Tim Johnson (South Dakota politician)

Timothy Peter Johnson (born December 28, 1946) is a retired American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from South Dakota from 1997 to 2015.

Raised in Vermillion, Johnson earned a B.A. in 1969 and an M.A. in 1970 from the University of South Dakota, where he was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity.

After doing post-graduate studies at Michigan State University from 1970 to 1971, a period during which he worked for the Michigan Senate, Johnson returned to Vermillion to attend the University of South Dakota School of Law and earned his J.D. in 1975; immediately after earning his juris doctor, he went into private practice.

He did not take the bar exam as he was admitted to the South Dakota bar under the state's diploma privilege.

Johnson served in the South Dakota House of Representatives from 1979 to 1982 and in the South Dakota Senate from 1983 to 1986.

Johnson served as Clay County deputy state's attorney in 1985 during his tenure in the South Dakota Senate.

He was elected to the United States House of Representatives from South Dakota's at-large congressional district in 1986.

During his first term, he introduced more legislation than any other freshman member of the House.

A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the United States representative for SD's at-large congressional district from 1987 to 1997 and in the state legislature from 1979 to 1987.

During his first term in the House of Representatives, Johnson authored the Mni Wiconi Project Act of 1988 (H.R. 2772, enacted into law as Public Law 100–516).

The measure authorized construction of a water project serving an area of southwestern South Dakota that included the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, an area that had long suffered low water supplies and poor water quality.

In subsequent years, Johnson authored legislation (H.R. 3954) to expand the Mni Wiconi Rural Water Project service area, and the expansion was incorporated into a broader bill and enacted as Public Law 103-434.

Between 1991 and 1994, he served as a regional whip for the Democratic Party.

Johnson's Mid Dakota Rural Water System Act of 1991 (H.R. 616) was incorporated into a larger package of infrastructure projects and enacted into law as Public Law 102-575.

Having first authored legislation addressing the issue in 1992 (H.R. 5855), Johnson continued the fight until a meat labeling law was enacted in 2002 as part of the Farm Bill reauthorization (Public Law 107–171).

The enacted law contained language Johnson had introduced as S. 280 earlier that Congress.

For more than a decade, executive branch oppositionand legal challenges delayed implementation of the labeling law.

He left the House in 1997, when he took up his newly acquired Senate seat.

Johnson's Senate career began in 1997.

The Fall River Rural Water Users District Rural Water System Act of 1998 (S. 744 in the 105th Congress, enacted as Public Law 105–352) authorized the Bureau of Reclamation to construct a rural water system in Fall River County of South Dakota.

After years of drought, residents in the southeastern area of that county had been left without a suitable water supply, and many of them were forced to either haul water or use bottled water because of poor water quality.

The Lewis and Clark Rural Water System Act of 1999 (S.244 in the 106th Congress) authorized construction of a water delivery system spanning a broad area of southeastern South Dakota, northwestern Iowa, and southwestern Minnesota.

The system joined 22 rural water systems and communities.

The authorized project was intended to bring clean, safe drinking water to 180,000 individuals throughout the Lewis and Clark service region.

The Perkins County Rural Water System Act (S.2117 in the 105th Congress and S.243 in the 106th Congress, enacted as Public Law 106–136) authorized the Bureau of Reclamation to construct a rural water system in Perkins County of South Dakota, serving approximately 2,500 residents including the communities of Lemmon and Bison.

Johnson worked to enact a requirement that meat and other agricultural products be labeled for country of origin.

In December 2006, Johnson suffered a brain hemorrhage.

The Mid Dakota Rural Water Project was completed in 2006 and serves more than 30,000 residents of east-central South Dakota.

He returned to his full schedule in the Senate on September 5, 2007, to both tributes and standing ovations.

In May 2007, Johnson received an Honored Cooperator award from the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA) for his support of cooperative businesses.

In 2013, the National Farmers Union presented Johnson with its Friend of the Family Farmer award, an honor intended to recognize his commitment to helping small scale family farms remain viable.

Johnson authored the bill establishing the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site in western South Dakota.

The measure was enacted as Public Law 106–115, creating a new unit of the National Park System.

Johnson chose not to seek reelection as a Senator in 2014; South Dakota’s congressional delegation has been all-Republican since he left office.

Johnson is also the last Democrat to have held statewide office in South Dakota or win a statewide election in the state.

Johnson was born in Canton, South Dakota, the son of Ruth Jorinda (née Ljostveit), a homemaker, and Vandel Charles Johnson, an educator.

He has Norwegian, Swedish and Danish ancestry.

Johnson chose not to seek reelection in 2014.

During his tenure in Congress, Johnson supported infrastructure projects that delivered clean drinking water to communities throughout South Dakota and into surrounding states.

He authored several water project bills, resulting in clean drinking water being delivered to hundreds of thousands of South Dakota families.