Legislative Update with Jay Kruse

by Jay Kruse, Chief Advocacy Officer 

​An update on South Dakota legislation being tracked by our advocacy team, particularly two bills that will receive hearings this week. 

South Dakota legislative session is heating up this week with today and tomorrow being the final days for the introduction of individual and committee bills and resolutions. As of this morning, there have been 403 bills introduced and 21 resolutions: 218 bills in the House; 185 in the Senate; 11 resolutions in the House; and 10 in the Senate. In 2020, there were 492 bills (298 in the House and 194 in the Senate), 104 resolutions (62 in the House, 42 in the Senate) introduced during regular session.
 
Multiple bills are in play addressing the topic of cannabis including legislation (HB 1203) to allow state-chartered banks in SD to engage in business with industrial hemp or marijuana licensees and associated persons. The other freshly introduced bills on the topic are empty “placeholder” or “title” bills used to meet the bill introduction deadline and will be amended later in session. This is a common practice, and we will continue to monitor these bills as they evolve throughout session.
 
We are currently tracking 17 bills, but this week we are paying close attention to these two bills that will receive committee hearings:
 
HB 1046 – Limit Liability for certain exposures to COVID-19 – This bill has passed the House and is now headed to the Senate Judiciary Committee for a hearing tomorrow 2/4/21.
 
HB 1091 – Provide provisions for virtual currency.  

​You can find a full list including details on all the bills the SD GAC is tracking online at www.dakcu.org/bill-tracking.
 
Learn More: Treasury’s Emergency Capital Investment Program.
The NCUA is hosting a webinar today (February 3rd) at 1:00 p.m. (CT) for eligible credit unions to provide valuable information on the Treasury’s new Emergency Capital Investment Program.

Congress created this program as part of the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act to help community-based financial institutions support consumers and local small businesses in low-income and underserved communities that have been disproportionately affected by the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. A federally insured credit union must be certified as a Community Development Financial Institution or as a minority depository institution to participate in the program.

Registration for this 60-minute webinar is open online here. The webinar will discuss the program’s eligibility and application requirements; the financial instrument and terms used for the investment, and whether credit unions can use the investment as secondary capital.
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As always, feel free to contact me with any questions or comments.