By Dana Hess, Community News Service
PIERRE — After some emotional testimony, the House Transportation Committee approved a bill that makes texting while driving a primary offense.
HB1169 would make using an electronic device while driving a primary rather than secondary offense. Currently drivers can’t be stopped for texting while driving, but can be ticketed if they are found to be in violation of another law.
Exceptions in the bill allow the use of electronic devices by law enforcement and other emergency services, texting 911 in an emergency and entering a phone number to make a call.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Doug Barthel, R-Sioux Falls, said he offered a similar bill last year that came up one vote short of passage in the Senate.
By moving the violation to a primary offense, Barthel said, it was likely that more people would obey the law. The fine would go up to $122.50. “It’s not going to be a big revenue generator,” Barthel said.
The legislation is more about changing behavior, according to Doug Abraham who represents insurance companies.
“When you know you’re going to be pulled over, you change your behavior,” Abraham said.
Lobbyists from a wide array of interests supported the bill. They included hospitals and the medical profession, building contractors, firefighters and EMTs, sheriffs and police chiefs.
The committee also heard from Jeff and Lesa Dahl of Castlewood whose 19-year-old son Jacob died in a car accident while he was using his phone. The Northern State University student was taking a photo with his phone when his car ran into the rear of a truck hauling soybeans.
Jeff Dahl pulled from a Highway Patrol evidence bag the phone his son was using when he died. Forensic evidence showed that his son was on the phone constantly from when he left Northern until the accident near Andover.
“I cry every single day since then,” Dahl said.
The committee approved the bill on a vote of 10-1. It now goes to the full House.
Other Legislative News
Speaker of the House Steven Haugaard, R-Sioux Falls, sponsored Olivia Olson of Garretson as a House page during the current legislative session in Pierre. Olivia, a junior at Sioux Falls Christian, is the daughter of Troy and Di Olson of Garretson. Olivia said her experience as a page taught her about how government runs at the state level. (Photo by Dana Hess, Community News Service)
Funds for training school sentinels approved
By Dana Hess, Community News Service
PIERRE — Despite some concerns about funding, a bill that would pay for the training of up to 30 teachers each summer in the school sentinel program was approved Wednesday by the House.
The school sentinel program allows properly trained teachers to be armed in school as a deterrent for school shootings. HB1115 uses $45,000 from the Department of Education to train teachers at South Dakota’s law enforcement training academy.
Rep. Dayle Hammock, R-Spearfish, said that since the sentinel program was created by the Legislature in 2013, only 14 teachers have taken advantage of the training. He called $45,000 “a small investment that pays big dividends in school safety.”
Rep. Jean Hunhoff, R-Yankton, said that when the Legislature created the program it was with the intent that schools, not the state, pay for the training.
The program isn’t well used, according to Rep. Kevin Jensen, R-Canton, because of the cost to schools.
“The cost is holding them back,” said Jensen, a former school board member. “I know there are school districts that would do this.”
The state should be funding school resource officers for school districts rather than arming teachers, said Rep. Jess Olson, R-Rapid City.
“School administrators are not asking you for it (funding) because this does not meet their needs,” Olson said.
The legislation was approved on a vote of 45-25 and now goes to the Senate.
