Hello District 19 Two weeks are in the books, and my focus continues to be relationship buildingamongstlegislators in addition to considering bills that have started to come through committees and houses.

Before I get into some bills I want to thank the FFA students from McCook Central, Montrose, and Menno for inviting us to District officer breakfast while they were in Pierre. It was great to visit with those students, many of which I already knew, and learn about the leadership and skills training they did. A few days later, I participated in Q and A with 4H students from across the state that were in Pierre, as well. I was very active in FFA and 4H growing up, and participated until I graduated out of the programs with state (both) and national degrees (FFA). Needlesstosay,Ibelieveinboth programs and was glad to visit with our young leaders.

Friday morning I helped SD Partners in Policymaking as a mock legislative committee member, so individuals with developmental disabilities as well as their advocates could practice self advocacy in front of real legislators. All of the participants were thoughtful, courageous and inspiring.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the SD Chislic FestivalinFreemanforreceiving the Peter Norbeck Excellence in Tourism award at the SD Tourism banquet. In only a few years, they have grown to 8,000-10,000 attendees and 300 volunteers annually! I look forwardtoattendingnextyear.

Weektwowestartedhearing and voting on bills in committees, and those bills started making their way to the floor. One of the major and most exciting bills of the session, SB 41,theHousingInfrastructure fund, will provide $100 million of grants and $100 million in revolving loans for infrastructure for housing, with 30 percentearmarkedforcommunities larger than 50,000, and 70 percent for the rest of the communities(allcommunities in District 19). I am a sponsor of the bill, and working to get this bill passed. There have been some delays on the floor, butIamoptimisticwewillgetit passed this week in the House. If the bill is able to be passed with 2/3 vote, it will have an emergency clause attached, which means it will become active law when the Governor signs (instead of July 1). Many communities across our district have applied or are waiting to apply for these funds, once they are made available.

If you want to follow along during session, you can at www.sdlegislature.gov. There you can look up bills, and watch or listen to all committees and chambers.

As always, you can reach me at drew.peterson@sdlegislature. gov or 605-530-6248.

Talk to you next week. Take care, Drew