Welcome to the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce and Industry
 
South Dakota is a great place to do business. Maintaining a great place to do business requires a delicate balance of reasonable tax levels and adequate public infrastructure, especially in the area of education. This balance is not automatic nor guaranteed in the constitution. It takes work. The South Dakota Chamber of Commerce and Industry has done that work on behalf of the business community for nearly 85 years. This work has included responding to crises such as workers compensation coverage, attempts to pass corporate income taxes and countless regulations on business. Today the Chamber is focused on making sure South Dakota is well prepared for the economic transitions that could prove to be either a great boon or a tremendous disaster for our citizens. In pursuit of this mission the Chamber has:

• Identified education as "the driving force of economic development for the future."
• Committed to helping members and other businesses connect with the myriad of assistance programs to help them expand or initiate new ventures.
• Committed to finding and encouraging new (and renewed) entrepreneurs and to developing program(s) that could provide them with development grants to further grow ideas.
• Increase South Dakota's investment in research and development.

The role of representative in addressing public policy issues will always be at the core of the Chamber's mission. In this area the recent focus has been:

• Advancing an appreciation of the importance of manufacturing. The SD Chamber of Commerce and INDUSTRY is the manufacturers association of South Dakota.
• Working to keep a balance in property tax burdens between commercial and residential/agricultural properties.

To summarize our role, "If you have a problem with government policy, we are here to help you fix it. If you do not have problems with public policy, we are here to keep it that way."

David Owen
President