The 4th week of the 2022 Legislative Session is now complete and it certainly was a busy one as this was our one and only 5 day week. We have now passed the deadline for any new bills to be introduced and we ended up with 339 bills introduced in the House and 212 introduced in the Senate. In South Dakota, every bill gets a public hearing so our committees will be very busy in the next couple weeks. On that note, Chairman Jon Hansen has advised that our House Judiciary Committee will be meeting twice a day for the next couple weeks so that we can process through the 40+ bill assigned to our committee.
On Thursday night (02/02/2022), legislators and spouses were guests at the 2022 South Dakota National Guard Military Dining Out event hosted by the SD Department of Military. After a parade of Service Flags, dinner, and awards, Governor Noem spoke about our state's National Guard and their accomplishments this year. This event gave us the chance to thank our South Dakota National Guard for all they do for our great state and country. During this event, I was able to have conversations with Kris King and Brian LeBrun, both of Dell Rapids. If you happen to run into them around town or at church, please thank them for their service to our State and our Country.
Regarding Governor Noem’s proposal that was rejected by the House State Affairs committee, this draft language was rejected because it would have jeopardized South Dakota’s litigation currently pending in Federal Court that, if successful, will be our best chance to end abortion in America. Leading pro-life advocacy group, which included South Dakota Right to Life, arm-in-arm with the Legislature, have fought hard to get where are today. These groups advised our Leadership with their opposition to the Governor’s language, and Governor Noem’s failure to get all such parties on board prior to her submitting her proposed language at the last minute was the primary factor leading to its rejection.
The Governor’s assertion that the Legislature denied her bill a hearing is untrue, because per the Constitution, the power to legislate is reserved to the Legislative branch. She can not introduce a bill, she can only recommend language and the Legislature reserves it’s authority to introduce proposed language as bills as it sees fit. The decision to reject her proposal had the support of both the presiding officers and the majority leaders in the House and the Senate.
As always, if you are interested in following along with any of our committees or chambers this session, there are two great ways to do that. First, visit www.sdlegislature.gov as this is the Legislature's home page where you can find any information about session that you are looking for. On the front page you will find a schedule of committees and when the House and Senate will be meeting and what's on the agenda for each meeting. You can also find listings of all the bills that we will be working on this session. Additionally, if you want to listen into a committee or chamber you can click on the South Dakota Public Broadcasting icon next to that scheduled meeting to listen live. The Second way to listen and watch is to visit www.SD.Net where you can find all the live audio from the committees and the live audio and video streams from the House and Senate Chambers.
Finally, if you have any questions about how to find information about a bill or committee, or any questions at all about session please contact me. I can be reached most anytime by phone at 605-999-2948 and by email at . If you do call and I’m unable to answer, try sending me a text and I will call you back later. Additionally, if you email please include that you are from District 25 and what town you're from. We get 100s of emails a day and I cannot reply back to them all, but if I know that you are from our district, I will get back to you! Lastly, if you are planning a trip up to the Capitol for a visit during session please let me know so that we can find a time to meet up while you are here! Have a great week and God Bless!
Rep. Tom Pischke
