The pace of the session has really picked up this week. 269 House bills and 219 Senate bills have been introduced. Committees are diligently working to give each bill its fair hearing. Education savings accounts, also referred to as school vouchers, have been one of the biggest issues this session. The bills were strongly opposed by our public schools and educators and died in committee. I do not believe there is an appetite in the legislature to revisit the concept. I applaud the hundreds of friends in District 19 for reaching out on the cause. HB 1094 an act to modify laws regarding school bus safety and to provide a penalty therefor. I supported the bill to further provide safety to our children. We have also passed several bills to clean up our campaign finance reporting from issues that arose during the primary election. HB 1071 is an act to modify practice criteria for physician assistants. I believe this is needed in our rural areas. The bill will not change the scope of practice for a PA but will lift unnecessary regulations to allow them more time to care for you. We have continued the conversations on property tax relief and the potential new prison. The executive branch has put together a task force to bring all the players to the table to provide property tax to the people of South Dakota this session. The last 2 weeks I had to honor to sponsor Tarynn Torsney, Bon Homme School Junior as a page. She served us very well and I thank her for her service. Best of luck to her in the future. It was my honor to dine with the District 19 Military members whom attended the Governor’s Military Dining Out. Congratulations to service member, Lindsi Van Woert, a district 19 native, for her honor of escorting the Governor. God Bless, Jessica Bahmuller (605)359-9459 Jessica.Bahmuller@sdlegislature.gov