Week In Review - January 31-February 4

This week was a 5 day week in the legislature. Bill deadlines have been met. The SD legislature has 570 bills, which is the highest total bills seen in the legislature in 24 years. Every bill that is introduced has to have at least a committee hearing. You can imagine how busy we will be in the coming weeks with this bill load.

I think it is important to talk about the childcare facilities that applied for ARPA grant funds, which were initially expected to be received by January. This process needs legislative oversight, which can take time. The Legislature knows time is of the essence in this situation and Senate leadership is planning to suspend the rules in order to take this up quickly. We are hoping the House of Representatives will do this as well. Suspending the rules and the emergency clause on the bill, will allow us to pass this in a timely manner, through both chambers, so we can get these ARPA funds out immediately. We are doing what we can as fast as we can.

I sponsored two successful bills through committee this week. The first bill was SB 113. This bill is aimed at adding a new drug - Nabiximol - to the schedule III controlled substances list. This is a THC/CBD combination drug used to treat spasticity in Multiple Sclerosis. The State of SD traditionally has added drugs to the controlled substance list after FDA approval and DEA assignment. We are attempting to add this in a proactive way, prior to FDA approval. The reason this is important is that this drug has very promising clinical trials and we can possibly expedite this to patients. It still will need to be FDA approved and DEA scheduled prior to being prescribed to patients, but will not have to wait for another legislative session to do so. I think this could be very helpful for patients with multiple sclerosis and will bring this to the Senate floor in the coming week.

The second bill that I brought forward this week was HB 1056 which is a change in the medical marijuana law to allow healthcare providers, law enforcement, and the judicial system, to access the patient marijuana registry. The registry is still not public data, nor should it be. This will specifically allow healthcare providers to provide better care to their patients by being able to identify when patients have a marijuana card. This will allow for better patient care. Law enforcement and the judicial system will also be able to access this if they go through the proper channels to do so. This will only help public safety. This will also be heard on the Senate floor next week.

Next week I will be bringing SB 134 to the Senate Health and Human Services committee, Wednesday February 9th. This bill will allow for physician assistants to function to the full extent of their education and experience. This is important for SD. I encourage physician assistants to reach out to their legislators to express the importance of this bill.

Continue to reach out with any questions or concerns. Stay well.

Senator Tobin