We are beyond the halfway point of session now with week number 5 in the books. It was an exciting week in the appropriations committee with revenue setting taking place. The final adopted revenue projections offered a little more breathing room with a little over 30 million more in ongoing revenue projected than the original projection in the Governor’s budget address. An increase to the Big 3, which are state employees, Medicaid providers, and education, is much more likely. A 1% increase is roughly $25 million. We will have to see what shakes out before we can say for certain what that percentage will be. The total adopted revenue projection for FY27 is $2.5 billion.

At the beginning of this week, Governor Rhoden vetoed HB1077the bill to label cell-cultivated protein adulterated. He cited his concerns of lawsuits and being seen as anti-free market for the motivation behind the veto. Why is this such a big deal? The FDA’s process for approving this chemically grown, cellularly mutated “protein” has no independent testing, no long-term studies conducted, and does not require transparency in the ingredient or creation process as much of it is labeled “proprietary.” Three out of the four big packers in the beef packing industry are invested in startup companies producing and studying cell-cultivated protein. This is not a comforting reality. Thankfully, Governor Rhoden was willing to give a little on the issue. Representative John Sjaarda and I had a bill sitting in Senate Ag awaiting a committee hearing. The governor asked if we would be willing to compromise on the issue. After some discussion, we settled on going for a 5-year moratorium on the production, distribution, storage, and sale of cell cultivated protein in South Dakota. I do not agree with the Governor’s decision on HB1077, but without the votes to override the veto in the Senate, his willingness to support SB124 with an amendment is at least a small budge of the needle and gives us a few more years to see where this is going.

SB205, a bill to revise the original registration tax on drones in South Dakota made it out of committee and will be on the floor next week. This is a bill I brought forward after learning that several constituents had to pay this tax, which was 3% on top of sales tax, after purchasing an agricultural spray drone. Currently, South Dakota does not differentiate drones over 55lbs from traditional aircraft. This original registration tax gets deposited into the aeronautics fund, which is used for maintenance of airport runways. Drones cannot utilize airports per law. SB205 would cut the registration tax in half and create a new fund to be administered by the Board of Technical Education for the support of drone aviation education programs. HB1020, a bill to increase the cap on brand inspection fees, was held up in the Senate. Many Senators wanted to see forward motion on improving the brand program in South Dakota. HB1020 was deferred to Tuesday on the floor, and then conversations commenced about what exactly is needed to improve the program. On Friday Governor Rhoden announced two new appointees to the Brand Board and released a list of corrective actions to be taken with deadlines included. This is a great step in the right direction for the program.

This coming week and next will be very busy in Pierre with crossover day quickly approaching. That means all bills must be out of the chamber of origin by that day. Theres a lot of work for committees to do between now and then. I would like to thank everyone who came out to the cracker barrels in White Lake, Corsica, and Platte. Great questions and discussions at all three.

I pray the Lord would bless and keep each of you.

-Senator Mykala Voita