SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – On July 1, 207 bills from the 99th Legislative Session will become law.
KELOLAND News contacted several lawmakers on a variety of bills to illustrate some of the work completed in this year’s legislative session. The new laws range from a hemp focus to the ability for certain groups to spay or neuter feral cats.
House Bill 1125
HB 1125 prohibits the production, sale or distribution of chemical modification or conversion of industrial hemp.
“What we’ve done is we have banned the hemp THC products known as Delta 8, so they’re hemp-derived products,” bill sponsor Rep. Brian Mulder said.
The hemp products that are banned starting July 1 include Delta 8 and Delta 10 that were synthetically made and contain more than 0.3% THC.
“The idea is, if it’s a natural product, I mean, in the simplest form, if it’s a natural, CBD product containing less than 0.3% THC, you’re good to go,” Mulder said.
The punishment for selling or owning the banned products would be the same as punishments for underage sales of alcohol, according to Mulder. The bill says the violation is a class 2 misdemeanor.
Mulder said he brought the bill forward because he works with people with chemical dependencies at Volunteers of America as well as seeing other state legislatures take steps to ban similar products.
“With people with disabilities, we were truly finding that these Delta 8, Delta 10 products, the synthetic, man-made products, were really an obstacle to people reaching sobriety in their active treatment as well,” Mulder said.
House Bill 1131
HB 1131 waives certain fees for nondriver ID cards for individuals who are homeless.
Starting July 1, if someone is experiencing homelessness, they can get an affidavit from their homeless services provider at organizations like the Bishop Dudley House or Minnehaha County Human Services to waive the $28 fee for a nondriver ID card.
“All they need to do is go and speak to one of their homeless service providers….,” said the bill’s prime sponsor Rep. Kadyn Wittman. “They can walk them through again, collecting all the required documents, signing that affidavit ascertaining that that person is indeed experiencing homelessness and then they’ll just be able to make an appointment at the DMV, like anybody else and go and get their state ID.”
Wittman said the law wouldn’t take away any of the requirements from the Department of Public Safety or the DMV in order to get a state ID.
Wittman said getting a bill like this passed is the reason she decided to run for office two years ago. In April 2020, she started working at the Bishop Dudley Hospitality House and said she became aware of the limited number of assistance programs for homeless people.
“The fact that a $28 state ID was the main barrier stopping a lot of these folks from becoming employed or getting housing or getting on some sort of government assistance program, it really bothered me,” Wittman said.
HB 1131 goes along with HB 1098 which provides free birth certificates to people experiencing homelessness.
Senate Bill 172
SB 172 allows a person to temporarily take responsibility of a feral cat for the purpose of spaying or neutering the animal.
“Now, (groups) will be able to legally trap these feral cats, then they will pay to have them spayed or neutered and they’ll be able to place them back out,” Sen. David Wheeler said. “Under current law before July 1st, it was illegal to abandon a cat or any other animal once you’ve taken responsibility for it.”
Wheeler brought the bill forward after a Huron Trap, Neuter and Release group found it was illegal to release a cat after they capture it under the current law.
“So, they asked me to help fix that, to clarify the law, to allow these groups to do that so they can attempt to humanely control the cat population,” he said.
Wheeler said the new law does not allow people to abandon their pets or take possession of cats for long periods of time before getting them spayed or neutered.
“We made an exception to that statute for those groups that take responsibility for an animal for the sole purpose of getting it spayed or neutered and releasing it back out,” Wheeler said. “So, it only applies to feral animals, not your neighbor’s cat.”
Senate Bill 144
SB 144 appropriates $10 million for airports across the state to support terminal infrastructure projects, improvement and expansion.
Starting on July 1, vouchers will be available through the Aeronautics Commission, which meets monthly. Sen. David Johnson, SB 144’s prime sponsor, said the Aeronautics Commission will have a year and a half to disperse the money.
“The airports perform a vital function…,” Johnson said. “We have life flights, we have ambulance flights, we have crop dusters and so our airports are a critical part of our infrastructure, but they’ve been historically neglected.”
According to Johnson, there are 66 public use airports throughout the state that could qualify for funding, however, they must meet specific criteria laid out in the bill.
“They have to show proof that they’ve already got the plan in place number two, they have to show proof that the federal government is participating in funding and they have to show proof that the local community has also participated in funding,” Johnson said.
The grant money will be distributed based on the existing need for terminal infrastructure repairs and improvements. Johnson listed the terminal expansions at the Sioux Falls and Rapid City regional airport as examples of pre-existing, federally and locally backed airport infrastructure improvements the $10 million would cover.
Johnson said he’s been in the Legislature since 2017 and has been trying to get an airport funding bill passed since then. He also said airports are often overlooked as a form of infrastructure in the state and South Dakota is still millions behind other states’ airport funding. Johnson said he intends to bring more bills forward with more airport appropriations in future sessions.
