Senate committee recommends approval of $30 million in funding for S.D. cybersecurity lab
(The Center Square) – The South Dakota Senate Affairs Committee recommended approval of two bills that would lead to the construction of a new cybersecurity lab in Sioux Falls.
The $90 million project is funded with a $50 million donation from philanthropist T. Denny Sanford, $10 million from the city of Sioux Falls and a proposed $30 million in funding from the state. The 10 to 16 acres of land is being donated by Sanford Health, according to a news release from Dakota State University (DSU), which will oversee the program.
The project is expected to create 400 to 500 new jobs that pay more than $100,000 a year.
“This project will diversify Sioux Falls workforce in a way we haven’t seen before,” Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken said. “That sort of economic development and that sort of employment base just hasn’t been seen in a long time in the City of Sioux Falls.”
Gov. Kristi Noem appeared before the committee Wednesday to ask them to move Senate Bill 54, which would authorize the $30 million in state funds, and Senate Bill 130, which outlines the Board of Regents to use the $50 million donation on the project.
“This is the industry of the future,” Noem said to the committee. “And it is creating high-paying jobs right here at home that will lead us and our kids into much success.”
The project is an extension of the DSU’s cybersecurity program that has 200 graduates a year. The lab would give the school the capacity to double the program, DSU President José-Marie Griffiths said. The Governor’s Cyber Security Academy also would expand to all state high schools. The program gives students a chance to earn 30 college credit hours before they graduate from high school.
“We created a vision to expand DSU’s Applied Research Lab (ARL) to stimulate a vibrant cyber-research industry in Sioux Falls which supports national security and defense, offers workforce and economic development opportunities, and establishes South Dakota as a cyber state,” Griffiths said in a press release.
The committee agreed to send the bill to the Joint Committee on Appropriations.
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