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The Rural Lobbyist: A Look at the 92nd Legislative Session
Tuesday marked the beginning of the 92nd Legislative Session. Legislators were sworn in, Governor Daugaard gave his State of the State Address, and now SDFU looks towards pressing issues that will be addressed this session. Those issues include:
- The Buffer Strip Bill
You might recall conversation about this bill last session when it received near unanimous support in both houses but was ultimately vetoed by the Governor. This year, the Governor’s Office has brought back a similar version of the bill that adds more specific language to ease some of Governor Daugaard’s constitutional concerns. The new bill creates a separate classification for land within 120 feet of a listed lake, river, or stream that is planted into a riparian buffer strip. Farmers Union membership was clear in its support at the 2016 annual convention. For that reason we will be closely following the bill and providing support whenever necessary. The bill is expected to move fairly quickly through both houses and should ultimately be signed by the governor.
- Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Lab (ADRDL)
There has been a lot of conversation surrounding the proposed ADRDL in Brookings. While most everyone agrees that the lab would be beneficial for agriculture, tourism, and public health, they cannot agree on how to fund it. Currently, the state has only offered to chip in a few million, a small percentage of the overall project. The remainder of the burden in funding this lab has been proposed to fall on the shoulders of the agricultural industry. Farmers Union membership, once again, took a clear and strong position on this issue. In a special order of business passed at the convention, members declared that agriculture should accept no less than 60% funding from the state. This falls in line with funding that was previously appropriated for the lab at the old Homestake Mine. With the far reaching benefits of this lab and the current state of the ag economy, Farmers Union will seek greater participation from the state in funding the ADRDL this session.
- Premium E-30
A longstanding issue for Farmers Union members, premium E-30 will be a topic of discussion during this year’s session. The goal of Farmers Union and its membership is to get the state fleet running on such a premium fuel. This particular decision is one that does not necessarily need legislative action. The governor, with the stroke of the pen, could make that happen. Our goal is to generate enough support to make that happen. With the recent E-30 Challenge completed by our friends at Glacial Lakes Energy, we now have quantifiable data to help make our case. This will be an issue where we will strongly need your help as members in contacting your local senators and representatives and sharing your thoughts on Premium E-30. While these three issues were the main issues discussed at the annual convention, they will not be the only issues SDFU will be following. This session we will also be following issues like: actual use taxation, river basin districts, infrastructure funding, campaign finance reform, campaign ethics, education funding, farm reports, drone regulations, beginning farmer programs, and more. This year we also added a feature on our Rural Lobbyist blog that allows you to follow which bills SDFU is tracking this session. On the right hand side of the page you will see the list of bills. Click on any of the bills listed to see the last action on the bill, vote history, bill sponsors, and full bill text. It’s a great feature and we hope you enjoy it. If you have any questions or comments during the legislative session you can contact me at [email protected]
Last Modified: 01/13/2017 3:17:51 pm MST