The third week of session has finished and we are now about 1/3 of the way done with the 2019 Legislative Session. This week was the end of unlimited bill introduction and as of this writing we have 219 House Bills and 148 Senate Bills. We do have a few last opportunities this next week to drop up to 3 additional pieces of legislation in the House but I would anticipate that only some members will take advantage of another 3 bills. With the flood of new legislation that was dropped in the hopper last week, this week the focus will begin to shift to the committee process. One of the great things about the legislative process that we have set in South Dakota is that every bill will get a fair public hearing in a committee. This means that South Dakotans have the opportunity to hear and weigh in on the merits of each bill by coming to Pierre to testify on any piece of legislation they feel necessary. I believe that this rule is what sets South Dakota apart from the rest and keeps our process running smoothly. If you would like to listen to any of these committee hearings you can do so live on the sdlegislature.gov website. Additionally, the audio from every legislative committee hearing is archived and has been done so since 1997 and all is available on the same sdlegislature.gov website. If you are having any troublefindingtheinformationyou want please reach out to me so that I can assist you.

This week I would like to talk about HB 1200 which is an act to establish dates for the mowing of ditches on the state trunk highway system. You may remember that I had a bill similar to this last session that was defeated in committee. I still firmly believe this is an issue that needs to be addressed as we still allow the state to excessively mow when they would not need to. The difficult part of this issue is the balance between public safety, landowner priority, and pheasant habitat. I will have more on this issue as we move through session.

Last week HB 1084 successfully made its way through the House Transportation committee and is now headed to the House Floor with a Do Pass recommendation. This bill will change the Maximum height for baled feed from 14’ 3” to 15’ which will bring our state law up to par with surrounding states and current practices. One change was made in committee and that was the addition of an emergency clause which will allow for the law to go into effect immediately after the Governor signs it. I am hopeful that HB 1084 will quickly make its way through the House and will be in the hands of the Senate by the end of the week.

February 8th we will be hosting our legislative Cracker Barrell’s across the district and I hope that many of you are able to make it out. We will start the day in Wagner at 9:00AM at the Valley Pump, then Lake Andes at the Community Center at 10:30AM, followed by Platte at 44 Pizza at 1:00PM, then Burke at the Fire Hall starting at 3:00PM, and we will finish in Winner at State Wide Ag at 5:00PM. Finally, I plan to make a more formal announcement next week but, I will be running for a Second Term in the House in 2020 and I will have my petitions with me for the next few weeks.

If you would like any additional information on these issues or any other issues please contact me by email at Caleb.Finck@SDLegislature.gov or call me at 605-933-2042.