WEEK SIX LEGISLATIVE REPORTS

The 25th Legislative day is in the books and Cross-Over day is Tuesday of this week. The Committees in the House of Representatives are doing well, and most have completed their Bill Log. State Affairs is the one committee that is behind and we will have to hold morning and evening hearings all this week just to get done, which means yours truly will be busy. We’re running long days on the House floor trying to cover our calendar every day, I’ve seen years when leadership has let the House get behind and its not good, so I’ll do what I can to get our work done. We had a lot of bills on the House floor this week but let’s talk about a few of the ones I felt were interesting and important to District 21. We stopped HB 1287 which had to do with mining in the Black Hills, but the bill also would affect how gravel pits did business all over South Dakota. I’m cautious of passing legislation for one part of the state that makes it harder to do business in other parts, especially when it’s not an issue statewide. HB 1171 was an interesting bill, if passed it would allow you in a non-emergency situation to be able to choose blood from someone that has never received a Covid vaccine that included mRNA. I understood what the Legislator was trying to do but also how this would affect our small community hospitals and our blood supply in South Dakota, so I couldn’t support it for those reasons. One of the bills I brought forward this session HB 1286 was heard on Wednesday and passed with 63 yes votes. What this bill does is put guardrails on the Future Fund and calls for more and precise reporting to the Legislative branch, it will now be under consideration by the Senate. We also heard HB 1275, a bill that would give parents more control over their children’s cell phones by requiring parental consent when downloading aps. On Friday we had two bills HB 1163 and HB 1210, both bills were about vaccines and whether you can be forced to take them, as you can imagine this subject had some good debate. Bills like this are hard because both sides have good arguments, but I believe in freedom of choice, so I supported them but both bills died. The budget continues to be the topic of choice as well as it should be, I believe we’re close to coming up with a plan that most Legislators can vote for, but I also know how fast the wheels can come off. Some of the discussions is funding the big 3 and if and how much we can give them, remember this is ongoing which means funding the raise year after year. The 4.2 sales tax and whether to make it permanent or let it go back to 4.5 was taken up by the Senate and it looks like it will go back to 4.5 in 2027, giving the budget another 100 plus million in revenue. Some want the extra money to go for property tax relief with others wanting it to go for education, I’m not a fan of either plan. I hope everyone has a great week and if you need to reach me my number is 605-680-0304 or email me at Marty.overweg@sdlegislature.gov. I appreciate serving you and your feedback, ideas and support.