Lawmaker: Hemp production will likely be legalized next year

HURON — Although supporters couldn’t override the governor’s veto, hemp production will likely be legal in South Dakota a year from now, Sen. Jim White, R-Huron, said Monday.
“I think this bill will pass next year,” he said. “I think the governor more or less alluded to that. She didn’t feel we were ready for it.”
White sided with Gov. Kristi Noem in opposing the legislation, while Rep. Roger Chase, R-Huron, reversed his position on a similar proposal two years ago and voted in favor.
“The timing was right this year, I felt,” he said at the Beadle County Republican Women luncheon. “I’m a little disappointed that it didn’t materialize.”
White said while many states have approved the growing and production of hemp, the federal government standards haven’t been addressed in total yet. He said he will vote in favor of hemp in 2020.
When the bill came before the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee that Chase sits on, about eight individuals testified in favor and only one, from the state Department of Public Safety, briefly offered testimony in opposition to it.
When it got to the Senate committee, people from several state departments testified against it.
“Based on their perception of it, we were legalizing marijuana,” Chase said. “And basically that’s not my feeling. To me, this is not marijuana. The scare tactics were put in place to want to kill the bill.”
He said he changed his mind and supported the legislation this time because hemp was included in the 2018 Farm Bill and companies in Madison and Sioux Falls need the product for their operations.
“So when you  have two companies that need it, want it, can buy it, why not?” Chase said.
Struggling farmers can benefit if they can try growing something different at a time when prices for corn and soybeans are depressed, he said.

Hemp will never be a five-million-acre crop, but if it’s a 50,000-acre crop farmers can diversify their operations. It will mean 50,000 fewer acres of soybeans and corn, and that will hopefully strengthen those markets, he said.
“So anything we can do to find other value-added ventures to support the primary crops that we raise, that’s what I’m after,” Chase said.
The main run of the legislative session is now over. The House considered 272 bills and 190 were introduced in the Senate. As of March 7, the governor had signed 97 bills and another 50 are believed to be awaiting her consideration.
Chase said he was frustrated this year, his third in Pierre, in the lack of organization on the House floor. He said he told incoming House speaker Steve Haugaard he hopes there’s more professionalism next year.
“Too much of the time we’re out walking around, we’re conversing, we’re singing happy birthday three different times a day,” Chase said.
It’s also the speaker who determines the assignment of bills to committees.
House Agriculture and House Transportation, which Chase is a member of, only were assigned 14 and 17 bills respectively, while House State Affairs had 72 and House Judiciary had 61, he said.
“Now, I realize those are the committees that are going to hear a lot of the important bills, but looking at the bills that they heard, a lot of those could have been divided and split out to other committees,” he said.
The session featured many new legislators, new House and Senate leadership and a new governor. It took awhile for them to get up to speed, White said.
In the Senate, there were only five Democrats.
“We found them to be congenial, working with us across the board on just about every issue,” he said.
Conceal carry legislation passed this year, allowing people to carry a weapon without a permit in South Dakota.
Chase said lawmakers passed a truck platooning bill, which means two trucks from the same company can follow one another on the interstate or divided state highway with the lead truck controlling the one in back electronically when spaced 400 to 600 feet apart.
Testing is being done on the system in Texas and it will be a reality here soon, Chase said. It’s estimated to save about 15 percent in fuel mileage for the two trucks.
Legislators boosted funding for Medicaid providers by $42 million. It’s built into the budget and is not one-time money, White said.
He said the governor considers it a start in addressing nursing home needs, with much more to be done.
Lawmakers also included more money for rural broadband expansion in the state, one of the governor’s priorities.
White and Chase were prime sponsors in the Senate and House of a bill for special care cemeteries, hopefully putting teeth into regulations pertaining to such facilities as Restlawn Memory Gardens south of Huron.
In the past year, families have complained about conditions at the cemetery.
Chase said they received help from the attorney general’s office in drafting the legislation.
Many of the floor votes taken this year were very close, he said. It’s reflective of the diverse opinions on issues, he said.
“We’re all not just puppets out there and all the bills go through 65 to nothing,” he said. “There’s a lot of conversation, a lot of discussion that goes on.”