The 95th session of the South Dakota Legislature is nearly over with 4 days left this next week and veto day which is the 30th of March. The final week will be very busy, as this week was, while we get through all the remaining Senate bills. The budgets for FY 20 and FY 21 are nearing completion and by the closeout of session, with negotiations between House, Senate and the Governor’s office, we will leave Pierre with a balanced budget.

Some of the bills we have been hearing this past week include: SB150 which is a bill to revise nonresident waterfowl licensure. This bill changes the license from a one 10 consecutive day time frame to two periods of 5 consecutive days. This passed the House 46 to 19 and now moves to the Governor’s desk.

SB22 revises certain provisions regarding pesticide registration, pesticide application and enforcement of pesticide laws. This bill updates state law to make the minimum age of 18 for private and commercial applicators. Also, someone can pursue a civil suit to collect damages without having to pursue criminal charges. This passed the House 62-2 and moves to the Governor’s desk.

SB24 revises the fees for pesticide registration, private applicator licenses, commercial applicator licenses, and pesticide dealer licenses. This bill raises the fee for pesticide registration from $125 to $165. This bill also increases commercial applicator licenses from $25 to $35. A pesticide dealer’s license fee will increase from $50 to $75. All funds mentioned in the bill are restricted to the fees that people in the industry pay. There is no outside money besides these fees that fund the Pesticide Regulatory Fund and the Pesticide Recycling and Disposal Fund. This passed the House 59 to 6 and moves to the Governor’s desk.

SB176 provides for the seizure and holding of real property as evidence. The example was given of a case where someone was murdered in an apartment. The property was seized for evidence and the landlord could not rent the property for over a year during the investigation. This bill provides an application process, that if done within 30 days, the court may order the law enforcement personnel in possession of the property to release it to the owner. This passed the House 65 to 1.

SB147 prohibits collective bargaining by certain employees of the Board of Regents. This bill gets rid of the teacher’s union in colleges. This bill doesn’t take away tenure, it doesn’t impact shared governance, it doesn’t infringe on academic freedom and it doesn’t change anything related to K-12. This bill is not anti-faculty or anti-higher education. Out of approximately 1300 teachers in the colleges, roughly 10% will be affected by this bill. The bill passed out of the House 47 to 19.

HB1227: An Act to make an appropriation for the rural veterinary medical education program and to declare an emergency. This bill appropriates $250,000 for funding of rural veterinary education for the next two years. It is a mutual agreement between SD SU and the University of MN to help get more veterinarians into the workforce in SD. This passed the Joint Appropriations Committee then the House floor 61 to 7. Now the bill moves to the Senate.

SJR501 proposing and submitting to the voters an amendment to the constitution of the state of SD providing for wagering on sporting events and to revise provisions regarding municipal proceeds of gaming revenues. What this does is puts sports betting on the November ballet for SD voters to decide if they would like to add sports betting to the gambling activities that are allowed in SD. This wagering on sporting events would only be allowed in Deadwood. I do not support this being put on the ballot. This bill passed 36-27.

It is a privilege to serve this great State and the wonderful people of District 21! I thank you very much for all the support and great input I have received during the last 8 weeks and the entire 8 years I have served as your Representative. As always, don’t hesitate to contact me at lee.qualm@sdlegislature.gov or (605) 207-0406 with questions and input. I pray you have a blessed week!

Representative Lee Qualm

House Majority Leader

Chairman State Affairs Committee

Legislative Procedures Committee