Session has been very busy as usual. This was the fourth week of session with 16 days completed of the 37 scheduled. Currently 258 bills have been introduced in the House and 169 bills in the Senate.

Let’s start off with a good news story. Each year we have college student who are interns that work with leadership in both House and Senate for the entire session. We also have pages who are juniors and seniors in high school that come for twoweek increments. At 4:45 pm on Thursday, February 6th, page Isaac Buchholtz was sitting in the back of the House chamber as we were still in session. He received a call on his cell phone, so he stepped out to take the call. When he came back into the chambers, he was beaming because he had just found out he had been admitted into the U.S. Army Military Academy at West Point, New York!! Isaac is a senior at Riggs High School in Pierre. Once it was announced on the House floor, he received a standing ovation, and many went to shake his hand and congratulate him. He was recruited to play football as the academy’s kicker. So be watching the game of the year next year as Army vs. Navy and look for our Pierre, SD native, Isaac Buchholtz.

Bills of interested include HB1117 which is to “repeal and revise certain provisions regarding riot, to establish the crime of incitement to riot, and to revise provisions regarding civil liability for riot and riot boosting”. This bill ensues everyone’s rights to free speech and peaceful assembly are protected against violent criminals who seek to infringe on those rights. This bill updates SD’s laws to respond to the federal court’s opinion and it protects the safety and security of people and property by the narrowest means necessary while safeguarding everyone’s constitutional rights. This bill is important because no one has a protected right to be violent. This bill keeps our people and property safe, without encroaching on first amendment rights.

HB1083 renames the postsecondary technical institutes as technical colleges. This bill is to rename the “postsecondary technical institutes” to “technical colleges”, dropping “postsecondary” and changing “institute” to “college”. Those in favor of this bill testified that 48 other states call two-year campuses “colleges” and referring to them as “institutes” was antiquated. The prime sponsor referred to this bill as a “marketing bill”. It passed the House floor 41-25 after a long debate.

HB1085 was heard this week which would switch this state to year round permanent observation of Daylight Savings Time. The bill was defeated on the House floor 33-33 with 4 absent which added to the nay votes on the 4th. The bill was reconsidered the following day only to be defeated again by a narrow margin of 34-33 with 3 absent which added to the nay votes.

Another bill you may be watching is SB157 which is from the Governors Office and it is to revise certain provisions regarding the county zoning and appeals process. This bill is intended to protect local control by a majority vote ensuring the local community gets to make decisions, not a fringe few. It intends to create a fare, timely and reliable process for getting economic progress projects to be sited and permitted. This is important for economic development projects that are essential to the long-term success of our communities and the families that call them home. This legislation provides fairness and certainty to the process of growth in SD communities. It has not been assigned a date for hearing yet.

I want to thank you again for the honor you have given to me in serving you in Pierre as your Representative in District 21. Please feel free to contact me at any time with thoughts, ideas or concerns. My email is lee.qualm@sdlegislature.gov and my cell phone is 605 207-0406.

Thank you to the many who attended our Cracker Barrels across the District on Saturday the 8th. It was awesome to see the great turnout at each of them and I appreciate the questions and ideas that were constructive and genuine. There were many topics covered over the day and seeing friends from across the District made the day fun. Thank you again!

Blessings to you for a great week! God Bless you, God Bless South Dakota, and God Bless America. Under God the People Rule!

Representative Lee Qualm

House Majority Leader

Chairman State Affairs Committee

Legislative Procedures Committee