Stop SB 163

Coddington, Lake, Hamlin, Brookings and Yankton.counties oppose SB 163

Action Alert 2-19-04

SB 163 will be voted on tomorrow morning (2/20) in the House Senate State Affairs Committee.

The bill was confusing to start with and the proposed amendments make it even worse. They introduce language that no one is able to explain the meaning of legally. Counties and local citizens will have a hard time figuring out what this bill really means, and in the end, they will probably end up in court trying to figure out what it really does.

Hamlin, Brookings, Yankton and Lake County Commissioners are on record against this bill. Lake County even passed a resolution yesterday against it and sent it out to the entire committee.

Please call the representatives listed below and tell them to VOTE NO ON SB 163 AND THE NEW AMENDMENTS.

In addition, call your county commissioner, zoning board representatives and township board members and urge them to oppose this and make the same calls.

∑ Senate Bill 163, even with the new amendments, is confusing and poorly written. Even the Attorney General's office and the Legislative Research Council were confused by the language in the bill and amendments.

∑ This bill amounts to one group of elected officials (the Legislature) telling another group of elected officials (the county commissioners) how to do their jobs. You, the voters, can do that just fine.

∑ The best case scenario for this bill is that it does nothing. There is simply nothing in this bill or its amendments that a county cannot already do. This is, at best, another level of unnecessary bureaucracy that our county commissioners do not need and do not want. The worst case scenario for this bill is that the confusing language is a smoke screen for an underhanded attempt to take away your local control. This bill, even with the new amendments, threatens to take away your right of referral!

Phone numbers: House Lobby 773-3851 (open until 7pm).

You can leave a message for two representatives at a time.

After you call, send them an email!

It's best to use the Pierre address listed here, however, you can send them one at home too if want.

Any Representative can be emailed using the format: rep.lastname@state.sd.us

House State Affairs Committee: District:

Frost, Larry lcfrost@abe.midco.net

Garnos, Cooper hunting@garnosranch.com

Hanson, Gary D. ghanson@sbtc.net

Hargens, Dale rep.hargens@state.sd.us

Hunhoff, Jean M. djhunhoff@dtgnet.com

Madsen, Christopher W. rep.madsen@sio.midco.net