We wrapped up week 3 in the state legislature, and it’s picking up the pace. I’m still learning the ropes and the rules, but this year I’m also learning the unwritten rule that politics brings out the worst in people. I thought I always knew that before, but this week I experienced it up close and personal, which is why a good friend once told me, “Politics is terrible people, doing terrible things, to other terrible people, terribly. Which is why good and decent people hate the process; and why good and decent people that get involved in politics hate the process.” I have to say, he was not wrong. I will get more into detail on that later.
We didn’t have too much for major bills on the House floor this week, but we had a couple talkers:
HB 1086 – Seemed like pretty common sense. It was making it a crime for someone “slime” a probation officer with bodily fluids. It’s a crime for an inmate to do it to a correctional officer, this just expands it to probation officers as well.
HB 1076 – Was a bill I wanted to get to a yes on, but just couldn’t get there. The bill was intended to be an antisemitism bill. Nobody wants to see antisemitism take place, but this bill went a bit too far and crossed the threshold into criminalizing free speech. There will always be jerks out there and you can’t pass a law to stop someone from being a jerk. We already have both state laws and federal Civil Rights laws prohibiting discrimination and discriminatory treatment against people based on race, religion, creed, sex, or country of origin. Along with criminalizing free speech, this bill would also great a protected class status. The Representative that brought the bill even said that he didn’t like the language and definition in the bill; it was a definition that other countries use, countries that don’t have free speech, and even said if he was writing the definition that it’s not the definition he would use.
HB 1095 – This one was a bill to setup laws and start allowing fully autonomous vehicles to drive on the our roads. Those are cars that drive all by themselves, without anyone in the vehicle. This bill was heard in House Transportation Committee last year and it died. This year it was assigned to House Commerce and Energy Committee; I’m assuming that was done because they knew it would get shot down again if it went to House Transportation Committee. I had concerns over this bill last year and even more issues were brought to light this year. The concerns were that these vehicles don’t recognize emergency response vehicles and don’t know how to get out of the way since they can’t exercise independent judgement and end up blocking emergency vehicles. Other major concerns were that fully autonomous vehicles have run over and killed pedestrians, especially when pedestrians don’t use the crosswalk. Likewise, they can’t recognize children, which makes them more likely to be hit by these vehicles. It was also brought to our attention that these vehicles have an error that requires human correction every 2½ miles. I didn’t think that seemed safe for a vehicle that is supposed to operate without a person in it to need a person to fix it every 2½ miles. How is that going to happen when there is no person in the vehicle? Another large concern was that the companies making these vehicles like to brag about a 100% safety record, but they don’t mention that a vast majority of those miles are in a simulator rather than on an actual road. For all those reasons the Police Chiefs Association also opposed the bill and nobody from the DOT was there in support of it. It also took away local control and that was concerning to me as well.
Lastly, the disappointing part. HB 1025 for the protection of law enforcement and first responders failed in Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill I brought that would make it a crime to expose law enforcement officers and first responders to fentanyl if they suffered from a serious bodily injury or death. The Major from the Department of Public Safety and Highway Patrol was absolutely shocked that it didn’t pass, he said it was the best prepared and well presented bill he had ever seen. Unfortunately, there’s one Representative that thinks he should be the only one that should get credit for criminal justice and law enforcement bills, and if anyone else brings one besides him or one that he didn’t think of, then he works to undermine it because he doesn’t want anyone else to get credit for passing one. That sort of behavior makes that individual Representative very petty and pathetic. He went to one senator on that committee and lied to her and told her that these incidents haven’t occurred, despite the Department of Public Safety and Highway Patrol having information to the contrary. I’ve been told that, unfortunately, that particular individual seems to dedicate more time opposing and undermining other people’s law enforcement and criminal justice bills because he doesn’t want other people to get credit for them. People that do that end up getting a bad reputation because people don’t end up wanting to work with them for anything. So, he spent a vast amount of time undermining a good law enforcement bill, and that’s probably why I received a much higher pro-law enforcement rating than he did, because I’m busy supporting law enforcement and he’s busing trying to undermine it. Hopefully there’s a chance of bringing the bill back yet this year because I feel it’s important to go to bat for the boys in blue.
As always, I always try to be available for questions and information. If there’s a bill on the http://www.sdlegislature.gov website that interests you, be sure to let me know. It’s been an exciting first few weeks, and the legislative session is already 25% over. I’m excited and looking forward to the coming days and weeks ahead. As always, feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, or concerns. My email address is Ben.Krohmer@sdlegislature.gov.
Ben Krohmer
State House of Representatives, District 20