Some of the bills being considered by the South Dakota Legislature on Feb. 16 include one to channel video lottery revenue to teacher salaries, expanding tax incentives for nenewable energy projects, criminal sentencing, the transgender “bathroom bill” and more.

This is only sensible. Everyone knows that males and females have different anatomy and that these differences call for the longstanding, legitimate privacy precautions we see in society when people must be in a state of undress-such as when they are using a restroom or locker room.

It’s amazing how closed-minded the supposedly “open minded” can actually be. We got an example of that from the South Dakota Legislature last week as the Senate Education Committee looked at SB 83 is intended to assist teachers in “helping students understand, analyze, critique, or review in an objective scientific manner the strengths and weaknesses of scientific information presented in courses.”

Several bills were heard in the South Dakota Legislature last week dealing with homosexual and transgender issues, as well as the religious liberty being targeted by the Left’s sexual agenda.

Some of the bills being considered by the South Dakota Legislature Thursday Feb. 4 include one that would protect scientific integrity in the classroom, as well as one repealing the prohibition against carrying a concealed weapon in the capitol.

The South Dakota Legislature will be considering a large number of important bills Wednesday including one to protect religious liberty and the right of conscience, to clarify that boys are boys and girls are girls, gambling, property rights and more.

Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Counsel Matt Sharp will testify Wednesday before the South Dakota House State Affairs Committee on two proposed laws: HB 1107, which would “ensure government nondiscrimination in matters of religious beliefs and moral convictions,” and HB 1112, which would establish birth certificates as the primary standard “in identifying a student’s sexual identity for purpose of participation in high school activities.”

The South Dakota Legislative Research Council has officially filed Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s education reform bills which are now online for the public to view.

At today’s legislative crackerbarrel meeting in Rapid City, a question was asked about why bills (HB 1008 and HB 11112) to deal with transgender issues in public schools was being brought when there had been no problems yet identified in public schools because of this.

At the legislative crackerbarrel meeting in Rapid City today, a question was asked about whether the legislature might consider creating a corporate income tax to fund education and teacher salaries. Answering the question were South Dakota Rep. Jacqueline Sly (who served on the South Dakota Blue Ribbon Task Force on education), Senator Craig Tieszen, and Senator Phil Jensen.