Week 5 – Session 2026

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 hours, to clear each day’s agenda.

The positive news this week is that South Dakota’s budget outlook has improved. With these new positive numbers, our appropriations committee adopted revised revenue projections that are nearly $30 million higher than initially forecasted. This is robust enough to provide nominal raises to the “Big 3,” which includes state aid to K-12 education, increases for state employee salaries, and funding for Medicaid healthcare providers.

In December, Governor Rhoden gave a budget address detailing that there would be no increases for the Big 3 due to lagging revenues. That motivated me to introduce HB 1072, which provided a bonus for state employees from one-time revenues. While using one-time funds for salary increases isn't the ideal scenario—as those should come from ongoing revenues—I felt we couldn't disrespect our employees, and a bonus was better than nothing.

Now, with the increased ongoing revenue projections, Governor Rhoden’s administration is recommending a 1% increase in funding for the Big 3. I will allow that to materialize and then rescind, or “pull,” HB 1072 at the appropriate time.

An important bill that was defeated last week was HB 1198, and I was glad to see it meet its demise. This bill mandated that operators of a proposed high-energy-use facility obtain a conditional use permit from adjacent political subdivisions—specifically counties and municipalities—under certain conditions. This bill was brought on behalf of homeowners in Brandon, SD, who were upset with a proposed data center in northwest Sioux Falls located within one mile of an existing housing development. As a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, we heard this legislation on Wednesday; it passed by only one vote, which meant it would then be heard on the floor of the House the next day. 

The committee hearing was dominated by emotional homeowners who were upset that they had no voice in the matter and would simply have to put up with the proposed data center or sell their houses and move. There is a fine line between emotion and facts, and I understand that those lines get blurred in the moment. Whether or not data centers of that size give off harmful radiation or obtrusive sounds depends on what kind of answers one is looking for; however, having been around a similar site several years ago, obnoxious sounds were not something I experienced.

Again, I understand their fears and respect them. The challenge with the legislation is something I raised in committee by providing a hypothetical example: if a fertilizer plant using plasma-based technology (which uses electricity instead of natural gas) wanted to locate in Stanley County close to the Missouri River, this proposed legislation would mean the project would also need approval from Hughes County—even if no footprint of the plant were in Hughes County. The challenge of multi-jurisdiction permitting would not only be difficult but extremely inefficient, bringing uncertainty and creating a heavy burden. Fortunately, the bill was soundly defeated on Thursday.

One bill I had hoped would be killed in committee is HB 1182. This bill mandates embryo tracking by measuring IVF outcomes, which the bill sponsor says will bring more accountability. Without getting too deep into the specifics of the bill, I am disappointed with the intent of collecting very personal information under the guise of patient care and medical outcomes. It's unclear why this information is needed and what it will be used for in the future. The full House will hear this bill next week so more on the outcome of it next week. 

I appreciate the texts and emails this week; I haven’t gotten back to everyone but I’m working on it. 

– mw