Makenzie Huber, South Dakota Searchlight
The week of Valentine’s Day, in this humble reporter’s opinion, is the best week of the legislative session.
It’s not just because lawmakers exchange candy with cute, punny messages on them, or have desks covered in bouquets of flowers from well-wishing spouses, or dress up in pale pink ties and blouses. It’s not even because Thursday was Mitchell Day at the Capitol (with the best commemorative popcorn balls South Dakota has to offer, I’m sure).
No, it’s because it’s revenue week: the “Super Bowl for appropriators” as Sioux Falls Republican Rep. Tony Venhuizen described it.
Revenue week is when the suspense climaxes, when dozens of bill sponsors waiting for the latest fiscal projections hold their breath, and lawmakers sitting on the state budget committee haggle and debate and predict the future of South Dakota’s economy – all depending on a few key factors (personal income, housing and inflation, for example).
For those who appreciate the art of budgeting and financial forecasting, I recommend you reserve your seat for next year’s Super Bowl event. And grab some of those Corn Palace popcorn balls beforehand.
This year’s committee-adopted revenue projection for the remainder of fiscal year 2024, which ends on June 30, is $41 million higher than Gov. Kristi Noem recommended in her December budget address.
“That means there’s $41 million of one-time money that is not spoken for in the governor’s budget that we can now consider how to allocate over the next three weeks,” Venhuizen said during the weekly Republican leadership press conference.
Several bills will be vying for that extra one-time cash.
On top of that, the committee adopted a fiscal year 2025 ongoing revenue estimate that’s $21 million more than Noem’s recommended budget. That ongoing revenue could go toward items such as a slightly-higher-than-recommended funding increase for schools, health care providers and state employees, or a tuition freeze for public universities.
Now the budgeting begins in earnest.
While Republican leaders in the House and Senate say their No. 1 priority for one-time spending is allocating funding to build new prisons (aligning with Noem’s top priority), they plan to use the newfound money beyond the executive branch’s wish list.
Rank-and-file Republican priorities on that one-time, not-governor-budgeted list?
Millions in funding for local governments to bolster their cybersecurity, especially their email security. They’ve been seeking funding for years and missed out on federal funding that Noem’s administration turned down. Some Republicans also want new funding to jumpstart a second cohort in the Department of Education’s Teacher Apprenticeship Pathway program, which helps teaching aides become certified teachers.
The “Super Bowl” might be over, but there’s plenty more to come in the last 13 days of the 99th legislative session. Because if revenue week is the Legislature’s Super Bowl, Wednesday’s Crossover Day — the deadline for bills to pass their house of origin — signals the final stretch of its Boston Marathon.
Following are summaries of the status of some bills we’re following.
Teacher pay
The House will soon debate a bill that would require school districts to pay a minimum teacher salary and match the rate of average teacher compensation increases to legislative increases in state aid. Gov. Noem has recommended a 4% increase in state aid this year.
While there wasn’t any opposition to the bill during a committee hearing this week, education lobbyists and school districts worry about the impact the bill would have on schools with declining enrollment. The bill passed out of the House Education Committee 11-2.
Abortion bills
A resolution declaring opposition to a potential November ballot question that would reinstate abortion rights passed the House and Senate chambers this week with overwhelming support. Unlike other bills, it doesn’t need the governor’s approval since it’s a resolution.
Still up for consideration is a bill that would require the Department of Health, with input from medical professionals and the attorney general, to create a video and “other materials” describing when providers can legally intervene in a pregnancy to protect the mother’s life (the only exception in the state’s abortion ban is for protection of the life of the mother). Providers have been at odds regarding legal care in life-or-death situations since the ban was put in place, and some OB-GYNs are hesitant to provide critical care for fear of legal repercussions.
That bill passed the House 63-6 and now heads to the Senate State Affairs Committee.
Making it easier for communities to become cities
A bill making it easier for some communities to become incorporated cities passed the Senate on Monday and headed to the governor’s desk. The bill, which was motivated by the community of Black Hawk, would retain a requirement for Black Hawk to petition Rapid City for annexation before trying to become a city in its own right, but would remove a requirement for Black Hawk to additionally petition the city of Summerset.
