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AARP AARP States South Dakota Advocacy

SD Legislative Update - Week Five

It’s hard to believe but we’ve already reached the half-way point of the 2017 South Dakota legislative session.

With AARP South Dakota's support, House Bill (HB) 1062 has passed the House and the Senate and heads to Governor Daugaard’s desk for his signature.  HB 1062 provides property and sales tax refunds to low income seniors.

Property taxes are the single most burdensome tax for low-income and older homeowners.  Many of our state's elderly citizens have lived in their homes for generations.  As their property values have appreciated, so have their property taxes.  Furthermore, seniors often live on fixed incomes and cannot afford the yearly increases in their property taxes while also meeting their basic needs for food, medicine and utilities.

Also, this week AARP South Dakota continued to support Senate Bill (SB) 61.  SB 61 modernizes the SD Nurse Practice Act to bring South Dakota in line with national standards for Certified Nurse Practitioners (CNPs) and Certified Nurse Midwives (CNMs).  This legislation would allow South Dakota to fully utilize the skills, experience, training and knowledge of these advanced practice registered nurses and would increase consumers access to convenient, high-quality health care.

On Tuesday, SB 61 passed out of the House Health and Human Services Committee.  However, House floor action was delayed by a tactical maneuver of the opponents who requested a fiscal note.  While there is broad support for the bill, opponents only needed 14 legislators to stand up on the floor of the House of Representatives in support of the fiscal note request.

SD Action of the Week:
Please help us continue to advance Senate Bill 61 on the House floor by contacting your legislators in the House of Representatives and asking them to support SB 61.


You can also advocate on behalf of these bills when you see your legislators in your community.   Click here for a list of cracker barrels with local lawmakers being held across the state this weekend and throughout the 2017 SD legislative session.