2022 is here and that means a new legislative session is upon us! I am Representative Caleb Finck, I live and farm near Tripp, and I will be again writing a weekly column to keep you up to date on important legislative items. Our first week of the new session will be filled with information gathering and speeches. On Tuesday, January 11th we will hear the State of the State address from Governor Noem. Wednesday, January 12th, we will listen in on the State of the Judiciary delivered by the Chief Justice. Finally, Thursday, January 13th we will hear the State of the Tribes Address from one of our Tribal Chairmen.

This will, without doubt, be another legislative session for the record books between the record amount of budget decisions that need to be made and the special impeachment investigation of the Attorney General and our usual number of bills that need to be looked over on top of it all. I have also had a busy fall drafting legislation regarding several topics including township and county road funding, joint jurisdiction public notices, reducing CDL regulations for farms and ranches and funding to fix the drainage culvert that serves Lake Andes. I am in the final drafting stages on all these pieces of legislation, and I will provide more details on them in the coming weeks!

This past summer I served on the Legislative Marijuana Summer Study Committee. This committee looked at all the laws surrounding the Medical Program as well as the possibility of a recreational program. This summer committee has recommended 26 bills of which I will be the House Prime Sponsor of Senate Bills 5, 6, 7, 8, & 19. If you would have any questions of these bills or anything pertaining to the medical cannabis program, please reach out to me.

If you are interested in following along with any of our committees or chambers this session, there are two great ways to do that. First, www.sdlegislature.gov this is the Legislature's home page where you can find any information about session that you are looking for. On the front page you will find a schedule of committees and when the House and Senate will be meeting and what's on the agenda for each meeting. You can also find listings of all the bills that we will be working on this session. Additionally, if you want to listen into a committee or chamber you can click on the South Dakota Public Broadcasting icon next to that scheduled meeting to listen live. The Second way to listen and watch is to visit www.SD.Net where you can find all the live audio from the committees and the live audio and video streams from the House and Senate Chambers.

Finally, if you have any questions about how to find information about a bill or committee, or any questions at all about session please contact me. I can be reached most anytime by phone at 605-933- 2042 and by email at Caleb.Finck@ sdlegislature.gov. I ask that if you call and I don’t answer please leave me a message so that I can call you back. Additionally, if you email, please include that you are from District 21 and what town you're from. We get 100's of emails a day and I cannot reply back to them all, but if I know that you are from our district, I will get back to you! Lastly, if you are planning a trip up to the Capitol for a visit during session, please let me know so that we can find a time to meet up while you are here! Have a great week and God Bless!