With week 7 of the session completed we have come to the final 2 weeks of the 2020 Legislative Session. Every bill was moved out of its body of origin by the end of Thursday, February 27th. So far Governor Noem has signed 28 House and 10 Senate bills into law.

Bills you may be interested in this week include HB1100 which makes an appropriation to begin the research and development of a new bioprocessing facility and to declare an emergency. The bill asks for money to build a bioprocessing industry using two universities, SDSU and the School of Mines. This bill will be asking for $1 million which will be used for designing a new building with cost estimates to house the new bioprocessing facility. Once the design is completed this will be a private/ public partnership with Poet, Prairie, and Aquatech. When we are looking for new businesses for the state of SD we believe this will be the next new thing. Bioprocessing takes grain and develops new products. Ethanol and biodiesel are two examples of bioprocessing. This passed the House 56 to 12 and moved to the Senate.

HB1262 revises provisions regarding electric service in annexed areas. This bill revises that before a municipality that operates an electric utility may annex or extend its boundaries to include contiguous territory, representatives of the municipal utility shall request to meet in person with representatives of any affected electric utility (REA) and discuss the municipality’s intentions. This bill requires parties to negotiate in good faith the terms of a potential agreement. Failure of an electric utility affected in a municipal annexation to meet within thirty days of a written request to meet, is a waiver of the meeting requirement, allowing the annexation to move forward. The bill also adds revisions to form a petition to annex property that is within the service territory of an electric utility that is not a municipal utility as well as other provisions. This bill is a start for the REA’s and municipal electric companies to work out differences. This passed the House on a vote of 48-20.

HB1096 is a bill that will prohibit commercial surrogacy contracts, provide a penalty for facilitating a commercial surrogacy, and establish an interim committee to evaluate surrogacy in the state. This bill would have prohibited those who seek to hire or sell child-bearing services on a commercial basis. This bill passed the House on a vote of 46 yeas and 20 nays. It was sent to the Senate Health and Human Services committee. The bill was killed there and sent to the 41st day with a vote of 4 to 3.

HB1248 revises the motor vehicle license fee for certain older trucks. This bill would make it so a truck forty-five years or older which is not used for commercial use would pay a license fee that would not exceed $150. This bill failed in the House 28 to 35

HB1245 revises certain provisions regarding the voting rights of felony offenders. This bill would allow felons to participate in the community which they reenter into once released from prison and deemed safe. Proponents argued it would allow them to participate civically in their communities, promoting a better life for them whole encouraging the voting practices of their children while potentially reducing the prison population. The bill failed the House 18 to 47

HB1263 is a bill that revises certain provisions regarding the dates on which certain school district elections may be held. This bill would require that certain school district elections occur in conjunction with the general election. This bill would decrease voter suppression in winter months and increase the ability of voices to be heard by moving elections to the same date in June and November as the primary and general elections. Plus, it would save money on elections. HB1263 passed the House 38 to 27.

This past Friday, Tucker Carlson did a narrative regarding the SD legislature not supporting HB1057. This bill would prohibit 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.

Tucker had a great narrative about this bill and the dangers of these procedures. The one thing he stressed is that the SD legislature which has 59 Republicans and only 11 Democrats in the House and 30 Republicans and only 5 Democrats in the Senate did not stand for their values and support this bill. I would like you all to know that the bill passed out of the House State Affairs Committee on a vote of 8 to 5. It then passed the House floor with a vote of 46 to 23. The bill was assigned to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. The chairman, Senator Deb Soholt, would not allow the proponent testimony by Skype from experts and transitioned trans persons from across the nation. The SD Retailers and SD Chamber of Commerce were opposed to this bill because they believe if passed it would hurt economic development. The bill failed in a committee of 7 and was sent to the 41st day on a vote of 5 to 2. So, 5 people killed the bill, not all of the SD Republicans.

As always, please feel free to contact me at lee.qualm®sdlegislature.gov or (605) 207-0406 with questions or ideas you may have. Have a wonderful week everyone and God Bless!

Representative Lee Qualm Majority Leader

Chairman State Affairs Committee

Legislative Procedures Committee