By Lana Greenfield
Lana’s Annals
Greetings. Week 4 was busy. Some bills passed on from committee; others are being eliminated. In the education committee, we listened to SB85, which would have mandated an automatic election every time a school decided it needed money for an opt-out. It passed committee and went to the floor, where it was defeated. A process is already in place, where people can get a petition, get the required number of signatures, and then have a vote. To make all schools have to do an automatic election every time they need an opt-out comes with a cost. The bill mainly affected one school district where petitioners did not get the required number of signatures in the allotted time.
HB1282 asked that we require schools to admit students to kindergarten if they are younger than 5. The proponents said that they believed their child was school-ready at age 4. The opponents stated that children have to be ready in more ways than just being able to do some reading and math. They need to be socially, emotionally, and physically able to adjust to the classroom. We sent the bill to the 41st day. For those of you who do not understand, there is no 41st day of the session, so the bill is dead.
In Commerce and Energy, there was a bill to authorize pull tab machines to be installed in businesses for non-profit fundraisers. I voted in favor, but do not know how long it will take the non-profits, such as a booster club, to pay for the machine; they are not cheap.
Another commerce bill requested the state Investment Council to do business with Bitcoin. The council was there to oppose this. I will be honest in not understanding bitcoin, but I know the state has to do business with a tangible item, money, instead of a very volatile item like bitcoin. Otherwise, the investments would have no stability. Bitcoin, as described by an investor, requires an additional number of buyers in order to increase value.
On the House floor, we had the ivermectin debate, which arose from 2020 and COVID. The “ask” was to have ivermectin approved to be prescribed and then dispensed by a pharmacist. The argument was that people are going to farm stores and buying the product and, perhaps, not getting a safe dosage. This bill lost, as most felt we are not doctors and should not get in that “lane” to demand that any drug should or should not be prescribed. I want to point out here that the words “local control” are freely tossed around, and it seems to be placed back in the “box” when there is a “want” to overstep boundaries. I think it is important to let people do their jobs and fulfill jobs and positions without being micromanaged.
One of my constituents came out to Pierre to testify on my ag processors’ lien bill. If you remember, I talked about this bill passing on consent last year; however, harvesters did not think the 30-day limit for filing a lien was adequate, so we needed approval for moving the time period to 60 days. The committee unanimously agreed. The liens will be recorded on the Secretary of State’s website so the process can be streamlined and easier to file and to check if there are liens already placed against the farming operation. It passed the floor and will now go on to the Senate.
Thanks to those of you who have visited the Capitol this session, attended the Huron Cracker Barrel, or have corresponded. We have upcoming Cracker Barrels on President’s Day in Clark at 10 a.m. and in Redfield at 1 p.m. Everyone is welcome.
Rep. Greenfield
Lana.greenfield.sdlegislature.gov
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