South Dakota Wildlife Federation

Week 3 Legislative Report

House Bill 1100, An Act to authorize landowner-on-own-land elk licenses, was deferred at the request of the prime sponsor till Thursday February 2nd in order to work on the language and possible amendments. The proponents have reached out to us to have some dialogue about amendments that might gain our support. We plan to meet with them early next week. Please continue to voice your opposition to the current bill to  committee members whose email address and contact information is below. 

You can call and leave a message for any legislator at 605 773 3851.

Julie.Auch@sdlegislature.gov

Roger.Chase@sdlegislature.gov

Randy.Gross@sdlegislature.gov

Trish.Ladner@sdlegislature.gov

Karla.Lems@sdlegislature.gov

Marty.Overweg@sdlegislature.gov

Drew.Peterson@sdlegislature.gov

Stephanie.Sauder@sdlegislature.gov

Lynn.Schneider@sdlegislature.gov

John.Sjaarda@sdlegislature.gov

Tamara.StJohn@sdlegislature.gov

James.Wangsness@sdlegislature.gov

Kadyn.Wittman@sdlegislature.gov

There are three legislative days left for bill introductions, we should see all the bills by close of business on Thursday next week. To date there aren't any other controversial bills or bills that deal with wildlife, habitat, or access that we are currently tracking.  However, we do expect to see some before the session is over! There are many cracker barrels this weekend, get out and engage with your legislators! 

Legislative Coffee - Mitchell area 
District 20
Friday, Jan. 27 at 8 a.m. CT
Chamber of Commerce
601 N Main St.

Legislative Cracker Barrel - Rapid City area 
Districts, TBA
Saturday, Jan. 28 at 9 a.m. MT
Western Dakota Technical College | Event Center
800 Mickelson Dr.

Legislative Coffee - Brandon area 
District 2
Saturday, Jan. 28 at 9 a.m. CT
Brandon Golf Course
2100 E Aspen Blvd. 

Legislative Coffee - Vermillion area 
District 17
Saturday, Jan. 28 at 9 a.m. CT
City Hall 
24 Center St.

Legislative Coffee - Sioux Falls area 
District 6, 9, & 14
Saturday, Feb. 4 at 10 a.m. CT
The Hub at Southeast Technical College 
2001 N. Career Ave. 

Legislative Cracker Barrel - Rapid City area 
Districts, TBA
Saturday, Feb. 11 at 9 a.m. MT
Dahl Arts Center
713 7th St. 

Legislative Coffee - Brookings area 
District 7 & 8
Saturday, Feb. 11 at 9 a.m. CT
Brookings City and County Government Center
520 3rd St.

Legislative Coffee - Sioux Falls area
District 10, 11, & 12
Saturday, Feb. 11 at 10 a.m. CT
The Hub at Southeast Technical College 
2001 N. Career Ave. 

Legislative Coffee - Brookings area 
District 7 & 8
Saturday, Feb. 25 at 9 a.m. CT
Brookings City and County Government Center
520 3rd St.

Legislative Coffee - Sioux Falls area 
District 2, 13, & 15
Saturday, Feb. 25 at 10 a.m. CT
The Hub at Southeast Technical College 
2001 N. Career Ave. 

Legislative Cracker Barrel - Rapid City area 
Districts, TBA
Saturday, March 4 at 9 a.m. MT
Western Dakota Technical College | Event Center
800 Mickelson Dr. 

Action Alert - HB1100

HB 1100 will be heard on Thursday at 7:45 AM, text of the bill is below.  This bill allows for a landowner only elk license. This is supposedly for a prairie elk license but the bill does not specify that and would leave it up to the GFP to create the units for this license which could include those units in the Black Hills. The license is not transferable. Would allow for non SD citizens to lease land and then apply for an elk license for that land. 

SDWF is OPPOSED to this legislation and would ask you to contact members of the Agriculture committee whose emails are below. 

