The fourth annual Elevate Rapid City Pro-Business scorecard tracked the votes on 13 key bills that Elevate took a stance on during the 2023 Legislative session. These bills focused on three key areas: public policy, appropriations, and housing.

Scorecards are a useful fact-based accountability tool that allows voters to see how their representatives voted on issues that are important to them.

For the past three years, Elevate has tracked the votes of local legislators. This year, an addition was made to the scorecard to track to votes of legislative leadership.

“The scorecard outlines legislative priorities for Western South Dakota and the Rapid City business community,” said public policy director Garth Wadsworth. “There are several west river and Black Hills-specific projects that we prioritized this year, such as funding the Sanford Underground Research Facility or West River Health Sciences Center. In the past, we have used the scorecard only to review the voting record of local legislators. This year we decided to review both Republican and Democratic leadership on the same set of bills. It was interesting to compare the support for west river projects statewide with those from the region.”

Infrastructure, schools, safety, and amenities all play a crucial role in creating a community people want to live in. Without a sound public policy to support growth and improvement in these areas, a community cannot thrive. This is why Elevate maintains a full-time presence in Pierre advocating for the region’s business community.

Even without a statewide election this year, it is important for the public to be aware of how their elected officials vote and to contact their representatives about issues that matter most to them.

“Engaging with local officials is important year-round,” Wadsworth added. “Most people wait until an election to pay attention. But these people are elected to act on your behalf; seeing how they vote when they are in office is more important than promises made during a campaign.”

The full scorecard, in addition to Elevate Rapid City’s public policy guide and resources, can be found here.