Legislature Must Move 50 Bills Monday

Last updated on 2022-03-08

Monday is do-or-die day for bills that haven’t cleared their second chamber yet. The Senate must approve any pending House Bills, and the House must approve any pending Senate bills, or they are lost. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are set aside for conference committees to reconcile differences in bills amended and passed by their second chambers.

The Senate has eight bills on its consent calendar, meaning they don’t plan to debate them unless someone kicks up a fuss, and eighteen bills up for debate. I bold the items I find of particular interest:

Senate: SECOND READING OF CONSENT CALENDAR ITEMS

• HB 1293 limit liability for certain child welfare agency licensees. (Introduced)
• HB 1302 modify tuition responsibilities for children in residential treatment centers. (House Engrossed)
• HB 1278 revise the child support obligation schedule. (Introduced) (Fiscal Note)
• HB 1279 revise certain provisions relating to child support. (Senate Judiciary Engrossed)
• HB 1328 require law enforcement to report certain seizures of property. (Senate Judiciary Engrossed)
• HB 1117 revise a certain provision regarding standard nonforfeiture amounts for individual deferred annuities. (Introduced)
• HB 1229 authorize the formation of corporations and limited liability companies by physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech-language pathologists. (House Judiciary Engrossed)
• HB 1289 update provisions regarding self-service storage. (House Engrossed)
• HCR 6002 recommending private sector housing solutions. (Introduced)

Senate: SECOND READING OF HOUSE BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

• HB 1133 (Deferred from 32^nd LD) provide that the cost of a home study required for an adoption is the responsibility of the Department of Social Services. (House Health and Human Services Engrossed) (Fiscal Note)
• HB 1012 (Deferred from 33^rd LD) protect students and employees at institutions of higher education from divisive concepts. (Senate Education Engrossed)—HB 1012 is Governor Noem’s thought control bill for higher education. It narrowly passed Senate Education; perhaps some sensible Republicans will express discomfort at vague mandates against free expression on our campuses.
• HB 1325 (Deferred from 33^rd LD) revise the classification of agricultural land according to soil type. (Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Engrossed)—Senate Taxation killed another bill, House Bill 1039, that sought to give ranchers a break on their pasture property taxes. HB 1325 would change some of the language about soil types and property tax, perhaps opening a window for a little tax relief for ranchers with certain kinds of soil.
• HB 1210 (Deferred from 33^rd LD) make an appropriation to the Board of Regents to provide grant funding for a new biomedical facility at the research park in Sioux Falls, and to declare an emergency. (Introduced)—Investing $15 million to build a research facility that would support top-notch science and science jobs should be an economic development no-brainer, but those cranky (Governor Noem calls them “dysfunctional“) House Appropriators tried to kill HB 1210; the bill was saved by smoke-out.
• HB 1281 (Deferred from 33^rd LD) make an appropriation for matching funds to enhance research in manufacturing processes having lunar application and planetary use in tribal housing development and to declare an emergency. (Introduced)—Our Republican legislators mostly keep kicking American Indian education in the crotch. HB 1281 is a pleasant exception to the Legislature’s anti-Indian sentiment. HB 1281 would provide a measly $300K in state matching funds to support a partnership between NASA and Sinte Gleska University in Mission that would promote science education and affordable housing for our Lakota neighbors and give Lakota youth a chance to participate in research that may help build a colony Mars. (Watch out: some sharp Senator will realize this is just an effort to undermine South Dakota’s old slogan—”Why die on Mars when you can live in South Dakota?“—and will rally Republicans to kill this educational opportunity and delay the day Mars becomes just as pleasant to live in as Eureka or Lemmon.
• HB 1174 revise requirements for sales of catalytic converters to scrap metal businesses. (Senate Transportation Engrossed)
• HB 1084 provide for the regulation of motorized foot scooters and to declare an emergency. (Senate Transportation Engrossed)
• HB 1166 make an appropriation for road improvements leading to the former entrance into the Palisades State Park and to declare an emergency. (Senate Appropriations Engrossed)
• HB 1306 make an appropriation to rural access infrastructure funds and to declare an emergency. (Senate Appropriations Engrossed)
• HB 1127 modify provisions related to county redistricting and to declare an emergency. (Senate State Affairs Engrossed)
• HB 1129 prohibit forms of discrimination in access to organ transplantation. (House Health and Human Services Engrossed)
• HB 1134 revise provisions related to medical cannabis for the protection of youth. (House Health and Human Services Engrossed)
• HB 1228 expand the ability for patients to seek investigational drugs, biological products, or devices. (Introduced)
• HB 1209 make an appropriation to the Board of Regents for improving the National Music Museum at the University of South Dakota and to declare an emergency. (Senate Appropriations Engrossed)
• HB 1033 expand the eligible projects for the local infrastructure improvement grant fund. (Introduced)
• HB 1322 provide for the direct sale of certain home-produced or home-processed foods and food products. (House Commerce and Energy Engrossed)
• HB 1124 (Deferred from 33^rd LD) accommodate legislation on medical services. (Introduced)—Warning! HB 1124 is still a hoghouse bill, with no substantive content. This bill could morph into any crazy idea.
• HB 1126 (Deferred from 33^rd LD) accommodate legislation relating to the protection of public safety. (Introduced)—Ditto! Hoghouse Alert!

Notice that not on this list is House Bill 1337, the K-12 thought control bill from Governor Noem which Senate Education killed last week on Thursday. I’ve seen evidence on Twitter of some effort to get South Dakotans to call their Senators and support a smoke-out vote of Noem’s K-12 crypto-critical-race-theory bill.

