Legislative Session 2022

A health care advocacy network is filing a legal challenge against the state to prevent a new law from going into effect.

Gov. Larry Rhoden wants to give county governments the option to implement a half-penny sales tax to go toward property tax relief.

On the final day of the 100th legislative session, lawmakers upheld the veto killing a bill changing the petition gathering process for constitutional amendments. The two chambers split in the vote to overturn that veto.

Senate Republicans are rejecting a proposal to cut the state sales tax by a half a percent.The bill would cut the sales tax from 4.5 percent down to 4 percent. The half percent tax was added in 2016 to increase teacher pay and provide property tax relief.

We discuss an ongoing movement to address educational disparities for Native American students. The state Department of Education shows year after year that Native American students' on-time graduation rate is the lowest of any racial group in the state.

Last month, Representative Tamara St. John joined us to discuss her bill to fund the missing and murdered Indigenous person's liaison position in the attorney general's office. Lawmakers created that position last year in response to the disproportionate number of unsolved missing and murdered cases, but the position hasn't yet been filled. Last week, the non-profit Native Hope announced it will fund the position at $85,000 a year for three years.

SDPB's politics and public policy reporter Lee Strubinger is following the state budgeting process. It's been made all the more complicated by millions of dollars in surplus funds.

A coalition of more than two dozen organizations has come together to encourage South Dakotans to support Medicaid Expansion. The group is called South Dakotans Decide Healthcare. In this installment of Pierre to Peer, SDPB's Lee Strubinger talks with former lawmaker Mitch Richter about the ballot issue, a failed attempt to expand Medicaid this session, and what that expansion might mean for South Dakotans.

The head of the Division of Criminal Investigation says he’s not concerned about a conversation Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg had about cellphone data.After Ravnsborg struck and killed a man with his vehicle in 2020, Ravnsborg asked a DCI agent to explain how information is recovered from mobile devices.

The State House is endorsing a bill to renovate the Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre. House Bill 1047 passed with unanimous approval.

A bill that extends the date for kindergarten enrollment has passed the House and is now moving through the state Senate. Right now, any child who turns 5 on or before September 1st is eligible to enroll in kindergarten. House Bill 1163 keeps the September 1st deadline. It also allows children who turn 5 between September 1st and October 31st to enroll if they pass a readiness assessment selected by their local school district.

A bill that extends the date for kindergarten enrollment has passed the House and is now moving through the state Senate. Right now, any child who turns 5 on or before September 1st is eligible to enroll in kindergarten. House Bill 1163 keeps the September 1st deadline. It also allows children who turn 5 between September 1st and October 31st to enroll if they pass a readiness assessment selected by their local school district.

The House Ag and Natural Resources Committee considered House Bill 1096 which would keep livestock producer options open for the official identification methods of individual animals. Here's a summary of the debate.