South Dakota Senate advances committee recommendations, takes first readings and approves procedural motions

The South Dakota Senate on the floor advanced multiple committee recommendations, took first readings of three measures and approved several procedural motions, including scheduling the next convening for 1 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 17, 2025.

Committee chairs reported the chamber had pending committee recommendations. "The Committee on Senate Commerce and Energy respectfully reports that it has had the following under consideration and returns the same with the following recommendations: Senate Bill 30, do pass, and having been certified as uncontested, be placed on the consent calendar," said Senator Casey Crabtree, chair of that committee. The Committee on Senate Judiciary reported that "Senate Bill 5 be amended and do pass," said Senator David Wheeler, chair of Judiciary. Those reports were entered on the floor; the transcript records the committee recommendations but does not record final floor action on those two bills in the excerpt.

In first-reading business, the clerk read three new measures: Senate Bill 74, which the clerk described as requiring publication and review of an explanation of the state's open-meeting laws; Senate Bill 75, described as requiring an indication of U.S. citizenship status on a motor vehicle operator's license or permit; and SJR 503, described as a joint resolution to propose a constitutional amendment clarifying that an individual must be a citizen of the United States to be eligible to vote. After first reading the clerk assigned bills that had a first reading to committees; the…