By Rep. Scott Parsley, Dist. 8
With one week left in the main run of the legislative session we still have a lot of work to do; however, we did accomplish a great deal in week eight.
Last week we handled several bills in committee and on the floor that received long debate. Of the four Teen Safe Driving bills heard in committee, SB 105, 106, 107 and 216, only SB 106 and SB 216 passed the committee. SB 106 was heard on the floor on Wednesday. This is the bill that would ban teen texting. After a great deal of debate, the bill failed to receive enough votes to pass the House. The bill sponsor indicated her intent to ask for reconsideration, as a number of House members were off the floor at another meeting at the time of the vote. The House voted in favor of reconsideration, and on Monday this bill will be reconsidered.
SB 84 the bill that will establish a Boxing, Wrestling, Martial Arts and Mixed Martial Arts Commission, had over two hours of debate in the Commerce and Energy Committee and another 45 minutes of debate on the floor before passing. That bill was amended in committee and now must go back to the Senate for concurrence.
SB 119, the bill that prohibits public schools from entering into exclusive contracts for any type of activity broadcasting, also had over two hours of committee hearing in the Commerce and Energy Committee. After another hour of debate on the House floor, the bill passed and is now on its way to the Governor for his action.
Two more significant issues were unveiled this week in the legislature. The Bureau of Finance and Management and the Legislative Research Council presented their respective revenue estimates for the remainder of the 2013 budget and the projected 2014 budget.  Both estimates came in within a few hundred thousand dollars of each other. It is estimated sales tax receipts for 2014 will be up approximately $33.6 million, or 4.37 percent, over 2013 while total receipts for 2014 are estimated to be about $60.4 million over 2013 or about 4.5 percent. This is good news, indeed, but we need to see what happens with the Federal Sequestration and what effect that may have on the state budget.
Finally this past week a joint Democrat Republican press conference unveiled the “Building South Dakota” economic development plan. This plan creates a new economic development program for the state that provides funding for a housing trust fund, investment in workforce education, assistance with community development, and dollars for infrastructure development. This bill will be amended into SB 235 in the House State Affairs committee meeting on Monday and hopefully will be through both houses by the end of the week. This represents a successful bi-partisan effort to create an incentive package for economic development.
As always I am very interested in hearing from you on issues of concern to you. You can reach me at rep.parsley@state.sd.us.