Week Three – Flow of Bills Increases
As of Thursday, January 30 (legislative day 12), there were 217 House bills and 148 Senate bills for total of 365 bills. This is 85 more than there were on Wednesday and 155 more than there were on Tuesday. Clearly someone found the Liquid Plumber and cleared the bill introduction clog.
Last year saw a total of 463 bills.
Follow Up. Previous editions of Capitol-ism have focused on HB 1057 and SB 70 as bills with urgency and without much competition for reader’s attention. As noted above, a flood of bills has been set upon the land and the work of evaluating them has begun. This issue begins with the update on the transgender (HB 1057) and driver’s license (SB 70) bills.
HB 1057 – Treatment of Transgender Youth – Update. This bill had its debate and vote last Wednesday. The Chamber opposed this bill on the grounds that legislation seeking to discriminate against people and set controls on private issues can lead to economic consequences, including investments from companies that emphasize inclusionary values in their workplace.
The Chamber has made several references to the economic losses experienced by North Carolina after passing SB 2 which dealt with use of bathrooms and other issues. SB 2 was repealed after the cancellation of several business expansions and tournaments. Proponents of South Dakota’s HB 1057 have been touting the fact that North Carolina has had increased sales tax revenues for the past several years which ignores the fact the fact that the state repealed SB 2 and growth in other sectors hides the missed revenue from the lost opportunities.
In spite of the business community’s warnings about unintended economic consequences, HB 1057 passed the House of Representatives on a vote of 46-Yeas to 23-Nays with 1 excused. Here is that vote:
|
Anderson
|
Nay
|
Bartels
|
Nay
|
Barthel
|
Nay
|
|
Beal
|
Yea
|
Bordeaux
|
Nay
|
Borglum
|
Yea
|
|
Brunner
|
Yea
|
Chaffee
|
Yea
|
Chase
|
Yea
|
|
Cwach
|
Nay
|
Dennert
|
Yea
|
Deutsch
|
Yea
|
|
Diedrich
|
Nay
|
Duba
|
Nay
|
Duvall
|
Yea
|
|
Finck
|
Yea
|
Frye-Mueller
|
Yea
|
Glanzer
|
Yea
|
|
Goodwin
|
Yea
|
Gosch
|
Yea
|
Greenfield (Lana)
|
Yea
|
|
Gross
|
Yea
|
Hammock
|
Yea
|
Hansen
|
Yea
|
|
Haugaard
|
Yea
|
Healy
|
Nay
|
Howard
|
Yea
|
|
Hunhoff
|
Nay
|
Jensen (Kevin)
|
Yea
|
Johns
|
Nay
|
|
Johnson (Chris)
|
Yea
|
Johnson (David)
|
Yea
|
Karr
|
Yea
|
|
Koth
|
Yea
|
Latterell
|
Yea
|
Lesmeister
|
Nay
|
|
Livermont
|
Yea
|
Marty
|
Yea
|
McCleerey
|
Nay
|
|
Mills
|
Yea
|
Milstead
|
Yea
|
Miskimins
|
Yea
|
|
Mulally
|
Yea
|
Olson
|
Nay
|
Otten (Herman)
|
Yea
|
|
Overweg
|
Yea
|
Perry
|
Yea
|
Peterson (Kent)
|
Nay
|
|
Peterson (Sue)
|
Yea
|
Pischke
|
Yea
|
Post
|
Yea
|
|
Pourier
|
Excused
|
Qualm
|
Yea
|
Randolph
|
Yea
|
|
Rasmussen
|
Yea
|
Reed
|
Nay
|
Reimer
|
Yea
|
|
Ring
|
Nay
|
Rounds
|
Nay
|
Saba
|
Nay
|
|
Smith (Jamie)
|
Nay
|
St. John
|
Nay
|
Steele
|
Yea
|
|
Sullivan
|
Nay
|
Wangsness
|
Yea
|
Weis
|
Yea
|
|
Wiese
|
Yea
|
Willadsen
|
Nay
|
York
|
Yea
|
|
Zikmund
|
Nay
|
|
|
|
|
Workers Aren’t Really Workers – If They Can’t Get To Work!
SB 70 – Driver license manual and exams in Spanish. The bill has been assigned to Senate Transportation Committee and the Chairman has scheduled a hearing next Wednesday (2/5). The coalition supporting the bill continues to grow with more chambers of commerce, development organizations and businesses joining. The hearing will have a strong line up of people to testify; many having their own stories to tell of being an immigrant or of watching their parents survive in a new land.
The Governor opposed this idea last year. She continues to believe this bill, as presented, conflicts with the legal requirement that mandates English as the state’s official language for government documents. Most other state agencies use Google to offer documents in as many as 100+ languages which seems to indicate there is some way to deal with the Spanish driver manual and examination.
One criticism of this bill continues to be the feeling that immigrants should learn English so that they can be productive. The Chamber has learned that a significant number of these legal immigrants do speak English but struggle to read the language. Considering the word “wind” can blow in your face, you can “wind” up a rope, play a “wind” instrument or perhaps view a river “winding” its way through the valley . . . any wonder why someone would struggle? You could get “winded” in translation.
You can make a difference – Legislators need to hear from real live business owners and managers, along with workers. Public input will make a difference on this issue. SB 70 only directs the manual and written examinations to be available in Spanish – the driving test will still be administered in English. Here is a list of committee members:
Senate Transportation Committee
Chair: Otten, Ernie
Vice-Chair: Blare, Rocky
Blare, Rocky (R)
Castleberry, Jessica (R)
Foster, Red Dawn (D)
Monroe, Jeff (R)
Otten, Ernie (R)
Russell, Lance (R)
Soholt, Deb (R)
What’s in a Name? HB 1083 to rename the postsecondary technical institutes as technical colleges. South Dakota has four post-secondary technical institutes which are located in Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Watertown and Mitchell. The four technical institutes have wanted to be referred to as “colleges” for some time. It is worth remembering that they started out as part of the high schools and then became Vocational Education schools. Times change, names change, and the critical mission these institutes/colleges accomplish in terms of career readiness and workforce development means the name change is due.
In addition, now that these schools are governed by a special board of Technical Education, it is time for the names to change. There was a hearing on HB 1083 last Wednesday and the bill passed out of House Education Committee with a vote of 15 Yeas to 0 Nays.
The South Dakota Chamber of Commerce and Industry spoke in support of the HB 1083.
Business Day at the Legislature – Join us and lend your voice to this year’s Business Caucus by voting your opinions on issues being debated by the legislature using your smartphone. The event is moderated by Bill Peterson of Fredrikson & Byron Government Relations and features South Dakota Chamber President David Owen’s legislative update.
Business Day is sponsored by:
- First PREMIER Bank/PREMIER Bankcard
- Microsoft
- Black Hills Energy
- Fredrikson & Byron Government Relations
- Midco
- NorthWestern Energy
- Pfizer
- Daktronics
- Lawrence & Schiller
Thank you for your support of the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce & Industry!