Everyone is waiting and working on the budget with the appropriations committee’s in the Senate and House. The waiting comes because we won’t know until all the legislation is done. March 9, legislative day bills have to be finalized. The working revolves around getting the absolutely best required funding for the agencies, then allocating the amount we have after that. The negotiations begin about where to direct those funds. Examples would be on going funding which locks us in our future spending such as giving 2% or more to schools, 2% or more to state workers and 2% or more to community care providers. Let me be very direct here. There is not enough money to do that without borrowing from reserve funds and jeopardizing our bond rating or raising taxes, which we are not considering. There is also one time money needs, items such as buildings, repairs, for suppression that we pay for one time this year.

The big story in the Senate this week was the riot bill, HB 1117, which we heard Wednesday night in the Judiciary Committee. This bill was in response to the bill that was found unconstitutional last year and we addressed the concerns the judge had with the bill. The legislation updates SD rioting laws to ensure everyone’s right to free speech and peaceful assembly. It is also important to keep people and property safe. The law was updated to expressly include an intent element, which the SD Supreme Court read into the statue in 1977. It is drafted in the narrowest manner necessary to only criminalize conduct that is intended and likely to cause imminent lawless action. It is passed out of committee 6 to 1 and was passed out of the Senate on Thursday.

I had a big day in Judiciary Thursday as we heard testimony on 7 bills in a little over 2 hours. These all come from the House last week.

This week we will 1 have the Industrial Hemp bill in the Senate. It already passed out of the House but the bill didn’t have any funding from the state for administration andlaw enforcement. We need to agree on what will be budgeted because money will be needed to start the program and ongoing costs to make sure the producers and processors are operating legally.

These will be the primary issues this last week of the legislative session. I encourage you to watch the news and contact me if you have any questions or comments. I do listen to your suggestions when considering the budget and legislation. I want to do what is best for my district.