HURON — District 22 legislators met with constituents for the final legislative coffee of the 2025 South Dakota legislative session Saturday in the commission room at City Hall in Huron.

Legislators began with opening statements. Senator David Wheeler went first and first discussed the budget work that will happen over the final days of the session. He was happy to report that South Dakota Public Broadcasting would be fully funded and that the cuts to the state library would be significantly lowered from initial proposals after working with the state library system about how to potentially make cuts.

Rep. Lana Greenfield opened her statement by talking about the priorities of both chambers being fairly aligned, and she noted that this is a first for her in the nine years she’s been in the legislature. She did discuss the sparsity bill that provides additional aid for 12 schools in the state due to their distance from any other district.

Rep. Kevin Van Diepen began his opening statement by joking about getting known for an impassioned speech regarding sending librarians to jail on the House floor. He also joked that he’s spent more time with librarians during session this year than he has in his life previous.

The first question the legislators heard regarded House resolutions to alter rules around citizen initiatives on the ballot, specifically HJR 5003 regarding a certain percentage of votes needed for a constitutional amendment, HJR 5006 regarding not bringing an issue two elections in a row, along with two House bills - one that would change the petition filing date to February from May and another that would require signatures on a proposed initiated measure to come from each district in the state.

Rep. Van Diepen explained the reasoning behind each measure, stating that he did support each. Specifically, he noted that the two resolutions simply put the issue to the vote of the people in the next election. 

Wheeler stated that he would likely not support any of the proposals, as all four are now in the Senate for final review.

The legislators were asked about property tax bills. Both House members stated their dislike for the two property tax bills that were passed through the Senate to the House. Greenfield stated that she would rather “not pass property tax at all this session than to pass the wrong bill.”

Wheeler disagreed with his House colleagues, stating that there have been multiple studies done with state funds on property taxes, but the two bills that were passed are the best of more than a dozen property tax bills that were initiated this session. He stated that he hoped the House would do something with the two property tax bills, which could include amending the bills as sent over, which would require the two chambers to come together to find common ground on their passed versions of the bills.

The legislators were thanked by a local librarian for the efforts all three District 22 legislators have taken this year to protect libraries and librarians. Sen. Wheeler was asked if HB 1239 was passed if there would be anything sent to librarians to know how to handle the law as passed. 

He stated that the bill, as proposed, would not provide any assistance. He did state that he does not support the bill and will advocate in the Senate for the bill to be defeated.

Legislators have their final full week of bills this week before reconvening on March 31 to consider any bills that were vetoed by Governor Larry Rhoden.