A LEGISLATIVE COMMEMORATION, Honoring the life of former United States senator, United States representative, and state legislator Tim Johnson.

WHEREAS, Tim Johnson died on October 8, 2024, at age 77, after a career in state and national politics; and

WHEREAS, Tim Johnson's thirty-six years holding state and federal elected office is the longest such span in South Dakota history; and

WHEREAS, Tim Johnson, a Democrat, never lost an election in his years serving South Dakota, winning two terms in the state House of Representatives, two terms in the state Senate, five terms in the United States House of Representatives, and three terms in the United States Senate; and

WHEREAS, Tim Johnson chaired the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs from 2011 to 2015, and also served on the Appropriations Committee, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and the Indian Affairs Committee; and

WHEREAS, Tim Johnson worked closely with, and was an advocate for, the nine Native American Tribal Nations in South Dakota, and was given the Lakota name Wacante Ognake, or Holds the people in his heart; and

WHEREAS, Tim Johnson was a champion of rural water projects, the ethanol industry, farmers and ranchers, country-of-origin labeling on meat products, Ellsworth Air Force Base, the underground science laboratory in the former Homestake Mine, and similar projects to help South Dakota; and

WHEREAS, despite suffering stroke-like symptoms in 2006 from a congenital defect called a cerebral arteriovenous malformation, Johnson easily won re-election in 2008 and continued to serve the people of South Dakota;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT COMMEMORATED, by the One Hundredth Legislature of the State of South Dakota, that the late Senator Tim Johnson is an outstanding example of a lawmaker who built on what he learned as a state representative and state senator when he went on to serve this state with distinction in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate.