State lawmakers are running out of time to pass bills. With only two days left in the main run of the session lawmakers are spending time in conference committee to review Senate Bill 235. The bill is a bipartisan effort for economic development in the state. SDPB’s Cassie Bartlett has this report on the legislation’s newest amendment.
After the House added additional amendments to Senate Bill 235, members of the Senate didn’t accept the changes and instead asked for a conference committee. Senator Jason Frerichs is assigned to the committee and says he’s supportive of the bill, but some areas still need to be worked out.
“Well I would give credit to Representative (Bernie) Hunhoff. He’s found some changes that the Governor’s Office of Economic Development must have inserted at the end of the pending amendment that we have before us. Those are issues as far as transparency and some accountability that we need to stay in this bill,” Frerichs says.
Frerichs says he’s glad there’s a portion of the bill that promotes technical education and hopes more wind energy incentives are included in the final bill. Senator Corey Brown spoke to the committee about the bill and says all of the components fit together to build South Dakota.
“At the end of the day, this is not necessarily about attracting a large company from out of state to come here. The majority of this development is going to be expanding businesses here in South Dakota, making sure we retain the ones that we have,” Brown says.
Brown says feedback on the bill and new amendment has been positive. The conference committee recessed to look over the amendment and will reconvene Thursday morning. For South Dakota Public Broadcasting, I’m Cassie Bartlett in Pierre.