Assuming the crews get I-90 and SD 34 plowed, the Legislature will be back in Session tomorrow. If you’re interested in democracy and white-knuckle driving, here are some bills before committee that you might want to come testify about on Tuesday, all in the early first round of committee action:
- Senate Education, 7:45 a.m., Rm 423: Senator Troy Heinert (D-26/Mission) gets to pitch his Senate Bill 213, currently an empty hoghouse vehicle to “address the consumer price index” with respect to education funding.
- House Appropriations, 8:00 a.m., Rm. 362: Constructively, Rep. Dan Ahlers (D-25/Dell Rapids) will present House Bill 1128, his upward revision to K-12 teacher pay raises, and Rep. Kyle Schoenfish (R-19/Scotland) will try with HB 1263 to put back some of the ability to build rainy-day funds that the Legislature limited (over Schoenfish’s objection) in 2016 as part of the Blue Ribbon Teacher Pay package. Destructively, Rep. Sue Peterson will offer HB 1276, her antisocial tax breaks for homeschoolers, now serving as her sour grapes over losing her fight to force public schools to create double standards in academic eligibility and let homeschoolers play SDHSAA basketball.
- House Judiciary, 8:00 a.m., Rm 413: hears Speaker G. Mark Mickelson’s mystery-meat to help the South Dakota trust industry hide rich people’s money (HB 1072) and the Department of Labor and Regulation’s minor tweaking of trust laws (HB 1028). Remember: criticizing the rich lawyers who wrote this law for themselves and their out-of-state clients is absolutely off-limits. House Judiciary will then hear former judge Rep. Timothy Johns (R-30/Lead) argue that South Dakota shouldn’t kill the mentally ill (HB 1123).
Tuesday’s second round of committee hearings, starting at 10:00 a.m., offers not one bill that I would get up an holler about, at least not from my reading of titles and bill text. Gluttons for punishment may join Joint Appropriations at 10:30 a.m. in Room 362 to hear budget setting for the South Dakota Retirement System, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Game Fish and Parks, and the Public Utilities Commission.
David Lust’s role in this trust legislation is what?