It was a whirlwind week in the SD legislature. I am prime sponsoring 16 bills, 5 of those bills will start in the house of representatives. Here is an explanation of some.

I have three bills that I am prime sponsoring related to Women and Women’s health HB 1169 is a bill to help our trigger abortion law to protect the health and life of mothers. Language in this bill includes “Notwithstanding any other law, before an abortion may be justified as necessary as to preserve the life of a pregnant female, as set forth in 22-17-5.1, the attending physician, exercising reasonable medical judgement, must determine that, by continuing the pregnancy, the female is at serious risk of death or of a substantial and irreversible physical impairment of one or more major bodily functions.” This bill ties up and lose ends that would have led to problems. There will be an emergency clause on this so it will take effect immediately after being signed into law.

HB 1175 and SJR 505 have been dropped and Representative Jess Olson will be the prime sponsor to carry on the house side. HB 1175 cleans up language in present codified law that removes “He and his” in reference to our Executive and Legislative branches. SJR 505, if passed, will propose and submit to the electors at the next general election and amendment to the constitution which will provide these updates. I think this legislation is important because we have our first ever female governor and have many more female governors, and chief justices of the supreme court, to come.

Bills to improve workforce HB 1087 Prohibit certain restrictive employment contracts. This bill makes it illegal to have non-competes for behavioral health providers, physical therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, and respiratory therapists. When we have problems with workforce, we need to think of barriers to that workforce and get rid of them if possible. We have plenty of patients for everyone and non-competes in healthcare aren’t good for patients.

HB 1087 is a bill to revise the water resources project list. This bill will remove the Gregory Pumped Storage Project from our codified law. This has been on the list since 1988 and was originally placed on this list for irrigation purposes due to drought. It’s simply a clean up bill as the pumped storage project doesn’t have a start date, if approved, until at least 2035.

SB 118 is a bill to add pre-k teachers to eligibility list for the teacher’s tuition reduction program. This bill is aimed at teacher workforce. If we can help get a pre-k teacher the education needed to advance their skills and certification in teaching, I think it is a wise step to do so. This will only strengthen our communities and add to the pool of teachers that are available.

HB 1044 is a bill to use 20 million dollars of state funds to create a trust that we can pull interest from to provide scholarships to those who deliver behavioral health services. If we place this money into a trust, we will have $800,000 per year (based on 4% interest) to fund scholarships and improve our workforce. We currently have workforce issues, in this field, in every single county in this state. Covid has led to major mental health problems, increased substance abuse, and increased suicide rates. This is a great investment to improve a major public health and public safety issue.

I will continue to keep you posted with explanations on bills that I sponsor or have voted on. Please reach out with any questions or concerns as I love to hear how legislation affects you. Erin. tobin@sdlegislature.gov