There’s a lot on our plates for next week–and this weekend is a good time for you to get in touch with your legislators at Cracker Barrels and Coffees or down at the local cafe!
CAFO, Water Use Permit, and Aerial Applicator Bills Scheduled Next Week!
At LEAST four bills we’re watching are scheduled in committee next Tuesday the 6th, and we’ve got ONE lobbyist. If you’re thinking of making a trip to Pierre to testify, you’ve got your “pick of the litter” on which bill to choose from.
Let Rebecca know you’re coming (rebeccat@dakotarural.org) and we’ll coordinate testimony.
- Requiring Notice & Hearing for Temporary Water Use Permits (HB 1225) will be heard in House Ag, Room 464, at 7:45am
- Manure Pipes in Ditches (HB 1184)–a huge breach of private property rights–in House Transportation, Room 413, at 10:00am
- A bill to require certain reports in the event of an oil spill (SB 163) is scheduled in Senate Commerce & Energy, Room 423, at 10:00am
- New Rules for Aerial Applicators–Senate Bill 179 seeks to remedy a stunning lack of regulations regarding the aerial application of pesticides. It will be heard in Senate Ag Committee, Room 412, at 10:00am
A few of the members attending DRA’s Lobby Days listening in committee
Buffer Bill Win This Week!
We saw a win this week on expansion of the Buffer Bill program (HB 1119) to allow counties to add waterways to the program. This bill was deferred from its initial hearing in order to amend the language so that counties must add the waterways by resolution, which creates an avenue for citizen appeal of those decisions. It passed House Local Government Committee and a unanimous vote, and was placed on the consent calendar for passage on the House floor.
Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Bill Sponsored!
DRA’s Community Energy Development (CED) Committee has worked hard to bring a solid piece of legislation to the 2018 session. We have that in House Bill 1301, which has been assigned to the House Commerce & Energy Committee (but not scheduled as of this writing).
Property Assessed Clean Energy is a program utilized by several states to finance the cost of energy efficiency and renewable energy projects on commercial properties, utilizing capital from local banks and investors and local workers to complete the projects. The property owner pays back the PACE financing as an assessment on the property. For more information on the program, visit https://www.sd-pace.org/.
Initiative & Referendum Attacks Keep Piling On
It’s clear that we’re past any pretense that this tidal wave of bills is designed to improve the process of direct democracy. Clearly, it’s about making the process more difficult, time-consuming, and unwieldy for citizens exercising their constitutional right to initiative and referendum.
HB 1196 requires petition circulators to submit information on (among other things) their last three residential addresses, what town their library card is from, where their immediate family lives, and whether their cell phone has a (605) area code. The bill passed out of committee, but with Reps. Hawley, Bartling, Lust, and Rhoden voting “no.” Representative Lust in his remarks called the bill a “terrible overreach,” a “litigator’s dream,” and “way off the rails.” Contact your Representatives because this will move to the House floor next week.
HB 1177 as initially drafted would have required all petition circulators to provide their home address to all those who asked for it. This presented serious safety and privacy issues. It was amended to remove the residential address, though two committee members opposed that change. It passed out of committee and will go to the full House.
Newly-filed House Bill 1275 is another bad idea that has risen from the grave of last session. It changes initiated measure petition circulation requirements from not less than 5% of qualified electors in the state to not less than 5% of electors in ⅔ of senate districts. While in some cases, this might cause the overall required number of signatures to go down, the logistical nightmare of accounting for each district creates a greater burden than current statute.
HB 1275 further requires that any petition circulator must have resided in the specific senate district they’re gathering signatures in for not less than ninety days. Minnehaha County alone contains parts of eight senate districts. Pennington County has five, and the cities of Brookings, Watertown, and Aberdeen are in separate districts from their surrounding counties. If this were made law, a circulator could break it simply by crossing the wrong street.
That’s not the last of a long list of bills undermining the initiative and referendum process. You can contact us for a full list and read through all the details, but what matters most is to send a clear message to legislators to Stop Undermining the People’s Process!
DRA Lobby Days 2018!
Nearly twenty members showed up for DRA’s Lobby Days on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Our pre-lobby day social at Mad Mary’s featured an overview of issues and bills we’re working on, followed by a visit by District 26 Senator Troy Heinert to give us the “lay of the land” this legislative session.
We reconvened the next morning at 7:15am and headed up to the House and Senate floors, talking to elected officials about the issues that matter to our members, and later went up to committee hearings, where our presence caused at least one bill to be tabled when the bill’s sponsor realized his pitch was likely destined for failure!
Our Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) conversation was held in the Capitol Cafeteria over lunch, and several legislators took the time to talk with Community Energy Development Committee and other members about our issues and our bill. Those discussions ultimately led to our finding the sponsorship we were seeking. At the same time, the Braveheart Society’s Solar Power Trailer was parked in front of the Capitol, and legislators and others (including PUC Commissioner Chris Nelson) received a guided tour.
It was a great time and a great learning experience for all members and staff who attended! If you weren’t there, make sure to put it on your “To-Do” list for next year!
Throw A Few Bucks in The Hat…to help us keep you on top of the 2018 Session.
Dakota Rural Action 
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