We passed the halfway point this week so it’s all downhill from here! Very light year for outdoor, wildlife, recreational issues with this year’s legislature with 450 bills introduced. I attribute that to having 29 new members in the House, they’re figuring it out and I expect next year we’ll be back to that 550-600 bill average that we typically see.
House Bill 1100 the proposal to offer landowner on own land only prairie elk licenses died last week in its first committee and then an effort to revive it this week also failed. I believe we’ve seen the last of any future elk hunting this year.
The Game Fish and Parks had their budget hearing in front of the Joint Appropriations committee. You can see the presentation here. More of the budget details can be found here. Further detail with a drill down into the numbers can be found here.
Very enjoyable year representing the South Dakota Wildlife Federation this year. Very capable assistance from David Nauman and volunteer lobbyists John Simpson and George Vandel. It’s also very good that you sportsmen and sportswomen stay in touch with your local legislators providing input and observations from various legislative districts.
Get out and enjoy the South Dakota Outdoors!