South Dakota Legislative Billwatch, Feb. 24, 2015

There are a lot of bills scheduled to be considered in the South Dakota Legislature today.

Several deal with education, including HB 1101, as well as “empty shell” or “hoghouse vehicle” bills HB 1226 and SB 140. One “hoghouse vehicle” is offered by  RINOs and the other by conservatives, so it’ll be interesting to see what these bills actually turn out to be. There is also an effort scheduled today to “smoke out” or revive HB 1223 which was intented to have South Dakota join other states in pulling out of Common Core national education standards, but was killed in committee by our “Republican” supermajority legislature.

There is also HB 1211 which intends to repeal the requirement for a marriage license and to provide for a marriage certificate.  Some good conservatives have signed on to this bill, but I think it’s an incredibly bad idea that plays right into the hands of those who want to destroy marriage. Some people think that if you can just “take marriage out of the hands of the state” (a complete and utter impossibility), then all will be wonderful and homosexual activists won’t be able to further attack marriage. In reality, such attempts (which will never work in the first place) only further demean and tarnish the importance of the institution of marriage to society.

HB 1220 is also scheduled for today, which is another attempt to protect religious freedom from homosexual activists. Conservatives attempted to protect religious freedom last year, but our “Republican” supermajority killed both bills as “bigoted” and “racist” with the apparent blessing of our “Republican” governor. It’ll be interesting to see if this bill makes it any further.

There are also some pro-gun bills scheduled for today, as well as abortion legislation and still more “empty shell” vehicles that we’ll have to wait to see how good or how bad they are.

ADVERTISEMENT

	Date	Committee/Chamber	Bill	Title
	2/24 7:45 AM	Senate Education	HB 1101	ensure local control over curriculum and methods of instruction.
	2/24 7:45 AM	House State Affairs	HB 1220	provide for the free exercise of religion and to declare an emergency.
	2/24 7:45 AM	House State Affairs	HB 1226	accommodate legislation for education.
	2/24 8:00 AM	Senate Judiciary	HB 1096	revise certain procedures for issuing a permit to carry a concealed pistol.
	2/24 8:00 AM	Senate Judiciary	HB 1116	repeal and revise certain provisions relating to the requirements for a permit to carry a concealed pistol.
	2/24 10:00 AM	House Local Government	HB 1211	repeal the requirement for a marriage license and to provide for a marriage certificate.
	2/24 10:00 AM	Senate Commerce and Energy	SB 180	revise certain provisions regarding the production tax for wind energy facilities.
	2/24 2:00 PM	Senate	HB 1058	revise certain provisions regarding contagious disease control quarantine measures.
	2/24 2:00 PM	Senate	HB 1059	allow authorized entities to access immunization information in certain circumstances.
	2/24 2:00 PM	Senate	HB 1089	ban the practice of female genital mutilation in the state, to provide a penalty therefor, and to declare an emergency.
	2/24 2:00 PM	Senate	HB 1130	prohibit an abortion provider from accepting payment for an abortion prior to the end of the required informed consent period.
	2/24 2:00 PM	House of Representatives	HB 1169	accommodate legislation on medical services.
	2/24 2:00 PM	House of Representatives	HB 1171	enhance South Dakota.
	2/24 2:00 PM	House of Representatives	HB 1231	authorize the forfeiture of any financial benefit or valuables gained from prostitution or pimping.
	2/24 2:00 PM	House of Representatives	SB 47	make an appropriation from the coordinated natural resources conservation fund to the State Conservation Commission and to declare an emergency.
	2/24 2:00 PM	Senate	SB 139	authorize the increase in the number of video lottery machines that may be placed in a licensed establishment under certain conditions.
	2/24 2:00 PM	Senate	SB 140	accommodate legislation relating to education in South Dakota.
	2/24 2:00 PM	Senate	SB 141	accommodate legislation on medical services.
	2/24 2:00 PM	Senate	SB 142	enhance South Dakota.
	2/24 2:00 PM	Senate	SB 192	permit the sergeant-at-arms to carry concealed firearms in the state capitol building under certain conditions.

This article is printed with the permission of the author(s). Opinions expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the article’s author(s), or of the person(s) or organization(s) quoted therein, and do not necessarily represent those of American Clarion or Dakota Voice LLC.

Comment Rules: Please confine comments to salient ones that add to the topic; Profanity is not allowed and will be deleted; Spam, copied statements and other material not comprised of the reader’s own opinion will be deleted.

Similar Posts:

• South Dakota Legislative Billwatch, Feb. 20, 2015
• Feb. 21 South Dakota Billwatch
• Feb. 24 South Dakota Legislative Billwatch
• Feb. 25 South Dakota Legislative Billwatch
• Jan. 23 South Dakota Legislative Billwatch

Bob Ellis has been the owner of media company Dakota Voice, LLC since 2005. He is a 10-year U.S. Air Force veteran, a political reporter and commentator for the past decade, and has been involved in numerous election and public policy campaigns for over 20 years. He was a founding member and board member of the Tea Party groups Citizens for Liberty and the South Dakota Tea Party Alliance. He lives in Rapid City, South Dakota with his wife and two children.

Bob Ellis

View all articles by Bob Ellis