Four Bills in Senate State Affairs Today: Campaigning at Polls, Expanding 211, and Licensing Slot Haulers, Electricians, and Plumbers

Last updated on 2019-06-22

Senate State Affairs takes up four bills this morning at 10:00. Let’s take a look at what the conservative majority should do with these items:

Republicans get their first chance to knock down a Stace Nelson bill this morning with Senate Bill 7, Senator Nelson’s (R-19/Fulton) proposal to allow campaigning at the polls. I don’t mind the provision to allow non-related petitioning outside the polls during early voting, but the Republicans who notice that nice petition will remember they hate petitioners and will vote this bill down just on their hatred of initiative and referendum. But Republicans will be even more inclined to nuke the bill just because it’s Stace Nelson’s bill, and while the leadership let him have his useless Trumpist anti-immigrant bill last week, they’ll be darned if they let the biggest thorn in their caucus’s side start putting his stamp on actual laws. They’ll crib arguments from the Aberdeen paper and Chief Justice Roberts, who said polling places should be an “island of calm” and vote SB 7 down.

Senate Bill 8 asks the Legislature to expand the 211 hotline to help people in unserved rural areas find crisis or disaster resources. It’s a decent idea. It costs $800,000, which the bill does not appropriate. Since we won’t raise taxes, we’re not passing SB 8.

Senate Bill 26 is minor tinkerage from the Department of Revenue, asking that we include folks who distribute slot machines and other gambling equipment in our gambling licensing statutes. SB 26 would thus require that distributors of gambling gear have no felony record, promote no cheating, and be “of good character, honesty, and integrity.” Holding slots distributors to the same standards as slots operators also subjects them to the same fines for violating their license, up to $100,000. Gotta keep Deadwood honest; Senate State Affairs will likely send this bill to the full Senate.

Senate Bill 35 revises and repeals licensing statutes governing electricians and plumbers. SB 35 appears mostly just to reword and clarify, but it does appear to change standards for losing one’s license for criminal activity. Electricians currently can lose their license for a felony conviction. The plumber’s license appears not to have any such condition. SB 35 makes both licenses subject to revocation, suspension, or other limitation for “Conviction of or plea of guilty or nolo contendere to a crime of violence as defined under § 22-1-2“—i.e., commission, attempt to commit, conspiracy to commit, or solicitation to commit “murder, manslaughter, rape, aggravated assault, riot, robbery, burglary in the first degree, arson, kidnapping, felony sexual contact as defined in § 22-22-7, felony child abuse as defined in § 26-10-1, or any other felony in the commission of which the perpetrator used force, or was armed with a dangerous weapon, or used any explosive or destructive device.” SB 35 does add another clause saying electricians and plumbers can lose their licenses for “failure to comply with any law, or any rule or order of the commission,” which one would think from context is meant to apply to profession-specific laws but which literally could be read as, “Get a speeding ticket, lose your wirecutter/plunger license.” Senate State Affairs should take a moment this morning to check those lines in Sections 2 and 4.

SB 35 changes no fees, but did you know that the state can charge electricians and plumbers $100 for license exams but caps application fees for electricians at $50 while charging plumbers up to $300? Come on, plumbers’ lobby: get in there and compete!

Senate State Affairs takes up these bills this morning at 10:00 in Room 414 of your beautiful State Capitol.