South Dakota Legislative Billwatch Feb. 2, 2016

These are some of the important bills to be considered in the South Dakota Legislature tomorrow, February 2, 2016.

HB 1054 would authorize the production and sale of industrial hemp. Being former law enforcement, I’m not a big fan of this one because hemp looks like marijuana, and makes it harder for law enforcement do identify the real intoxicant from the hemp. It’s already hard enough to get poison off the streets as it is; I don’t think we need to muddy the waters further.  It also doesn’t help this measure that a lot of the people who typically support hemp legalization efforts “coincidentally” are some of the same people who support legalization of recreational drugs. It is up for a committee hearing

HB 1123 would require the Department of Health to post information about recent inspections of abortion facilities on its website within 45 days of the inspection, providing greater transparency into these dangerous and often unsanitary slaughter houses. This bill will be before the House Health and Human Services Committee.

HB 1057 is a bill to give more authority to the South Dakota Commission on Gaming (gambling).  This has the potential to expand gambling, which is already wreaking enough havoc in the lives of individuals and families.  It has already passed the House, and is up for consideration in the Senate Commerce and Energy Committee.

SB 24 seeks to prohibit the sale of fetal body parts in South Dakota. You may recall some of the videos of the sale of body parts by Planned Parenthood that were released over the past year. This bill was approved unanimously in the Senate Judiciary Committee and now goes before the full Senate.

HB 1066 and SB 65 deal with public meetings and municipal recall elections. I haven’t seen a lot of problems with either of these bills, but it’s always good to keep an eye on what’s going on with the taxpayer’s access to information and the protection of our interest.

	Date	Committee/Chamber	Bill	Title
	2/2 7:45 AM	House Agriculture and Natural Resources	HB 1054	authorize the production and sale of industrial hemp.
	2/2 7:45 AM	House Health and Human Services	HB 1123	require the Department of Health to include certain information regarding the inspection of an abortion facility on the department’s website.
	2/2 10:00 AM	Senate Commerce and Energy	HB 1052	revise certain alcoholic beverage business restrictions on Department of Revenue employees.
	2/2 10:00 AM	Senate Commerce and Energy	HB 1057	revise the rule-making authority of the South Dakota Commission on Gaming.
	2/2 2:00 PM	House of Representatives	HB 1066	revise certain provisions regarding the public notice for a meeting of a public body.
	2/2 2:00 PM	Senate	HCR 1003	Encouraging recognition of the current gender wage gap and calling for the enforcement of equal pay for equal work laws.
	2/2 2:00 PM	Senate	SB 24	prohibit the sale of fetal body parts and to provide a penalty therefor.
	2/2 2:00 PM	Senate	SB 54	adopt the Elder Abuse Task Force’s statutory recommendations in order to protect South Dakota seniors and adults with disabilities from abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
	2/2 2:00 PM	Senate	SB 65	revise the procedure for a municipal recall petition.

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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

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