The Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce welcomed nearly 20 local legislators to its annual legislative breakfast Thursday morning. The event gives legislators a chance to brief chamber members on their priorities for the legislative session. It also allows the chamber to pose individualized questions to state lawmakers representing the Sioux Falls area.
While questions covered a wide range of topics, common themes included mental health, substance abuse, and workforce development. Senator Deb Soholt of District 14 was chair of the interim study on access to mental health services. She says it’s unreasonable to expect a sudden influx of mental health professionals in the state to solve the shortage of services. She plans to focus on virtual solutions like telehealth.
“So we’re looking at—for crisis debriefing for that sheriff that’s off in that county, off in a mental health situation—how can we help assess that virtually? And then how can we do community-based assessment and counseling virtually? We know it can be done,” says Soholt.
In response to the opioid epidemic, Senator Jim Stalzer of District 11 plans to bring a bill allowing schools to administer Narcan to students. Narcan is a nasal spray that can counteract the effects of an opioid overdose.
“In Sioux Falls our resource officers have it, our EMT’s have it, friends can have it, family. But there’s a hole in our bill we brought a couple years ago,” explains Stalzer.
Several legislators broached the topic of workforce development. Senator Reynold Nesiba of District 15 says one way to increase the workforce is by providing the state driver’s license test in Spanish. He’s partnering with both the Sioux Falls and Rapid City chambers of commerce to revisit the idea after similar legislation failed to pass committee last year.
“We want people in this town that don’t speak English to be integrated, we want them to assimilate. And there’s no better way to do that than being able to have a driver’s license, be able to get to work, get to school, and be able to go shopping,” says Nesiba.
The 2019 legislative session begins on January 8th.