The South Dakota Catholic Conference (SDCC) supported seven bills and opposed three others during the 2024 session. All bills opposed by the SDCC were defeated, while three of the seven supported bills succeeded.

A session highlight was the passage of Senate Bill 72, which expands the “partners in education” tax credit program. Created in 2016, this program provides scholarships to help K-12 students from lower-income families afford tuition at private institutions, including Catholic schools. The program is funded by voluntary contributions from insurance companies, who in return receive a credit on taxes they owe to state government. Current law sets a ceiling of $3.5 million on the tax credits, but SB 72 increases this to $5 million, allowing many more families to benefit.

Abortion was also on the agenda, with the legislature showing strong resolve to safeguard South Dakota’s pro-life laws. Legislators overwhelmingly approved HCR 6008, a resolution expressing strong opposition to the proposal to add a right to abortion to the state constitution. Also, a legislative committee unanimously rejected Senate Bill 210, which proposed to legalize abortion and repeal every pro-life law South Dakota has ever enacted.

Other bills harmful to the common good were also defeated. Senate Bill 216 proposed to allow puberty-blocking drugs and cross-sex hormones to be given to children, for the purpose of making a minor appear to be a sex that is not consistent with his or her biological sex. This proposal was defeated in committee by a 1 to 5 vote. Another bill (Senate Bill 192) that proposed to double the amount of money that can be spent on addictive video lottery games was tabled in its first committee.

A big disappointment was the Senate’s obstruction of House Bill 1257, a measure that would require websites containing “material harmful to minors” (i.e., obscenity) to implement reliable age verification technology to prevent access by children.

HB 1257 passed the House Judiciary Committee with a bipartisan, unanimous vote of 13 to 0. It was then approved on the House floor by an overwhelming, bipartisan vote of 62 to 6. But the Senate Judiciary Committee blocked the bill in a narrow 3 to 4 vote. HB 1257 was then forced out of committee and brought before the full Senate when one-third of the senators stood to support this procedural motion. However, a majority of senators then adopted a gutting amendment that deleted the bill’s entire substance, replacing it with a single sentence calling on the Legislature’s Executive Board to conduct a study of children’s access to online pornography. The bill later died when a conference committee of House and Senate negotiators could not agree on a compromise.

Nine other states have passed laws like HB 1257 to protect children from obscenity, and more than 20 other states are considering similar bills this year. This issue will almost certainly be reintroduced when a new legislature convenes in January 2025.

To learn more about all bills supported and opposed by the SDCC, visit our website at www.sdcatholicconference.org.