South Dakota Legislative Billwatch, Feb. 10, 2016

It’s going to be another busy day for the South Dakota Legislature today.  My billwatch list is full of bills today that I haven’t had time to learn about or even read fully yet (thus the yellow “no position” symbol on so many), but they nevertheless hold the potential to be good or bad for the state of South Dakota.

One that I do know about and I do know would be bad for the state is SB 94 to repeal the death penalty in South Dakota. This is the kind of thing we used to only see coming from Democrats, but now with so many Democrats-with-an-R-after-their-name in South Dakota government, we’ve been seeing this kind of bad legislation coming from “Republicans” for about the past three years. I’ve addressed this subject extensively in the past, so I won’t go into that here. However, I would encourage you to be sure you know all the ins and outs of the issue (information here, here and here) and you can catch up on last year’s hearing of a similar bill here and here. I emailed every legislator Tuesday morning, and I heard back from at least one of them that while they had been hearing lots of “emotional” appeals from death penalty opponents, they hadn’t heard much from those who recognize how vital it is that we retain this appropriate punishment for murderers.  A lot of legislators don’t know much about this issue, and can be easily swayed by emotional appeals. If you believe as I do that the death penalty is an essential tool in a civilized society, I would encourage you to contact every legislator on the Senate State Affairs Committee ASAP, and all of them soon, in case it makes it out of committee.

There will also be another attempt at a drug testing for welfare recipients bill in SB 153, to be heard in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.  Rep. Lynne DiSanto’s attempt in the House was killed, but this senate version is a little different, calling for random testing instead of every recipient.

HB 1182 is a sales tax intended for education, and is scheduled to be heard by the full House after having passed 9-0 in the Appropriations Committee.

Another bill scheduled to be heard by the full House is HCR 1005 which urges the federal government to refrain from enacting regulations that threaten the reliability and affordability of electric power in the northern great plains. It has already passed the senate 33-0.

HCR 1008 is another concurrent resolution which urges Congress to support and to ask the United States Secretary of State to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline project. It has already passed the House 56-10 and is scheduled to be considered by the full Senate next.

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	Date	Committee/Chamber	Bill	Title
	2/10 7:45 AM	House State Affairs	HB 1163	revise the periods of time during which veterans may use tuition benefits at institutions under the control of the Board of Regents.
	2/10 7:45 AM	House Education	HB 1168	allow students to participate in sexuality education with parental permission.
	2/10 7:45 AM	House Education	HB 1189	allow a state-mandated academic achievement test taken by a student to be returned to the student under certain circumstances
	2/10 7:45 AM	House State Affairs	HB 1190	enhance customer convenience in firearms transactions, improve public safety, and provide for the issuance of an additional concealed pistol permit.
	2/10 10:00 AM	House Judiciary	HB 1167	revise certain provisions regarding the use of a suspended imposition of sentence for a misdemeanor and a felony.
	2/10 10:00 AM	Senate State Affairs	SB 94	repeal the death penalty.
	2/10 10:00 AM	Senate Health and Human Services	SB 153	provide for drug testing certain TANF applicants.
	2/10 2:00 PM	House of Representatives	HB 1157	require that a doctor provide a woman additional information as a part of informed consent prior to performing an abortion.
	2/10 2:00 PM	House of Representatives	HB 1182	increase the state sales tax, the state use tax, the excise tax on farm machinery, and amusement device tax for the purpose of increasing education funding and reducing property taxes, and to declare an emergency.
	2/10 2:00 PM	House of Representatives	HB 1187	allow the Office of the Secretary of State to refuse to file certain documents.
	2/10 2:00 PM	House of Representatives	HCR 1005	Urging the federal government to refrain from enacting regulations that threaten the reliability and affordability of electric power in the northern great plains.
	2/10 2:00 PM	Senate	HCR 1008	Urging Congress to support and to ask the United States Secretary of State to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline project.
	2/10 2:00 PM	House of Representatives	HCR 1012	Requesting the South Dakota congressional delegation to introduce legislation to compensate private landowners for fire damage caused by the United States Forest Service.
	2/10 2:00 PM	Senate	SB 107	clarify certain safety zone restrictions on hunting.
	2/10 2:00 PM	Senate	SB 130	require the processing of sexual assault exam kits.
	2/10 3:45 PM	House Commerce and Energy	HB 1067	promote quality, competition, and freedom of choice in the health insurance market place.

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Similar Posts:

• Feb. 21 South Dakota Billwatch
• South Dakota Legislative Billwatch Jan. 27, 2016
• South Dakota Legislative Billwatch, Feb. 8, 2016
• Feb. 10 South Dakota Legislative Billwatch
• South Dakota Legislative Billwatch Feb. 9, 2015

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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