The attached interview above is from SDPB's daily public-affairs show, In the Moment.
The leader of the South Dakota Senate wants people to pay attention to the bigger picture issues lawmakers are working on this session.
Those comments come after a Senate committee passed the governor’s bill preventing transgender girls from playing in girls’ sports.
Since 2015, bills have been introduced that focus on where transgender students use the bathroom or what sports team they play on.
Republican Senator Lee Schoenbeck says the Legislature also tackles other issues.
“This is a small part of what we’re doing in the Legislature,” Schoenbeck says. “The biggest part we’re doing is housing and water projects and the appropriations bill. The problem is we have too many people in the media that want to talk about the relatively small things instead of the big things that we’re doing.”
Governor Kristi Noem announced the legislation prior to the upcoming session. She also highlighted the issue in her State of the State speech and is airing commercials nationally about the bill.
Schoenbeck says the Senate will take up bills related to the burgeoning medical marijuana industry. He says a lot of workforce housing discussions are taking of most of legislators’ time and energy, even though those discussions aren’t taking place in a public setting yet.