This week, the 4th legislative week, we worked through the majority of the remaining agency budget hearings, with only the secretary of state and a few agency return hearings left. The bill that would cut the State Library funding was heard in the House Education Committee, and then referred to Appropriations with a do NOT pass recommendation. The appropriations committee will have to take action on it yet, but you should know all of the calls, emails, and visits are not going unnoticed. We had 53 people from around the state show up at the Dept of Education Appropriations hearing to testify in support of the State Library this week. Great work folks!

Some of the hot topics in the Senate last week included ensuring only US citizens are voting in our elections and only SD Residents are circulating petitions for ballot measures. SB61 and SB60 were steps towards better internal controls in state agencies regarding the detection of financial fraud, and allowing the State Auditor more access to examine financial records to help eliminate improper government conduct. These are great steps in the right direction to deliver greater checks and balances and government accountability when it comes to the spending and handling of taxpayer dollars. SB58 passed the Senate with a unanimous vote. This bill strengthened the penalty for Human Trafficking crimes. We also saw HB1022 pass both chambers- it would prohibit the misbranding of cell cultured protein products, however, there are two more bills coming our way after passing the house this week that take a much harder stand against cell cultured protein products. There is a lot of discussion on property taxes and what is the best way to go about with temporary aid to those most affected by rising assessments, or major reform of our tax system.

HB1205, which is one of the bills addressing the needed reform on how state agencies enter into lease agreements is scheduled for Monday the 10th in Committee. By the time you read this in the paper, we will know if the House of Representatives is ready to protect South Dakota Taxpayers from fiscally irresponsible agreements such as the Sioux Falls One Stop fiasco that we are dealing with this session. I would love to share more on the topic if you are interested, please reach out. Please keep the emails coming with your thoughts and concerns on specific legislation!

Looking ahead to week five of session in Appropriations, we will have Senate Appropriation and Joint Committee of Appropriations bill hearings to begin going through, a couple final budget hearings, and then by the end of the week we will have our revenue projection hearing and adoption of revenue projection. Let the fun begin!

Our first Cracker Barrel will be Saturday, February 15th Starting at 10 am at Booms in Wagner, 1pm at Corsica Community Building, and 3:30 at the Plankinton Commerce Grill. We hope to see you there!

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

District 21 Appropriations Committee Mykala.Voita@sdlegislature.gov