The second to last week of session has now come and gone and we are in the home stretch of the 2020 Legislative Session. I only have one update this week as it relates to bills that I am carrying this session. HB 1257 did pass the Senate last week and is now on the Governor’s Desk awaiting a signature. This week I want to take a bit of time to highlight a few bills that I think are important but maybe have not gotten a lot of attention.

Senate Bill 21 is an act to authorize temporary variable speed limits on state highways under certain circumstances. This bill will bring to South Dakota something that we have not had before and that is the ability for sections of our interstate system to have variable speed limits. There are several other states that have done this and the goal is reduce accidents during inclement weather and keep the interstate system running. Currently, when we have inclement weather on our roadways in South Dakota it is up to the judgment of the driver of the vehicle to obey the speed limit and also factor In slowing down to drive the conditions. However, we all know that for one reason or another you will always have those few people on the interstate driving 75-80 even if you can hardly see a 1/4 mile. At the same time other drivers have slowed down and are maybe traveling 40-45 and are driving the conditions. This creates a greater hazard than even the road conditions. The idea of the variable speed limits is that in a situation like this if you lowered the speed limit to 45-50 you would be able to close that speed gap between the drivers making it less dangerous. By removing this hazard it is easier to keep the interstate system open during inclement weather because you will have less accidents causing problems on the road. The current plan is to Implament this on just two short sections of interstate. The first one being west of Rapid City up to Sturgis and the second from Brookings going south to the Ward exit. I voted in favor of SB 21 last week on the House Floor.

The second bill that I wanted to highlight is Senate Bill 149 which I am the House Prime sponsor. SB 149 is an act to revise provisions regarding emblem specialty plates. South Dakota created emblem specialty plates a few years back for the purpose of letting people put certain organizations emblems on a special plate. These are the license plates that you see that start with W and they have room on the left side for you to place an emblem, like an SDSU emblem or something like that. The other reason for those plats was to allow for nonprofits that have these emblems to use this as a fundraising tool by selling the stickers. However, in the years since then the emblem plates have become popular because they don’t have your county number on them and people simply don’t put the emblem on them that they should. SB 149 will alter the plate to put the words, “Place Approved Emblem Here” on the left side of the plate where the emblem will go. Also, under the letters we will have a design of George Washington’s face as depicted on Mount Rushmore. All approved emblems are the same size and so the size of George Washington’s face and the lettering will match so that when an approved emblem is applied they will be covered up.

I also want to mention that I was great to see the Students from Burke last week in the Capitol! I hope you all enjoyed your time spent out here!

The last week will go quickly and as always if you have any questions or if you would like any additional information on these issues or any other issues please contact me by email at Caleb.Finck@SDLegislature.gov or call me at 605-933-2042. Have a great week!

Rep. Caleb Finck

SD House of Representatives - District 21

Bon Homme, Charles Mix, Gregory, & Tripp Counties

- Ag & Natural Resources Committee

- Transportation Committee

- Military & Veterans Affairs Committee

Cell: 605.933.2042

Email 1: Caleb.Finck@sdlegislature.gov

Email 2: CalebFinck@gmail.com