session, one could justify that they are excused from attending a committee hearing because they are the prime sponsors of a bill. However, only a handful of bills were introduced by our three legislators – Pourier had six bills she sponsored, Foster and May each introduced two and one bill, respectively.

Not much activity is occurring in this district from three seasoned legislators, unlike some legislators who introduced several bills this session.

I also see that Pourier and Foster continue to be focused on getting Concurrent Resolutions and Commemorations passed rather than doing the heavy lifting of legislation and passing bills that look out for their constituents’ interests. Commemorations are nice, but you were not elected to pass out participation trophies.

In all fairness, Senator Foster sat on the Senate Committee on Appropriations and the Joint Committee on Appropriations, which meets Mondays through Fridays with a rigorous meeting schedule. Because she sits on these two committees, she had significant influence on matters regarding the state budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The Joint Committee on Appropriations this year ended up passing a budget that increased overall state spending by $80 million, created 26 new full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs, and five new welfare programs, which she supported. (Note: Below you can see how Pourier voted; May was "Excused".)

HB 1326 - May (R) (Excused), Pourier (R) voted to pass the bill to expand the state's budget.

SB 78 - May (R) (Excused), Pourier (R) voted to pass the bill to expand the state's budget.

Foster was also the only legislator from District 27 who attended the joint session on January 14, 2026, to listen to the State of the Tribes address by the Honorable Kathleen Wooden Knife, President of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. Representatives Pourier and May were absent. Native Americans make up a significant number of the voters in this district; however, Pourier and May were not in attendance, and missed an opportunity to hear what the President of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe had to say. That should not sit well with our constituents.

Finally, on the 38th day of the legislative session, both May and Pourier had excused absences. Consequently, they did not think it was worth the drive to try to overturn the governor's veto on the two bills that were voted on the House floor. My hunch is that neither wanted to waste their time and make the long drive to Pierre to cast three votes that were not going to make a difference, so they made an excuse to not show up in person and do the work that they were elected for, which leads me to my final point of this post.

While growing up on our farm, our dad would leave a handwritten list of chores on the back of an envelope for us to complete when he was away. My brothers and I were expected to get the work done—no excuses, and there were consequences if we didn’t.

I have only been involved in politics for a short time, but I am not naïve about what can happen behind closed doors. Not every absence from the legislature is due to legitimate reasons. Some legislators may skip a day to avoid having their vote recorded on a controversial bill, while others appear to disengage from the process altogether. There are also instances where participation seems minimal despite the responsibility entrusted to them by taxpayers.

Given these concerns, it may be worth considering a compensation structure that ties legislative pay more directly to attendance. While such a change may not fully resolve the issue, it would better align compensation with accountability. After all, legislators are elected to serve and represent their constituents, and attendance is a fundamental part of that duty.

If I am elected to the legislature as your state senator beginning in 2027, I would consider introducing legislation to explore an attendance-based compensation model. Other states offer examples worth examining. For instance, Wyoming legislators receive a modest monthly stipend of $300 along with a $150 per-day payment during the legislative session (1). New Hampshire provides a very small annual salary of $100, and New Mexico legislators do not receive a traditional salary at all (2).

That said, I recognize that our state constitution requires legislative compensation, as it should. The goal is not to eliminate pay, but to ensure it reflects participation and responsibility. If we are serious about fiscal discipline, then accountability in legislative attendance is a reasonable place to begin.

Sources:

(1) Phone conversation with Heather Kammerman, Fiscal Officer, of the Wyoming Legislative Service Office, March 24, 2026.

(2) https://www.ncsl.org/about-state-legislatures/2025-legislator-compensation