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Legislative Update with Jay Kruse by Jay Kruse, Chief Advocacy Officer Good Morning! The 2021 South Dakota Legislative Session has ended after a busy “Veto Day” on Monday. “Veto Day” is normally a rather quiet day to end the session, but on Monday legislators tackled two separate vetoes from Governor Noem. The House first voted to reject the Governor’s “Style & Form” veto/changes to HB 1217, an act to promote continued fairness in women’s sports 67-2 late Monday morning. They then followed up with a vote to override the resulting veto of HB 1217 in its original form which earlier passed through both chambers, which fell 2 votes short of the required 2/3rds majority needed to pass it over to the Senate. Following the failed votes, both chambers gaveled out, signaling the end of the 2021 legislative session. However, a special legislative session is anticipated to take place in the next 2-3 months to further discuss the issue along with how the round of federal COVID funds will be used. Governor Noem is also interested in making changes to the medical marijuana provisions passed as a part of Initiated Measure 26, the ballot initiative that legalized its medical use after receiving 70% of the vote. It was another quiet session for credit unions, with much of the legislature’s focus this year revolving around the legalization of both medical and recreational marijuana. Constitutional Amendment A which legalized the recreational use of marijuana is still tied up in a court battle, however both chambers were able to agree on legislation governing medical use. There was a bill passed that directs the South Dakota Department of Banking to write cannabis banking rules that would only apply to state-chartered banks in the state. We continue to advocate for federal legislation (SAFE Banking Act) to allow our FCUs in the state to also serve the industry. This session we tracked and monitored 22 industry-related bills, testifying once on SB 193 which updated our remote notary statues. After testifying I was invited to sit on the South Dakota Electronic Recording Commission which will be working on addition legislation this summer to further modernize our remote notary statutes during the 2022 session. While we originally believed the bill could do more to clear up some ambiguities in the statute, we ultimately supported passage of SB 193 after testifying in opposition during its first Senate hearing. You can find a full list of all the bills that I, along with our South Dakota GAC, tracked during this session, as well as the final action taken on each at https://www.dakcu.org/bill-tracking.html. As always, don't hesitate to contact me at jkruse@dakcu.org with any questions or comments.
Legislative Update with Jay Kruse
by Jay Kruse, Chief Advocacy Officer
Good Morning!
The 2021 South Dakota Legislative Session has ended after a busy “Veto Day” on Monday. “Veto Day” is normally a rather quiet day to end the session, but on Monday legislators tackled two separate vetoes from Governor Noem. The House first voted to reject the Governor’s “Style & Form” veto/changes to HB 1217, an act to promote continued fairness in women’s sports 67-2 late Monday morning. They then followed up with a vote to override the resulting veto of HB 1217 in its original form which earlier passed through both chambers, which fell 2 votes short of the required 2/3rds majority needed to pass it over to the Senate. Following the failed votes, both chambers gaveled out, signaling the end of the 2021 legislative session. However, a special legislative session is anticipated to take place in the next 2-3 months to further discuss the issue along with how the round of federal COVID funds will be used.
Governor Noem is also interested in making changes to the medical marijuana provisions passed as a part of Initiated Measure 26, the ballot initiative that legalized its medical use after receiving 70% of the vote. It was another quiet session for credit unions, with much of the legislature’s focus this year revolving around the legalization of both medical and recreational marijuana. Constitutional Amendment A which legalized the recreational use of marijuana is still tied up in a court battle, however both chambers were able to agree on legislation governing medical use. There was a bill passed that directs the South Dakota Department of Banking to write cannabis banking rules that would only apply to state-chartered banks in the state. We continue to advocate for federal legislation (SAFE Banking Act) to allow our FCUs in the state to also serve the industry.
This session we tracked and monitored 22 industry-related bills, testifying once on SB 193 which updated our remote notary statues. After testifying I was invited to sit on the South Dakota Electronic Recording Commission which will be working on addition legislation this summer to further modernize our remote notary statutes during the 2022 session. While we originally believed the bill could do more to clear up some ambiguities in the statute, we ultimately supported passage of SB 193 after testifying in opposition during its first Senate hearing. You can find a full list of all the bills that I, along with our South Dakota GAC, tracked during this session, as well as the final action taken on each at https://www.dakcu.org/bill-tracking.html. As always, don't hesitate to contact me at jkruse@dakcu.org with any questions or comments.