Week four was a great, five-dayweekinPierre. Over theweekendIwasabletofeed the cattle and help some on thefarm,whichIandourdog Winston both appreciated as he road along in the feed truck after not getting to farm much the last month while I’ve been in Pierre. It has been a hard winter on our farms, especially those with livestock, so I hope the coming warmer weather helps lead us toward Spring and calving season with a little less snow. I appreciate theworkmyfatherandthose onourfarmaredoingduring session to allow me to serve in Pierre.

The deadline for bills to be introduced in this session has now passed, so for the mostpartwenowknowwhat we will be considering going forward. Crossover Day, the final day a bill has to be passed outoftheoriginalhouse(House orSenate),isFebruary22nd,so between now and then, every bill introduced will continue to get a hearing in the appropriate committee in the house of origin to either pass out of committee and to the floor, or be killed by being sent to the 41st day (which doesn’t exist, as our session cannot go over 40 days). We have been busy working through bills as they getintroducedandhavestarted considering bills that passed through the Senate and on to the House, as well.

As I mentioned last week, I am carrying three bills this sessionastheprimesponsorin addition to all the other good billsIworkhardtosupportand the bad bills I work to defeat. The bills I am priming are HB 1121, SB 83, and SB 60.

HB 1121 expands the definition of pesticide dealer to encompass all retailers of bulk ag pesticides. The ag industry brought this bill to me. There is currently a gap in this requirement that allows people who don’t sell restricted use pesticides to not have to have a dealer license, which requires education and knowledge of the products they handle. As a farmerwhopurchasesgeneral use and restricted pesticides, I needtobetrainedandlicensed to handle these products. I thinkretailersshouldhavethe followthesamerules. Thisbill passed out of committee and through the House, and is now in the Senate.

SB 83 will add McCook County to the Vermillion Watershed Development District. Votes of McCook County passed this law on the ballot in November by 2-1 margin. This billsimplychangesSDCodified Law to reflect that. McCook will join Clay and Turner in the district.

Finally, SB 160 is a bill related to the election process. I believe SD has the best election system in the country,andwehavethebest auditors in our district. This billwouldaddapost-election audit following primary and general elections. In our counties, it would be a hand recount of the two closest statewide races in one randomly selected precinct per county. I believe our system works, and we have election integrity. This process will allow the auditors and Secretary of State to prove that every vote is counted correctly.

As always, feel free to reach out anytime at drew. peterson@sdlegislature.gov or 605-530-6248. I appreciate your advice and feedback.