NEWS From The Legislature

It is hard to believe we are already through the second week of session. The committees have started getting through the bills that have been assigned to them and either killing them or sending them to the floor. There has been one controversial bill up to this point with most of the bills being agency bills that involved cleanup language or small changes.

After two weeks we have had 81 bills introduced in the House and 69 in the Senate. There is a new system being used for the entire bill writing and assigning process. The system we had been using for years to process bills was outdated and not being supported anymore by the company that designed it. LRC had to come up with a new system and had 9 months to get it into place. Options were explored and to purchase a new system from a company would cost us over $6 million. Our LRC staff decided they could design a system for a fraction of the projected cost. They worked diligently and completed the project in time for session to start which was an amazing task accomplished! The system is top notch and designed especially for SD legislature! There have been some bugs to work out, as any new system change would expect, but the turn around time for each fix has been within hours. We have an amazing staff in SD LRC and we should be proud of what they have done in producing this exceptional product for the SD legislature for pennies on the dollar of what an outside company would have cost. Well done LRC staff!!

On Thursday of this week we had our memorial service for former Legislators that passed away this last year. These men and women were leaders in SD and we honor, salute and thank them for their service.

This week Wednesday the House State Affairs heard testimony on HB 1057. The bill prohibits elective sex reassignment surgical procedures and hormone therapy on minors. The bill was written to protect minors under the age of 18 and was amended by the sponsor to minors under the age of 16. The original language of the bill would bring a charge of felony for any medical professional who did sex change surgeries or hormone therapy for the purpose of blocking puberty on minors. This was amended to a misdemeanor and all medical professionals who did not have the ability to write orders for these procedures were removed from the bill. The Committee heard 40 minutes of testimony in favor of the bill and 40 minutes of opposition. One proponent of the bill was a transitioned trans man. He talked about regretting the surgery, that he and his insurance company had paid over a million dollars in medical expense and stressed that this bill was very important to protect similarly affected children. Another testimony who opposed the bill was a 17-year-old who pointed out to the committee that the pronouns this person was to be identified with were “they/them”. This person identified as non-binary, meaning they are neither male or female, and argued that the bill would take away the rights of their fellow trans peers. The bill was passed out of State Affairs with a vote of 8 to 5 and will be heard on the House Floor on Wednesday this week.

The legislative Joint Appropriations Committee has already had many hours of listening to requests and reports from departments. The Leadership of both House and Senate has met several times with the Appropriation chairs to discuss projections, dig into the budget and discuss priorities. With revenue being tight, there will be tough decisions to be made. There is no “extra” money available to be given to any one department or area. If an increase is given to a department or area of need, that money will have to be taken from another department. So, in order to make increases in any department, cuts will need to take place in another area. It is a definite concern of all legislators and appropriators, and we are dedicated to work hard to find the best solution to this financial challenge.

I would like to invite you all to our Legislative Meet and Greets or “Cracker Barrels” across District 21 planned for Saturday February 8th. Senator Rocky Blare, Representative Caleb Finck and I will be at each of these locations to meet with you, answer questions, and take ideas for new legislation needed. The schedule is:

• Wagner, site to be announced 9:00 -10:00 a.m.

• Lake Andes, at Community Center 10:30 – 11:30 a.m.

• Platte, at 44 Pizza 1:00 -2:00 p.m.

• Burke, site to be announced 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

• Winner, at Statewide Ag 5:00 -6:00 p.m.

These are open for everyone to come and we hope to see many of you at each of these events. Your legislative team is committed to once again balance our budget, protect our freedoms and represent the good citizens of our state and District.

If you are ever in Pierre please stop at my office. It is always great to see people from back home. Feel free to contact me by my cell 605-207-0406 or email at lee.qualm@sdlegislature.gov. Have a blessed week!

Representative Lee Qualm

House Majority Leader

Chairman House State Affairs

Committee Legislative Procedures Committee