Week One
Welcome to the 97th session of the South Dakota Legislature. This year will be an interesting one to say the least. Session will be dominated at the end of the day by the possible impeachment of States Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, the billion dollars plus of taxpayers' money the federal government has sent to the state, the 40 or so marijuana bills pertaining to medical and recreation use, fairness in woman's sports and housing. These are the areas that I believe will consume the greatest amount of time and conversation around the Capital this year; of course, there will be many other issues that will take center stage on any given day or week.
The hearings and action on the possible impeachment of the Attorney General starts in the House of Representatives. Last week the committee interviewed five people who were involved in the investigation of the crash. Beyond that, I'm not sure what the the next step is for the House. I will be giving nothing more than updates as to what the House is doing; as a member of the Senate, I would be a juror if the House moves to impeach, and I need to stay impartial.
The massive amounts of federal monies that the state has received are staggering. It is one-time money and should be used in a manner that will not create ongoing expenses. Right now, the conversations center around using the funds mostly for one-time expenditures for capital improvement projects. The Governor has proposed using the funds for such things as water projects around the state, affordable and workforce housing, water and sewer infrastructure needs, child care, and others. I have been working with leadership and the Governor's office in helping to shape how the infrastructure and housing grant, hopefully, a revolving loan program also, will work. As of now, the proposal is fairly wide open to grant requests and few guidelines as to who could receive funding. I have been adamant that a certain percentage of those funds (150 million dollars in total has been proposed) will be guaranteed to go to smaller communities. Some have suggested the population number for that to be 5,000 people or less, but that would leave out communities the size of Tea and Harrisburg. The grant will have to be matched dollar for dollar by the developer and the city. My support is contingent upon a guarantee that smaller communities and developers in those communities have a fair and equal shot at a percentage of those funds.
The marijuana bills have started to work their way through the system, and I will give an update on the big ones as they either die or pass the Senate.
The Senate Wednesday passed SB 46, the Governors bill to protect fairness in woman's sports. I have had plenty of emails asking what issue this bill solves or accusing myself, the Governor, and the Legislature as a whole of hating people who are LGBQT+. Nothing could be further from the truth. To be frank, I really don't care if someone is LGBQT+ or not, and I most certainly don't hate anyone who is because of who they are. Nor do I believe the Governor or other members do either. This bill is about what the title says it is and if anyone is paying attention to what is going on with the woman's swimming team at the University of Pennsylvania, that should explain the reason the Governor put this bill forth. I did vote for the bill, and SB 46 passed out of the Senate by a vote of 26 Ayes to 7 Nays.
If you have any comments or concerns about any particular bill or matter moving through the Legislature, please email me at herman.otten@sdlegislature.gov