PIERRE, S.D. (MITCHELL NOW)  Week 6 in the state legislature flew by again and hosted a wide range of very important bills. Crossover Day is on the horizon, and with it could bring some long days. Crossover Day is the final day for bills to crossover from their chamber of origin. House bills will need to be sent over to the Senate and vice versa. As a reminder, the www.sdlegislature.gov website is a great website for following all the bills, committees, and more.

House Transportation had a couple bills. The first one was HB 1242 to add an informational plaque at the base of the Dignity of Earth and Sky statue that’s located at the Chamberlin rest area that would describe the intent and meaning behind the statue. The DOT opposed it because they screen signs that get put up on DOT areas so they don’t end up with people putting up things like swastikas or satanic symbols. Luckly, both sides were able to come together and iron out the details without the need to have a law passed, so we tabled the bill. We also heard SB 112 that would add a $100 vehicle registration fee for people that register their vehicles here in South Dakota but don’t actually live here in the state. Of that $100, half would go to the state motor vehicle fund and the other have would go to the county general fund. It passed and I voted for it because I think if you want the benefits of South Dakota then you should live in South Dakota; just like we charge a different price for out of state hunting licenses. I think we have finished every House Bill involving transportation, and we’re starting to work on Senate Bills.

In Commerce and Energy we had so many bills this week, including more carbon pipeline and eminent domain bills, so many that we had to have an additional meeting. We also heard one that tried to regulate healthcare sharing arrangements the same as insurance companies. I voted against it because some people join healthcare sharing arrangements because they prefer that over insurance companies. I voted against it and the bill ultimately failed.

For the pipeline bills – currently only the people applying for the permit are currently allowed to apply for an extension. HB 1243 would have allowed it to be done by any party, including the PUC. Apparently sometimes the applicant will submit bulk amounts of information at the last minute and makes it a very laborious task to sift through all of it, both for the PUC and the opposition party. The decision would be made, at determination of the PUC, and I think we all trust the PUC enough to determine if it is a legitimate request or not. Another one was HB 1256 which would have required a pipeline to get 90% of volunteer agreements before they could start using eminent domain, which completely blows apart the argument of one or two hold outs. It seemed like the opposition was all out of excuses at this point, and it was apparent that that opposition is constantly trying to move the goal post. They even tried to say that TransCanada and Dakota Access pipelines would have been affected by this law, but I pointed out that both TransCanada and Dakota Access pipelines were granted a permit by the Public Utilities Commission, unlike the carbon pipeline.

Another one was HB 1219 that would prohibit the exercise of eminent domain for the construction of pipelines carrying carbon. It failed in committee by one vote, but what happened on the floor is what’s known as a smokeout. That’s where enough members of the House feel that the issue the bill is addressing is big enough and needs to be brought to the full chamber, and forces the committee to deliver the bill to the House Floor. Once we adjourned from the House Floor the Commerce and Energy Committee had to have an impromptu meeting in the hallway to vote on delivering the bill to the floor. We sent it to the floor with no recommendation. HB 1219 doesn’t affect anything that is for public use like water, electricity, or roads. It doesn’t ban pipelines, it’s not anti-ethanol, and it doesn’t stop any project. It only says that you can’t use eminent domain if you’re disposing of carbon in the ground, as in it’s not a public use. Because nobody has a carbon line hooked up to their house – you have a road that goes right in front of your house, you have water, you have electricity, you have natural gas or propane, but not carbon. That’s because it’s not a public use. They’re doing this project in Minnesota without using eminent domain. There was even an article in the Mitchell Republic about when the carbon pipelines were applying for their permit before the Public Utility Commission, and the ethanol industry was asked, under oath, if they needed this carbon pipeline to remain viable and they said; no, they don’t need the carbon pipeline to remain viable, and the ethanol industry is solid. It was brought up that the ethanol industry in DC said they want the carbon pipeline folks to quit saying that the industry isn’t viable without the pipeline because it’s hurting their support in Washington. By trying to force this carbon pipeline on South Dakotans is letting places like California control our #1 industry, agriculture and in turn ethanol. California also wants to ban combustion engines, which would end the ethanol industry. Plus, 10 years ago they said ethanol was going to save the planet, but now they’re saying ethanol is killing the planet; again, a moving goal post. What if California said they were going to stop buying our Ag products unless we start using battery powered tractors? Eminent domain goes against the American way because it forces someone into commerce that doesn’t want to engage in it.

Those were the big pressing issues of the week, but there were some lighter issues on the floor this week consisting of sip-and-cycles that you see in downtown Sioux Falls. A couple similar ones – one would have required school bond elections to be held at the same time as either primary or general elections in an effort to increase turnout on major spending issues, I voted for it, but it failed; and one similar to it that was for school board elections, I voted for that one as well, and that one passed. Another one was to address an attempt to circumvent a bill we passed last year regarding to pharmacy benefit managers. Another one was to require vehicles, 1 ton trucks or larger, to have mud flaps. I voted against this bill in both Transportation Committee and on the Floor because the bill doesn’t exempt non-commercial vehicles, and if a 1 ton truck was pulling a gooseneck trailer of haybales down the road they would be exempt, but once they unhooked from the trailer they wouldn’t be exempt anymore, because it goes off gross weight which is how much the vehicle has the capability of pulling not how much it is actually pulling.

Another one was HB 1231 that was intended to prevent foreign ownership of Ag land. There were concerns that there is currently a law prohibiting that but was being ignored. An amendment was introduced to address that issue by removing a part of this bill that allowed for unlimited foreign ownership of easements, the concern was that it was relating to the carbon pipeline, which is largely owned by hostile foreign governments, like China. I thought the amendment made the bill even better, but it failed and the bill passed. I voted for the amendment, and I still voted for the bill even though the amendment failed.

We also heard about HB 1239 that was to prohibit dissemination of incorrect or misleading ballot information. This bill was a result of fake and misleading sample ballot post cards that were mailed out during the last primary election in 2022 in an effort to deceive and mislead the voters. It didn’t infringe on people’s free speech or campaign rhetoric, so you could still send a satirical ballot to your Uncle Bob and get a good laugh about it, but it would prohibit sending out material claiming to be actual sample ballots and telling you to take it to the polls, which you can’t do since it’s campaign material.

We also passed HB 1178 that would prevent using state resources from allowing obscene live conduct. This bill is geared towards prohibiting drag shows on college campuses. If someone wants to have a drag show then they can rent an event hall somewhere off campus to do that.

HB 1228 would allow for fluorescent pink to be used for hunting colors in addition to blaze orange. It was a “pretty” harmless bill.

Week 7 is upon us, which includes Crossover Day. I hope to hear from more of you, so keep the emails coming! As always, please feel free to contact me with questions, comments, or concerns. My email address is Ben.Krohmer@sdlegislature.gov.

Ben Krohmer
State House of Representatives, District 20