Meanwhile, the House has 24 Senate Bills to clear on Monday. None are on the consent calendar—evidently nothing is getting out of the House without an argument—and five have been passed to the House “without recommendation”. Four of those five recommendation-less bills were actually killed in committee and then smoked out.

House: WITHOUT RECOMMENDATION:

• SB 25: Provide for the taxation of marijuana.—Republicans are still trying to figure out their relationship with the demon weed. Will they vote to create a new tax, like they say liberals would?
• SB 175: make an appropriation to the Department of Game, Fish and Parks for building a shooting range in western South Dakota and to declare an emergency.—The infamous Rapid City shooting range has been killed in two forms by two different committees; this one was smoked out of House Appropriations Thursday.
• SB 155: make an appropriation for programs that assist victims of domestic violence, abuse, and neglect and to declare an emergency.—If House Approps is really dysfunctional and not just insufficiently acquiescent to the Snow Queen’s demands, their rejection of this investment of $5M to help domestic abuse victims is the surest evidence. Members of the House, don’t be jerks—pass this bill quickly.
• SB 97: authorize the Board of Regents to acquire the incubator building located on the campus of South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, to contract for the design and renovation thereof, to make an appropriation therefor, and to declare an emergency.—House Approps killed this investment of $7.25 million in improving the School of Mines. Another smoke-out brings this bill to the full House.
• SB 32: authorize the Department of Corrections to purchase certain real property, construct a community work center for offenders committed to the Department of Corrections, to make an appropriation therefor, transfer funds from the budget reserve fund, and to declare an emergency.—House Approps tried to stop this spending of $38.3M to build a new prison—ahem: community work center—in Rapid City. Do we need to invest more money in an incarcerative/correctional facility?

House: SECOND READING OF SENATE BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

• SB 174 make an appropriation to provide a grant for the construction of a facility to provide certain health facilities and services and to declare an emergency. (House Appropriations Engrossed)
• SB 212 revise certain fees collected by the Office of the Secretary of State. (House State Affairs Engrossed) (Fiscal Note)
• SB 81 revise the definition of sexual contact for purposes of sexual contact with a child under eighteen by a person in a position of authority. (House Judiciary Engrossed)
• SB 159 exempt any person suffering from a severe mental illness from capital punishment. (House Judiciary Engrossed)—Our Legislature has been loath to roll back the death penalty in any way. Exempting severely mentally ill killers from execution passed the Senate 21–14 and House Judiciary 8–3. Not having killed enough people, killer Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg testified against this bill.
• SB 130 (Deferred from 33^rd LD) authorize the Board of Regents to acquire property, contract for the design and construction of the Dakota State University Applied Research Lab, to make an appropriation therefor, and to declare an emergency. (Introduced)—This remarkable bill will spend $50 million to allow DSU to establish a permanent campus in Sioux Falls and support 400 to 500 new full-time jobs there instead of in Madison.
• SB 54 appropriate funds for the Dakota State University Cyber Program Expansion and to declare an emergency. (House Appropriations Engrossed)—The original version of this bill called for $30M. House Approps dropped the figure to $1 to guarantee further negotiation over the actual amount the state will spend on this expansion.
• SB 211 provide statutory COVID-19 vaccine exemptions and to declare an emergency. (Senate Commerce and Energy Engrossed)
• SB 62 make an appropriation for eligible water, wastewater, storm water, and nonpoint source projects and to declare an emergency. (Senate State Affairs Engrossed)—$600 million. $600 million.
• SB 170 make an appropriation for costs related to forest resiliency and growth in the state and to declare an emergency. (Introduced)
• SB 196 make an appropriation to provide grants for certain residential alternative care programs and to declare an emergency. (Senate Appropriations Engrossed)
• SB 117 repeal and revise certain fees collected by the Office of the Secretary of State. (House State Affairs Engrossed)
• SB 198 establish an interim committee regarding alternatives for placement of juvenile offenders. (House State Affairs Engrossed) (Fiscal Note)
• SB 103 make an appropriation to support the teen court grant program and to declare an emergency. (House Appropriations Engrossed)
• SB 109 make an appropriation to pay increased costs incurred in the construction of an appropriate regional facility and to declare an emergency. (House Appropriations Engrossed)
• SB 144 create the incarceration construction fund for the capital construction of such facilities. (House Appropriations Engrossed)—SB 144 appropriates no dollars yet, but it creates the lock box for the $608 million a consulting firm told the Department of Corrections it will need to spend over the next decade to get South Dakota’s prisons up to snuff.
• SB 161 make an appropriation for matching funds to enhance research in manufacturing processes having lunar application and planetary use in tribal housing development and to declare an emergency. (House Appropriations Engrossed)—this is the Senate version of HB 1281. Let’s go to Mars, with 3D printers to make houses designed by Lakota students!
• SB 141 (Deferred from 33^rd LD) establish provisions for the South Dakota Retirement System. (Introduced)—hoghouse alert!
• SB 142 (Deferred from 33^rd LD) establish provisions for medical services. (Introduced)—hoghouse alert!
• SB 143 (Deferred from 33^rd LD) establish provisions related to education. (Introduced)—hoghouse alert! Jumping Jiminy Crickets! It’s the last day to clear bills before convening conference committees, and there are five empty bills just waiting to catch everyone by surprise!

Monday will be a busy day in Pierre. stay tuned for those hoghouse bills, and let’s see if anyone tries stuffing them with bad ideas that we’ve already killed.