April 5, 2023
Session Ends – Here is a Numeric Review
It’s over. On March 27th the 2023 Legislative Session was adjourned “Sine Die”; which is Latin for “adjourn indefinitely” or “without a future day” and is used to appropriately make the final act seem very serious. Legislators took a mere 38 days of the maximum 40 days allowed by the constitution to accomplish updating statutes, consider the functions of state government and pass a budget for the fiscal year 2023-24. At this time, the 105 lawmakers can “do no harm” - on the other hand neither can they “do more good” for the citizens of the state.
Debates, arguments and consternation aside, a key question is “What exactly did they do?” Not surprisingly, the author of this special report thinks that is a great question and he has a great answer to it as well. Below you will find a summary of the 2023 Legislative Session “by the numbers”. This report simply tells what was done, it does not suggest any assessment of whether the actions taken were good or bad. For the record, here is the work . . . by the numbers.
Here is summary of the partisan makeup and the number of new people serving as Senators and Representatives, plus the number of women that were part of the 2023 Legislative Session.
This slide is a reminder of the occupations that lawmakers have in their lives beyond their duties as legislators. The South Dakota Chamber of Commerce and Industry appreciates all of these citizen legislators for being willing to serve the public and to give thought to many issues facing South Dakota.
Here is look at how many bills the legislators considered during the 38 days of the Legislative Session. This chart includes the Senate and House Joint Resolutions in the first summary because most of them have policy implications as they are proposing constitutional amendments to be placed on the ballot. The middle section reviews only number bills.
Here is a 10-year history of the number of bills considered each session, along with how many actually became law. The asterisk shows the year with the highest number of bills (2022).
The Governor vetoed five bills and all of her vetoes were sustained, which means that none of them had a successful override vote. A vote to override a Governor's veto requires a two-thirds vote in each house (23 votes in the Senate; 47 votes in the House) and means the bill would become law, "the Governor's veto not withstanding". Note - HB 1193 (in red) was a veto that the Chamber and a coalition led by the Bankers Association worked to try and override - an effort that was not successful.
Below is a history of gubernatorial vetoes recorded for each administration. This history goes back as far as the electronic records are available on the Legislative Research Council’s website.
Members are reminded of South Dakota Chamber President David Owen’s post-legislative session review tour. Here are the remaining dates and locations.
- ABERDEEN: 12 noon, Tuesday, April 11 at the Ramkota, 1400 8th Avenue NW. Registration required, contact the Aberdeen Chamber at 605-225-2860.
- SIOUX FALLS: 12 noon, Thursday, April 13 at the Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce, 200 N Phillips Avenue. Must RSVP to kdavis@siouxfalls.com by April 11. Limited to the first 40 RSVPs.
- RAPID CITY: 4 pm, Tuesday, April 18, Elevate Rapid City, DLAB, 18 East Main Street. Contact Elevate Rapid City for additional information - 605-343-1744.
- MITCHELL: 12 noon, Thursday, April 20, Blarney's Sports Bar & Grill, 2100 N Highland Way. Registration not required. Contact Mitchell Chamber for additional information - 605-996-5567.
Thank you for your support of the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
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