The first few weeks of session are behind us, and we are getting into the real work now. I’ve done my best to get up to speed quickly, keeping in mind that my colleagues all have at least one more year of experience and in some cases many more years. I’m grateful for the patience of those who have taken the time to teach me the ropes, including our other District 22 legislators: Representatives Kevin Van Diepen and Lana Greenfield.
We start out with presentations from the Governor, Chief Justice, and different state agencies, including from Commissioner Brock Greenfield of School and Public Lands. It was great to hear all the work they’re doing to safeguard our public lands, and provide revenue for schools. We also take up agency bills, which are (usually) pretty non-controversial housekeeping pieces of legislation, sometimes cleaning up unintended consequences from previous years’ legislative sessions.
One of these agency bills I carried for the Dept. of Ag and Natural Resources (DANR) on the Senate floor. This bill moves administration of our industrial hemp (fiber and seed) production regulation from DANR to the USDA. We have a very responsible group of producers in this state who have proven they are committed to following the law, but this group of producers is very small currently. Only seventeen were paying licensing fees into the state program, so the state was losing around $200k per year running the program. Under this bill, the feds will provide that oversight; we can save SD taxpayers money, and as a bonus: the USDA doesn’t charge fees to the producers, saving them money as well.
We passed HB1044, an appropriation of $402M in federal funds for the Rural Health Transformation Program. This generational investment from the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ will provide direct support for rural healthcare, and will serve our citizens’ desire to get their care close to home.
I brought SCR605, which highlights some of the conservation efforts that farmers and SD citizens are undertaking in support of pollinators like the Monarch butterfly. I wanted to highlight that these conservation efforts are best and most effective when they are voluntary, cooperative, and respectful of private property rights and agricultural operations.
We are looking at eminent domain protection legislation. The sense I’ve gotten time and time again from people is that we do not want to see private companies using eminent domain, but I want to make sure that we are not sweeping up rural electric, WEB water, fibre optic utilities, etc. that serve the public out of a fervent reaction to the issues we had with a private company’s bad behavior these past few years. Let’s make sure we are thoughtful about this.
Finally, I’m part of a push to pass HB1082. This bill directs the State Dept. of Education to reimburse school districts for the costs of feeding their students who are currently on the ‘reduced price’ lunch program. The critics are trying to claim that this amounts to ‘government feeding everyone’s kids’ but either they know they are misleading you or haven’t read the bill. In fact, this only affects 8% of students in our state. For example: a single mother raising one child making $30k annually currently qualifies for reduced price lunches but makes too much for them to be free. If the parent in that situation doesn’t pay, the school district is put in a difficult spot where either the student doesn’t get fed, or more commonly they just feed them and eat the costs. When I talk to our school districts, I hear about tight budgets and tough decisions being made every day. While past iterations of this concept have been more broad and far more costly, this is really targeted at the situations where the need is greatest. Because of this, the cost is relatively low- $602k for the entire state for the entire year. For perspective, we spend nearly 1000X that much on education. Hundreds of millions of dollars. Making sure that kids aren’t worrying about lunch so they can focus on their studies is going to make them better students, and put them on track for better careers. This is a small, smart thing we can do to protect the large investment we make in education every year, and I’ve heard from many constituents who were grateful for my testimony in support of this bill.
My legislative email is [email protected] and I would like to hear from you on any issues or questions that come up this session. Please keep in mind that a 30 second news clip rarely gives the whole story, and special interest groups who like to post on Facebook or send postcards are certainly only giving you one side. Lana, Kevin and I have the difficult but rewarding job of trying to understand the whole situation, the unintended consequences, and the angles that few people are aware of or considering. Thank you for the opportunity to serve you all, it is one of the greatest honors of my life.
Brandon R Wipf
Senator, District 22
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