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It’s hard to believe we are approaching the finish line. The second to last week of session brought many appropriations bills to the floor. Among the more exciting topics this week was SB 240 an act to make an appropriation for county rural access infrastructure and to declare an emergency. This bill provided 5 million dollars to the towns and townships for critical repairs of infrastructure on our towns and townships roads. We have made critical improvements with out culverts and bridges but the need remains. I was proud to support this bill and help get it across the finish line with a 62-4 vote. Being an election year, the House has heard several bills concerning election deadlines and election integrity. While some have been contentious, SB 175 was not, being viewed as a common sense bill. The primary purpose of the bill was to ensure that, “Any individual applying to register as a voter shall provide documentation, along with the application, to demonstrate that the individual is a United States citizen.” This will not affect those who are already registered, as they will be grandfathered in, it will only affect those who register after the bill comes into effect. Proponents noted that this bill parallels the objectives of the Federal SAVE Act, which is currently being debated in D.C. The House was greatly in support of codifying greater security for our state’s ballot boxes. Ultimately, the bill passed the House of Representatives with only 3 Nay votes. The legislature has also been working hard to invest money into preserving one of our most valuable natural resources - water. SB 231 is an appropriation to develop a water infrastructure development fund. The fund supplies grants for water projects in rural areas. The bill stipulates that the funds “must be used for the construction, planning, and development of rural water projects in the state”. Furthermore, grant approval will be overseen by The Board of Water and Natural Resources to ensure legitimacy of the projects. The prime sponsor noted that this is a bipartisan bill, and drafted in partnership with the tribes, to provide seed money to be distributed to water projects that will utilize and preserve the water in the Missouri River, as well as other bodies of water throughout the state. I look forward to the last week when we will finish the details on property tax relief. I am hopeful we will be able to deliver meaningful relief to owner occupied without shifting the burden to ar