Legislative Update with Jay Kruse

Today is the final day of the SD legislative session. find a full list of bills that have reached the governor’s desk, been signed into law, or vetoed, here. 

by Jay Kruse, Chief Advocacy Officer

And that’s a wrap! Today is the final day of the 2023 South Dakota Legislative Session. However, legislators will return to Pierre on March 28th to consider any of Governor Noem’s vetoes. Leading up to the end of this session, many legislators were focused on a number of competing tax cut initiatives including reductions to the state’s overall sales tax, a grocery tax repeal, a property tax credit, and even a lodging tax hike.

Following some intense debates, the grocery and property tax initiatives both failed to receive enough legislator support for passage, and while the lodging tax hike did make it to Governor Noem’s desk, it was met with a swift veto. Competing sales tax cuts coming out of the House and Senate required a conference committee hearing negotiation that took place this morning at 8:00 a.m. The compromise that was reached in committee would reduce the state’s sales tax rate from 4.5% to 4.2%. The Senate had originally taken a more conservative approach than the House, cutting the rate to 4.3%. The compromised agreement will go back to the full House and Senate later today for their final approval.

Another relatively common sense piece of legislation that has received a lot of attention over the last few weeks is H.B. 1193 – an Act to amend provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code. This model legislation is being considered all across America as state legislatures go into session. Most will pass this legislation just as SD has this year.

The 2022 amendments aim to recognize and incorporate modern technologies like distributed ledger technology (commonly referred to as "blockchain") and artificial intelligence into the UCC, and introduce a new Article that outlines commercial law guidelines for the transfer and use of virtual currencies and other digital assets. By adopting these amendments, all states can establish a standard and clear legal framework for conducting transactions with digital assets across state lines, ensuring certainty and consistency. It's important to note that these amendments do not restrict anyone's ability to choose the mode of exchange or transactions they wish to undertake.

As of this morning Governor Noem has signed 97 bills into law, vetoing just one bill so far, H.B. 1109, the lodging tax hike. Another 107 pieces of legislation are sitting on the governor’s desk still awaiting their final fate. You can find a full list of all the bills that have reached the governor’s desk, been signed into law, or vetoed, here.
 
For our North Dakota credit unions, please join us in Bismarck on Wednesday, March 22 for Credit Union Day at the State Capitol when we will be advocating for our field of membership modernization legislation, SB 2266. You can find details here and please contact me with any question.