SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Gov. Kristi Noem has asked South Dakota lawmakers to act Monday on 10 pieces of emergency legislation aimed at a months-long COVID-19 fight.
The emergency legislation covers a range of issues, including pushing local elections back until at least June, allowing the secretary of health to put restrictions on group gatherings and creating a fund of about $11 million for loans to small businesses affected by the pandemic.
All the bills have an emergency clause that would put them into effect immediately, which means they need a two-thirds majority to pass. They all have a sunset clause to expire later in the year. Lawmakers will also consider action on bills the governor has vetoed.
Most lawmakers won’t be in the Capitol building Monday. They’ll be hundreds of miles away, speaking and voting via a video call system. In the last week, legislative staff have scrambled to put together a teleconference system that will allow legislators to virtually signal when they want to speak and to cast their votes.
Here is what Noem is asking from lawmakers:
ELECTIONS
Legislators will consider a proposal to allow the secretary of state to move local elections, some which are scheduled in April, back to at least June. The bill allows the elections to take place as late as July 28.
GOVERNOR’S EMERGENCY POWERS
Noem has said that her emergency powers in this situation are murky. Now she wants legislatures to clarify some of her emergency powers. The bill she is pushing adds “pandemic” to the list of reasons she can declare an emergency. It also allows her to suspend regulatory statutes during the emergency.
EDUCATION
As the governor has ordered schools to close their buildings until at least May, she is pushing two bills that will waive the requirement for schools to provide a certain number of hours of in-person teaching and to cancel state assessments this year.
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
The governor is also pushing to allow the secretary of health to close restaurants, stores and other gathering places during a public health emergency. She also wants lawmakers to add the coronavirus to the list of diseases for which the Department of Health can petition courts to enforce the closure of businesses.
LABOR
The Department of Labor and Regulation has seen a surge of unemployment filings. Noem wants lawmakers to specify that people who lose their jobs because of the coronavirus are covered under the state’s unemployment laws.
DRIVER’S LICENSES
Lawmakers will consider allowing Noem to extend the expiration date of driver’s licenses during the emergency.
BUDGET ADJUSTMENTS
Noem is pushing lawmakers to create a fund of about $11 million for loans to small businesses affected by the crisis. Her staff also hopes federal dollars from a relief package could be filtered through that fund, which would be administered by the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.
COUNTIES
The governor’s strategy for the outbreak of COVID-19 has so far pushed the decision to close bars, restaurants, retail stores and other non-essential businesses to municipal governments. But it is not clear in state law if counties have the authority to mandate businesses to close. This bill makes it clear that they do.
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