It has been a historic week of the 100th Legislative Session. We started the week off with Larry Rhoden officially our new governor, who then announced his LT Governor pick. A select committee was formed and a confirmation hearing was held for Tonnis H. Venhuizen. Tony was a member of the Joint Committee of Appropriations/House Appropriations Committee, so that leaves a vacancy on our committee. He was then confirmed by both chambers by a unanimous vote. The House of Representative members joined us in the Senate as the new LT Governor and President of the Senate took the oath of office. The last time this situation occurred was a much more somber situation, when Governor Mikkelson had died in a plane crash.

This week in Appropriations our budget hearings included -Dept. of Game Fish & Parks -Dept. of Labor & Regulation -Dept. of Revenue -Dept. of Health -Dept. of Transportation -Dept. of Ag & Natural Resources -Dept. of Tourism And the Governors office of Economic Development (GOED), which included SD Housing Authority, Science & Technology Authority and SD Ellsworth Development Authority. Several of the Departments will be returning at a later date for further questions.

As you may have heard, President Trump issued a memorandum on January 27th stating “Federal agencies must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.”

Is the Federal government actually going to clean up their wasteful spending and put proper oversights in place? Also note, from the memorandum- “Nothing in this memo should be construed to impact Medicare or Social Security benefits.”

Most of our state agencies don’t anticipate too much of an immediate impact, but it is uncharted waters that we will have to navigate as well as possible.

If you recall in my previous week's recap, I mentioned some issues with the way funds are appropriated, how agencies enter into lease agreements, etc. Bills have been introduced in attempt to address some of these issues that impact the fiscal state of our state. I will touch more on these bills next week.

Notable mentions from the Senate Floor this week include two firearms bills. SB78 will increase bullet diameter allowed for the hunting of certain animals already legal to hunt with night vision equipment from .225in to .312in or less. SB81 would prohibit the use of firearm merchant codes on transactions involving firearms, ammunition, and firearm accessories. This was an issue that arose several years ago, with records being kept of these transactions. Under this new requirement, they would be coded under sporting goods. We had two notable bills pass the Senate regarding education. SB51 would require the display and curricular inclusion of the 10 commandments. I would encourage you to read the bill itself. There is so much history in the bill itself, and this topic in general, that our children should be taught regarding the founding of our great country! SB71 would revise the compulsory age for school attendance, from 18 to 16 under certain circumstances. These bills all head to the House for consideration.

Until next week, God bless you and keep you, -Senator Mykala Voita

District 21 Appropriations Committee Mykala.Voita@sdlegislature.gov