Today is Day 10 of South Dakota’s Legislative Session.
Our state’s session is short and moves quickly. This year there are 37 Legislative Days (LD) and all bills need to be introduced by Feb. 7 (LD 16) and pass both houses by March 9 (LD 33). The last day for gubernatorial vetoes is March 30 (LD. 37).
Right now new bills are being introduced daily and we anticipate our bill watch list growing. Below are a few bills we are currently monitoring.
Food and agriculture
Discussion of industrial hemp is back in the legislature again. Last year, the bill passed both the House and Senate, but was vetoed by Governor Noem. Center for Rural Affairs Executive Director Brian Depew discussed both opportunities and considerations around industrial hemp production in a blog post last year.
House Bill 1008 legalizes the growth and production of industrial hemp and derivative products in the state, and to declare an emergency.
Last year, the legislature created an Agricultural Land Assessment Implementation and Oversight Advisory Task Force that met during the interim. HB 1006 and 1007 have been brought at the request of this task force. Both bills would change how the agricultural income value of land is determined.
HB 1006 authorizes the secretary of revenue to contract with certain entities for purposes of maintaining a database to determine agricultural income value and to specify the mandatory and permissive data of the database.
Hearing scheduled on Jan. 28 at 8 a.m. in the House Taxation Committee
HB 1007 requires certain adjustments to the assessed value of agricultural land, if factors impact the land's productivity and to require those adjustments to be documented.
Hearing scheduled on Jan. 28 at 8 a.m. in the House Taxation Committee
We welcome your input. Feel free to be in touch about these or any other bills you feel are important to rural communities.
