From the desk of Marty Overweg

Well, the 17th Legislature Day is in the books, the deadline to drop bills is past, and if you’re a legislator here comes Crossover Day. The next two weeks will be fast and furious with Legislators running from one committee to another, testifying on bills while trying to get back and vote in committees they sit on. If you’re Chair of a committee this makes you want to pull your hair out, which explains why I’m losing most of mine. But there is a method to the madness and we get our work done. Just over 500 bills were introduced this session which is normal I guess but it always amazes me that there is that many things wrong in South Dakota. I’m carrying two bills this year. The first one will involve the Brand Board and helping with some fee changes for inspections. The second one is a Right to Repair bill, now this is a heavier lift and yours truly is not John Deer and Case Internationals favorite person. This bill will allow farmers and ranchers access to certain programs so that they or someone else could fix equipment they own instead of having to use the equipment dealers shop to do their repairs. This should give producers more of a choice and give dealers less of a monopoly on cost of repairs. Next week the two committees that I sit on will be doing double meetings all week which will make for some long days but it’s also important we don’t get behind. This week was a quick turn around since I must be back Saturday night for the Governor’s Inaugural Ball so this article might be a little short then normal. Although we took a lot of bills on the Floor this week it wasn’t all that exciting but there are a few that stood out. The Convention of States bill died on the Floor which surprised me since it got out of State Affairs rather easily, but you never know. One bill that passed was HB 1061 which protected parent’s rights to access their child’s medical records. I believe Parental rights are important and I supported this bill. The bill that would’ve required all schools to allow a Chaplain to be on staff either paid or on a volunteer basis failed and we passed 1068 which allows National Guard members to wear their military decorations at graduation. I loved this bill and the idea of honoring these young people for serving in the South Dakota Guard and thank my District mate Representative Halverson for bring it. We also decided we should ban cell cultured meat and voted to block our state government from spending state funds on it. I voted for both, this stuff is horrible, but it makes me nervous letting government tell people what they can and cannot eat. It concerns me to go down this road of losing our freedom of choosing what we eat but so many of you thought we needed this law, so I supported it. That’s going to wrap this week up but just a reminder, next Saturday the15th we’re going to have three Crackel Barrels starting in Wagner, then Corsica, and finishing in Plankinton. Please check your local papers for times and locations and I hope to see you there. If you need to contact me my information is Marty.overweg@sdlegislature.gov or give me a call or text at 605-680-0304. If I don’t respond right away, please forgive me, I shut my phone off when I’m in a committee meeting. Thanks again. Representative Marty Overweg.