Mike Weisgram House District 24

Rep. Weisgram, House Prime Sponsor of SB 228, joined the Governor for the official bill signing. Session 2026 wrapped up on Thursday, March 12th. After nine weeks of very busy agendas, committee meetings, and House floor sessions, it was time to say farewell to my colleagues and reflect on the accomplishments of the 101st Session of the South Dakota Legislature. In some respects, saying goodbye to fellow legislators reminds me of saying those same words to college friends at

I was honored to be the House Prime Sponsor for HB 1035. This bill opens doors for aspiring CPAs by creating new licensure pathways. Week 8 of Session 2026 concluded on Thursday, March 5th—the 33rd day of this session—and I am writing this on Friday morning, March 6th. I note the timeframe to recall that while 33 days may not seem long, from my perspective, there are so many moving parts to legislative work that the time can become a blur. This week, I voted on 66 pieces of l

Pictured here with Cooper Falkenhagen, a student at A-B-O School in Onida. Welcome back to my latest legislative update for this session. I am writing this update on Thursday, February 26th. This week included "crossover day" (which was Tuesday), so the pressure to get House bills out of this chamber is over. We are now focusing on surviving Senate bills, but I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge some disappointments I had this week as well. Two bills that I had been heav

Governor Rhoden signed HB 1058 into law. This legislation provides support for live horse racing in South Dakota. A full and busy week concluded yesterday, and it was a difficult one for me. Not so much legislatively, but health-wise; I had a full case of the “Capitol Crud,” and it was tough to feel fully prepared while trying to power through. I’m looking forward to resting up this weekend to get ready for next week. As I was checking my notes, I realized that the "positives

Pictured with Josh Anderson of Christensen Family Farms and Feedlots. Welcome back to my legislative update. We just completed legislative day 21, and there are a solid four weeks left in the session. These are very busy days; committee chairs are under a time crunch to get bills scheduled, heard, and acted upon before "crossover day," which is next Tuesday. With the increase in bill introductions this year, I expect we will be working longer days, stretching into the evening

Pictured with Nick Fosness from District 1. Representing Brown, Day, Marshall, and Roberts Counties. We just wrapped up our only five-day week today. The workload of the legislature has increased immensely with the introduction of another 162 pieces of legislation, bringing the total to 620. In my six sessions, this is the largest bill load I have seen. In this week’s column, I want to comment on bills that focus on economic development and the confusing messaging we are sen

Pack 273 Weblo Cub Scouts visited our Capital with Emily Ward, Den Leader and Justin Bell, Pack Leader. We have just completed legislative day 12, marking the end of our third week of this legislative session. Committee work is in full swing, and our legislative calendars are full each day. The working relationships between colleagues are cordial, but there have been a few “point of order” moments and one public apology given while we were in House session. In reviewing the w

As legislators moved into week 2 of this year’s session, there have been a few “dust-ups,” but in general, we know each other better than last year, so there is some camaraderie in the sense that we need to get the people’s work attended to and don’t let philosophy issues get in the way of getting something positive done for our citizens and the institutions that serve them. There have been some reassignments of legislators to different committees because of some unfortunate