  An Act to authorize landowner-on-own-land elk licenses. 2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA: 3 Section 1. That chapter 41-6 be amended with a NEW SECTION: 4 In addition to any other licenses provided for in this chapter, the Game, Fish and 5 Parks Commission shall establish the number and type of landowner-on-own-land licenses 6 for the hunting, taking, or killing of elk. 7 Upon receipt of an application for a license described in this section, and payment 8 of the required fee, the Game, Fish and Parks Department shall issue a landowner-on9 own-land license that: 10 (1) Restricts the holder to the taking of elk, from land that the holder owns, operates, 11 or leases, within any unit, for the specified hunting season; and 12 (2) Is nontransferable.  

HB 1100

You can call and leave a message for any legislator at 605 773 3851.

Julie.Auch@sdlegislature.gov

Roger.Chase@sdlegislature.gov

Randy.Gross@sdlegislature.gov

Trish.Ladner@sdlegislature.gov

Karla.Lems@sdlegislature.gov

Marty.Overweg@sdlegislature.gov

Drew.Peterson@sdlegislature.gov

Stephanie.Sauder@sdlegislature.gov

Lynn.Schneider@sdlegislature.gov

John.Sjaarda@sdlegislature.gov

Tamara.StJohn@sdlegislature.gov

James.Wangsness@sdlegislature.gov

Kadyn.Wittman@sdlegislature.gov

Action Alert - SDWF is opposed to HB 1100

The Game Fish and Parks is not testifying in favor or against HB 1100, An Act to authorize landowner-on-own-land elk licenses. This will be heard in House Agriculture on Thursday at 7:45. They are simply watching the bill. It's important for you to contact the committee members as some are waiting to hear from GFP on their position. This is simply taking a state resource and making it available to a select few. SDWF is opposed to HB 1100. 

Week 2 South Dakota Legislative Session 2023

Very slow week for bill introductions this week. The one bill of interest that came in on Friday morning is HB 1100 An Act to authorize landowner-on-own-land elk licenses. This is a similar bill to last years SB 184. That bill did not pass and you can see the bill and history of the bill here. The bill being offered this year is essentially the same bill. The bill does not specify bulls or cows but it does say it is not transferable. The bill does not have a hearing date yet nor has it been assigned to a committee. I’d guess it will be assigned to House Agriculture. You can find members of that committee and schedule with the link provided. The committee meets on Tuesday and Thursday.

Last day for bill introduction is February 2^nd, so there are 8 more legislative days to see bills introduced by the executive and legislative branch.

Week 1 2023 Legislative Session

Mitch Richter will be lobbying this legislative session assisted by Dave Nauman and volunteer lobbyist George Vandel. Mitch Richter is a former legislator serving 8 years from Sioux Falls in the House and for the past 20 years has been lobbying in Pierre as a contract lobbyist. Dave Nauman has been representing SDWF for many years. George Vandel is a former GFP employee and brings science and his expertise as a long-time state employee to the table.

The 98^th Session of the South Dakota Legislature got underway on January 10^th. The first day of session the Governor gave her State of the State speech, day two was the State of the Judiciary, and day three was the State of the tribes. There are 29 new legislators in the House and 5 new legislators in the Senate. Committees started to meet on Wednesday basically to get organized and set the rules. Most committees are NOT going to allow remote testimony. If you plan on testifying, you’ll need to be in the room for the hearing. There will be some exceptions, but rarely will they be granted.

Most of the bills introduced the first week of session were department bills from state agencies or bills that came through summer studies. So far there have been 133 bills introduced. The GFP have a couple of clean up bills, HB 1018 An Act to repeal the authorized forfeiture of property used in the illegal capture of fish and HB 1019 An Act to repeal certain requirements for Game, Fish and Parks licensing agents.  Both bills will be heard on Tuesday the 17^th.   I’m told they don’t have other bills to introduce, there are discussions but nothing they currently plan on introducing at this time.

It appeared to be a more productive first week than past first weeks and next week committees will have bills to be heard in committees. You can follow all the action in Pierre by using the Legislative Research Council’s website.