The South Dakota Legislature concluded its seventh week of session Friday. Friday was crossover day, a day in which all of the bills need to be out of the chamber in which they originate. This means all House Bills needed to be voted on by the end of this day. Luckily, we managed the schedule pretty well this year and we were able to end at a decent time on crossover day with only a few bills left for consideration.
HOUSE UPDATES
•HJR 1004 would submit to the voters for approval changes to the victim’s rights or “Marsy’s Law” constitutional amendment passed in 2016. HJR 1004 clarifies certain provisions of the law and allows law enforcement to release certain information regarding criminal activity. HJR 1004 passed the House State Affairs Committee 13-0 and passed the House Floor without opposition.
•HB 1293 would make assaulting a firefighter or a paramedic while they are performing their duties a felony. A simple assault would be classified as a class 6 felony and aggravated assault would be classified as a class 2 felony. HB 1293 passed House State Affairs 13-0 and passed the House Floor 64-0
•HB 1201 would have required ballot initiatives to include the county in which the sponsor of the initiative resides, and also would have required the total amount of compensation for sponsorship on the ballot. HB 1201 passed the House State Affairs committee 9-3 but failed on the House Floor 34-32.
•HB 1311 would change legislator salaries from 6,000 dollars a year to one fifth of South Dakota’s median income as defined by the U.S census and would be adjusted by the South Dakota Board of Finance. HB 1311 passed the House State Affairs Committee 10-4 and passed the House Floor 50-16.
•HB 1275 would have required petition gatherers to acquire petitions from a majority of South Dakota’s 35 senate districts. The senate district in which the signature was gathered would need to be noted on the signature line and without that note the signature would be invalid. HB 1275 passed the House State Affairs Committee 7-6 but failed on the House Floor 20-45.
SENATE UPDATES
•SB 93 would make knowingly exposing an individual to a sexually transmitted disease a class one misdemeanor. SB 93 passed Senate Judiciary 6-1 and passed the Senate Floor without opposition.
•SB 182 would have changed statutes regarding rape. Currently under South Dakota law the prosecution must prove that the defendant knew the victim was underage or incapacitated. Provisions under 182 would have changed that requirement and lessened the prosecutorial burden to a reasonable person standard. SB 182 passed Senate Judiciary 4-3 but failed on the Senate Floor 16-18.
•SB 155 would make transportation costs the responsibility of an individual incarcerated in a county jail. SB 155 would allow for repayment plans not exceeding one year and would also allow a judge to waive the fees if the individual demonstrates an inability to pay. SB 155 passed the Senate Judiciary Committee 5-2 and passed the Senate Floor after being amended 34-0.
•SB 95 would change South Dakota’s “ingestion” law from a felony to a class one misdemeanor. SB 95 passed out of Senate Judiciary without recommendation, it was put on the calendar but failed on the Senate Floor 12-22.
•SB 169 was hog housed to allow manufacturers of confectionaries to use small amounts of alcohol in frosting or other stages of baking. SB 169 came through the Senate Commerce and Energy Committee 6-1 and Passed the Senate Floor 34-1.
•SB 92 prohibits willfully attacking an individual with corrosive materials otherwise known as “acid attacks”. SB 92 makes the offense a Class 3 Felony. SB 92 passed through Senate Judiciary 5-1 and will be heard on the Senate Floor Friday.
If you have any questions and/or comments on these bills or any other legislation, please email me at tom.pischke@sdlegislature.gov