House lawmakers have stopped an effort to force debate on Common Core education standards. House Bill 1123 gets rid of Common Core education standards in the state.
House Bill 1123 received a 2 hour hearing in the House education committee. After testimony and discussion, committee members voted to kill the bill by a vote of 8 to 7. Because of the slim margin House Representatives sent the bill back to the committee for another vote. The second time around the bill was killed again this time by a of 9 to 6. Some representatives, however, felt the bill did not receive a fair hearing and asked that lawmakers debate the bill on the House floor. This legislative move is called a “smoke-out” and allows a measure to bypass the traditional committee process. Representative Blain Campbell of Rapid City is the prime sponsor of House Bill 1123.
"The people who oppose this are not being heard and that is the issue. We see it in our emails. We see it in conversations in our district. The people want to be heard," says Campbell.
Opponents of the smoke-out say lawmakers need to respect the committee process. Representative Kristin Conzet, also of Rapid City, sits on the education committee where the measure was first heard. She says the bill did receive a fair hearing.
"Opponents were not stifled in this situation. They were given fair warning. They were given, in my opinion; they were given a lot more than I would give. 2 hours. 2 hours, for one bill," says Conzet.
After much debate the smoke-out failed by a vote of 31 to 39.