With week four complete and the submission deadline behind us, there are 508 bills, resolutions and commemorations for the 96th Legislature to work through. 

As you might expect, most of these never become law, and for the most part that is good. It is also good, that unlike Washington, in South Dakota every one of them gets a hearing and has a chance to be considered. I am the prime sponsor of three bills this session and thought I’d share a little about each one.

HB1087 is a bill that would allow people over 60 to hunt deer during the archery season using a crossbow. Statistics show that archery hunters leave the sport as they age. Pulling a bow, climbing in and out of trees and other typical archery hunting requirements get increasingly difficult and dangerous as people age. This change would give these hunters more time to enjoy the outdoors and the sport they love, while keeping them engaged to mentor the next generation.

HB1200 is an effort to increase the supply of affordable housing. Currently, all new construction pays a 2% excise tax on the total cost of a home or project. Under this bill, the first $150,000 of new home construction would be tax free. That would reduce the cost of a home by as much as $3,000 – and any home under a $240,000 construction cost (lot cost is excluded) would get some tax savings. More expensive homes would pay more than they do now so that the overall amount the state gets is unchanged. The goal is to reduce the cost of a starter home, save young families real money and encourage builders to focus on affordable housing. I like this approach because it doesn’t add any government program – or employee – or increase the compliance cost to builders. Best of all, 100% of the savings goes to the homebuyer.

HB1201 would allow for local control of video lottery. Video lottery is the most dangerous type of gambling there is. It creates problem gamblers in a fraction of the time that traditional casino gambling does. Video lottery casinos are also identified by addicts as the most likely location for drug dealing – and based on my observations, video lottery casinos are the most likely place for an armed robbery to occur. It has long been recognized that crime and drug use increase near gambling hubs. In South Dakota, those hubs are in every town and almost every C-store. Our neighboring states don’t do this because they have looked at us and seen the damage. We should all have the right to decide what kind of community we want to live in. This bill would give local citizens the right to bring the question to a local vote and decide if video lottery is allowed or not. For me, I’d rather live someplace without it.

In service to God and you,

John Mills, Representative, District 4, mills4sd@gmail.com OR John.Mills@sdlegislature.gov