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Middle of Week Two in the South Dakota Legislature
By Jason | January 21, 2010
Week two of our State Legislative Session signifies that our committees, floor action, and general legislative activity start to build momentum.
I serve on two committees: Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee and Local Government.
In the agriculture committee we have heard reports from the three State agencies who report to us: Agriculture, Game Fish & Parks, and Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
I informed the Secretary of Agriculture to keep in mind our friends of the community of Waubay in dealing with the rising Bitter Lake. The Agriculture Department works on rural development issues; which is why I was sure to communicate this message to the Secretary.
Our Game, Fish & Parks Department has generous financial resources at their disposal for the protection and growth of wildlife. I asked the G,F&P to consider sharing some of these resources to also assist in our State Park system. However, the constant response we receive on any request to “broaden the use” of game funds results in the response that South Dakota might lose the Federal sporting goods excise tax revenue. Hartford Beach State Park is in need of financial resources especially for roads to expand the campground. No definite date has been established, but I hope the G,F&P will find a way to grow the opportunities at Hartford Beach.
In the near future there are only a few bills which will have hearings on in our Agriculture and Natural Resources committee dealing with the Game, Fish & Parks. One bill will require conservation officers to receive permission from a landowner to enter their property to perform routine license and bag limit checks. I think a fair compromise to this bill would be to simply require conservation officers to notify a landowner that they will be on their property. I welcome your thoughts on this issue. Another G,F&P bill is from the department and would increase the fines substantially if trophy big game animals are illegally taken. This makes logical sense, but I do have concern if a landowner/operator would find a trophy buck that dies and decide to hang up the antlers in their machine shed; would they be held liable for the steep fines?
Our House Local Government committee unanimously passed a bill that sets some requirements for county auditors when an independent requests a primary election ballot. Recently the South Dakota Democrat Party opened up our primary election to allow independent voters to participate. Through this legislation that we adopted it states that in the request for an absentee ballot through the mail that the independent voter must specify whether they want a democrat ballot or they will receive a non-political ballot (which could be school board or city elections) if available.
Another possible bill on the horizon for me is to discontinue the apiary (beekeeping) 3 mile setback as well as their registration process. I have visited with constituents in our area who have concern with the 3 mile buffer under State law for bee operators. When this law was established concern over disease was the selling point; however I think it wrongfully limits young people and entrepreneurs from participating in the beekeeping industry. We know that bees winter in mostly warm areas of the United States; and obviously they don’t keep the 3 mile buffer during that time. Stay tuned for more on this issue.
This summer I was informed by the Governor’s Office that three of the State’s largest fleet fueling stations will now supply E85. I enjoyed hearing the good news that the Executive Branch of State Government has recognized we must utilize more of the billion gallons of ethanol produced in our State annually. Recently I visited with the Bureau of Administration and they also mentioned that research is being conducted on the cost/mile of using E85 in the State vehicles. I applaud this effort and I hope they will partner with South Dakota State University to assist in disseminating the research information.
I enjoy serving as your Representative in the “Peoples House”.
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