School election dates
A bill that would have required school district bond votes be held the same day as primary or general elections in South Dakota failed in the House on a 28-42 vote. A similar bill that would align school board elections with primary and general elections (which passed out of the House Local Government on a 7-6 vote) did pass the House on a 40-29 vote and is headed to the Senate State Affairs Committee.
Lithium mining tax
A bill to impose a tax on lithium mining failed in the Senate. Companies are exploring for lithium in the Black Hills to feed the growing need for lithium-based batteries in electric vehicles and devices.
911 surcharge
A bill to increase funding for 911 call centers by raising phone customers’ monthly surcharge from $1.25 to $2 per line failed narrowly in the Senate but will be reconsidered next week. In 2023, the existing surcharge generated about $12.47 million in revenue. With the proposed increase and assuming no change in the number of service lines, the projected revenue is approximately $19.95 million. The surcharge has not been increased since 2012.
Hunt in pink
The House of Representatives approved a bill in a 68-1 vote on Valentine’s Day that would add blaze pink as a legally recognized hunter safety color. The bill now heads to a Senate committee for consideration.
Foreign ag land
A bill that would ban ownership of agricultural land in South Dakota by people, companies and governments from six countries, including China, passed the House of Representatives in a 61-6 vote and now heads to a Senate committee. An existing state law, which dates to 1979, prohibits foreign people and governments from owning more than 160 acres of agricultural land in South Dakota. That law is being amended to bar six countries outright, and to close an apparent loophole allowing foreign “shell companies” to purchase land.
Civic engagement
A bill requiring the creation of a civic engagement center at Black Hills State University in Spearfish passed a legislative budget committee in an 8-0 vote. The center would be named in honor of the late Dr. Nicholas W. Drummond, who was a BHSU political science professor. The legislation says the center’s purpose would be to prepare students for active and informed participation in political and civic life.
Prison inmate legal defense
A bill that would require the state to pick up the legal defense fees for inmates accused of committing crimes behind prison walls passed through the House Appropriations Committee on a 7-0 vote. Currently, the state pays the detectives who investigate prison crimes and the prosecutors who take such cases to court, but counties are left holding the bill for the accused inmate’s defense lawyers. Supporters call it a step toward fairness that can help counties like Bon Homme — which has a small population and property tax base but a lot of potential liability thanks to Mike Durfee State Prison — avoid hefty legal bills. House Bill 1039 now moves to the full House.
Marijuana proposals
The House Health and Human Services Committee advanced a proposal this week that would require providers who write medical marijuana prescriptions to tell their patient’s primary care doctor about it. The committee added an amendment, though. If the bill becomes law in its current form, a specialist treating a patient for one of the debilitating medical conditions that make them eligible for a medical pot card wouldn’t need to give a head’s up to any other doctor. Next up: the full House of Representatives.
That’s one of several pot bills on the 2024 docket. One of them, a bill to add a notice about the potential loss of federal firearms rights to medical marijuana applications, was signed by Gov. Noem on Feb. 13. The next day, she signed a bill to let employers fire or discipline medical pot users with safety sensitive jobs. The day after that, a House committee advanced two other weed bills on 10-2 votes. One would put the names of medical pot users into the state’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program database, created about a decade ago to track patients who doctor-shop for prescription pain meds like Oxycodone. The other would allow fines of up to $10,000 against misbehaving medical marijuana dispensaries, and to terminate the licenses of repeat offenders. Both now head to the full House for consideration.
Help for the homeless
A bill that would offer free birth certificates for those without homes cleared the House Appropriations Committee on a unanimous vote, as did a proposal to waive fees for state identification cards for the same population. Birth certificates are needed to get state ID cards, which are often needed to apply for housing, jobs and a host of other services that help people move from homeless to housed. The appropriations vote sends it to the full House for consideration.
Fake ballots
Campaign mailers or other election-related materials that reproduce ballots and purport to be “official” would be illegal if HB1239 becomes law. After a Feb. 13 vote in the House of Representatives, it’s one step closer – although some in the Senate, whose State Affairs Committee will now take up the issue, are skeptical on First Amendment grounds.
— Reporters John Hult and Joshua Haiar contributed to this story.