Week 8 of the 2018 Legislative Session was very busy and with eight days left, we are looking at another week of early mornings and late nights working to finalize this year’s business for the State. The budgets for FY 19 and FY 20 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.

Cross Over Day was this week on Monday. We moved all House bills from the House floor with a long day of work until 9:30 PM. Some of the bills from that day you may be interested in are HB 1209 which revises certain provisions regarding tobacco products. This bill has included vapor products of nicotine in the areas that are tobacco free making it illegal to use them in all tobacco free areas. Vapor products are electronic cigarettes that are made to help folks stop smoking. These products are being used illegally by young students in Jr High and younger in schools. The original bill was to put a tax on these products in an attempt to slow down the use of these products in youth. The bill was amended substantially to the present form. I did not support this bill which passed the House and moves to the Senate on a vote of 48 to 19.

HB 1225 was a bill to establish a determinant in identifying a student’s sexual identity for the purpose of participation in high school athletics. This bill would have established that all students would compete in school athletics according to their birth sex, as proven by a birth certificate or a physical exam. In short, boys would play boys sports and girls would play girls sports. The High School Activity Association made a ruling in 2014 that students who are confused on their identity of sex could play in the sport they desire plus use the locker room of the sex they identify with. This was a fairness bill to prevent biological boys from playing girl’s sports, dominating the girls sport and taking away starting positions from the girls. I was the prime sponsor of this bill which failed on a 34-34 tie vote, with two Legislators being absent.

HB 1232 was a bill to lower the compulsory age for school attendance from 18 to 16 years of age. Those in favor of this bill brought it at the request of SD school administrators due to the fact that if a student wants to be in school they will finish out the entire time. If students do not want to be there, they generally are there to only cause problems for others. It is costing tax payers two extra years of education and disciplinary issues for students who desire to not be in the class room. Those against this bill argued that educators need to keep kids in the classroom as long as they can. This bill failed on a vote of 27-40.

HB 1193 is a bill to provide a criminal penalty for causing an abortion against a pregnant mother’s will. For example, if a woman became pregnant and the father of the child demanded that she had to have an abortion against her will to protect his name or for any other reason, he or whomever is demanding the abortion can now be charged with a criminal penalty. This passed 68-0.

Another bill in regard to abortions is HB 1177 which makes it a law that abortion Dr’s have to offer to the woman who came for an abortion that they can hear the heartbeat of theirchildif theywant. Thispassed 51-17 and moves to the Senate.

HB 1251 is a bill to license out-of-state multi-jurisdictional totalizator hubs and distribute source market fees to the special racing revolving fund and the South Dakota-bred racing fund. There is currently horse racing in Ft Pierre and Aberdeen SD. Internet betting on Horse Racing across the US is legal and being done all the time. What this bill does is to allow any internet bet placed by a SD resident to have an additional fee put on it to help promote SD bred horse racing within the state. This passed on a vote of 49-18.

HB 1195 revises provisions regarding juvenile justice putting more teeth in the juvenile justice that the court may commit the child to the Department of Corrections. They can then remit the child to a foster home, community based services, or residential treatment center. This passed 51-17 and moves to the Senate.

HB 1191 is a bill to legalize the growth of industrial hemp in SD. This bill passed the House floor with only 2 nay votes. This week it passed the Senate Ag and Natural Resources Committee with only 2 nay votes and moves to the Senate floor. As a farmer I totally support this bill and pray that SD is in the lead for developing rules, guidelines and laws regarding the production of this very profitable commodity. There are over 2500 uses at this time for industrial hemp. There are industries waiting for this bill to be passed and signed into law to come into SD for another boost in the SD business industry. Once the bill is passed, it does not go into law until July 1st of this year. There will be no hemp seeds planted in this state until the following year, but only if all the rules are in place by that time. That gives the SD government about 18 months to get everything in order for this new very profitable agriculture commodity and potential new business industry. One of the reasons being voiced of why not to pass this bill is that “SD will then have to legalize marijuana”. That is not true and I believe it will not happen on the SD legislative or this Governors watch. Hemp does not have the THC (what makes people high by using marijuana) in it that marijuana has and if marijuana is planted next to hemp it cross pollinates with the hemp causing all of the THC to be negated. There are devices available that are the size of a suit case to test the crop in the field or in the bale to see if it has any THC in it. This crop could create potential multimillion $ industries for SD and I do not believe we should sit back and watch as other states take the lead. We need SD to be the leaders in this industry and move forward providing another source of revenue for SD agriculture and business.

It is a privilege to serve this great State and the wonderful people of District 21! I thank you very much for all of the support and great input I have received during the last 8 weeks and the entire 7 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!