Highlights of the 7th week of the 2008 session include renewable energy, liquor license legislation, and K-12 and tech school funding. Putting a damper on the legislature’s ability to accomplish much is the absence of available funding. It looks to be a tight budget and I expect much of the bills that included additional funds to be killed in the final week of session. We are experiencing a drop in revenue into the state, mostly due to lower sales tax income. We received some numbers on Wednesday that confirmed the reports. This will result in a tightening of the state’s belt. If we are able to offer more to K-12 education and state employee’s salaries than the index factor, we should consider that a positive accomplishment, considering the projections we are getting. I expect the funding to remain at the 2.5% the Governor recommended in his budget in December. Fiscal responsibility is our priority and I believe it is better to conserve now, rather than cut programs in the future. I expect this to impact the changes that have been recommended to revamp the funding of the technical schools in the state. There is wide spread support for the changes; however it will be something we cannot accomplish with out extra funds to spend. House Bill 1016 is the vehicle that would establish the new system for that funding.

In Commerce committee we’ve heard some more liquor license legislation. Senate Bill 126 made it on the agenda on Friday and was passed out to the House floor. I spoke and voted against the bill in committee. It is a wide sweeping change to how we distribute liquor licenses in the state. The bill removes all the caps on liquor licenses, which are capped by population numbers now, and allows the municipalities to sell as many as they deem necessary. The proponents of the bill say it is a necessary tool to achieve economic development in this state. If we are starting to place our economic hopes on the proliferation of alcohol in this state, then we truly we have no hope left. The details of the bill allow cities to sell additional licenses at the same price as the last one that was sold. It makes them available to any business that has no more than 50% of its gross profits from alcohol, and requires that any business that holds a license must provide financial information to the city stating what they bought their license for, regardless if that information is going to be used or not. It has no restricted hours for sale as well. Basically what this bill does is allow additional licenses to be available in every town and city in South Dakota, does not set a cap on how many can be sold, requires business owners to turn over financial information even though it will not be used for any purpose, and make the licenses available to all kinds of businesses, not just restaurants. If we truly need additional liquor licenses in the state to get Ruby Tuesday’s and Applebee’s franchises to move in for economic development, why are we making such broad sweeping changes? We’ve thrown the baby out with the bathwater if this bill passes and we won’t be able to get it back. Once those licenses are issued, we know from past history, the state won’t be recalling them. We need to remember that alcohol is at best a controlled substance…a drug. At its worst, it can ruin people’s lives. Do we truly want hard liquor, and the ability to sell it, spread abundantly throughout the state? With more establishments selling hard alcohol, we will see our laws regarding alcohol harder to enforce. We will have more alcohol sold to kids under age and it will be a bigger job for our law enforcement to oversee. I believe it is a copout to say we need this bill to promote economic development in our state. It will come to the House floor on Tuesday and I will be speaking against it.

I want to take a moment to promote TAR days. It is an event for Teen Age Republicans that will take place in Pierre on March 28 and 29th. It is a mock legislative session and weekend retreat held each spring for teenagers 13 and up. The cost is only $25 per person and I have registration forms available. Kids will meet teens from across the state and debate legislation on the floor of the state House of Representatives and Senate. If you are interested in politics, government, or making a difference, TAR days is for you. It is open to all students regardless of political affiliation.

Well, this last week will be interesting. I can’t tell you all how much I appreciate the phone calls and emails. The input is extremely valuable to me. We may not come to the same conclusion on an issue, but I assure you we’ll have scintillating conversation. I will have my daughter Kassidy (age 13) and niece Isabel (age 11) with me the first 3 days of the week, so I’ll keep you updated as to the experiences they have.