Latest news with #BrandeiSchaefbauer
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Anti-China COVID lawsuit fails to get through Senate
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — State senators have deadlocked about whether to ask the South Dakota attorney general to file a lawsuit seeking $100 billion from the People's Republic of China for damages suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic. House Concurrent Resolution 6009 claimed that the virus resulted from a genetic research project at the People's Liberation Army bioweapons BSL-4 laboratory in Wuhan, China. It called for establishing a South Dakota COVID-19 victims relief fund that would make up to $250,000 available for each impacted person. The resolution on a 40-28 vote cleared the South Dakota House. Republican Rep. Brandei Schaefbauer is prime sponsor. The Senate took it up Thursday. Republican Tom Pischke, the lead sponsor in the Senate, said he believes that China launched a viral attack on the world. Other states have brought lawsuits against China, according to Pischke, such as Missouri, which he said is seizing all China-owned assets there. The resolution also calls for the lawsuit to name as other defendants the Chinese Community Party and the Wuhan laboratory. 'China is just the beginning of this,' Pischke said. No other senator spoke after he finished. The vote ended in a 17-17 tie. Republican Amber Hulse passed the first time when the roll call reached her. She voted yes when her name was called a second time at the end. Mark Lapka meanwhile was excused. Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen, serving as Senate president, could have broken the tie. Instead, he declared that the measure failed. Pischke gave notice of his intent to reconsider the vote. But when the time came, he decided to not proceed. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
South Dakota House advances bill policing bathroom use, but related ID bill fails
State Rep. Brandei Schaefbauer, R-Aberdeen, speaks on the South Dakota House floor on Jan. 17, 2024. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) The South Dakota House of Representatives supported a bill Wednesday at the Capitol in Pierre to prohibit transgender people from using restrooms or changing rooms aligned with their gender identity in public schools or on state-owned property — including prisons and higher education campuses. The same body failed to advance a bill that would prevent transgender people from updating a birth certificate or driver's license to reflect their gender identity. The chamber endorsed House Bill 1259 in a 49-21 vote and sent it to the Senate. The legislation requires schools and state-owned properties to designate multi-occupancy changing rooms, restrooms or sleeping quarters exclusively for females or males. That includes private property for school-sanctioned events. Schools would be responsible for finding 'reasonable accommodation' for people, but state-owned properties would not have to provide any accommodations. Lawmaker loses vice chairmanship after trying to defund Huron schools over bathroom issue Similar bills were introduced in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2022. Rep. Brandei Schaefbauer, R-Aberdeen, said she introduced the bill because 'men shouldn't be allowed in women's private spaces.' School districts, local governments and the state could be sued and held responsible for plaintiff's attorney fees and costs if someone sues them for a 'member of the opposite sex' using a bathroom or changing room with the permission of the political entity or administration, or because the political entity didn't take 'reasonable steps to prohibit the member of the opposite sex' from using the space. School districts differ on policies for bathroom use. The Vermilion School District has a policy that allows students to use the restroom they prefer that corresponds with their 'consistently asserted gender.' Lawmakers opposed to the legislation compared the bill's intention to race-segregated bathrooms and worried about the potential legal ramifications school districts and the state could face if the bill passed. Yankton Republican Rep. Mike Stevens said the bill is 'not necessary' because school districts have managed their own policies and accommodations for decades. Sioux Falls Democratic Rep. Erin Healy told lawmakers who expressed safety concerns that it is illegal in the state to enter a bathroom with the intent to harm another person. She said the bill was rooted in 'fear and misinformation.' 'Passing this bill is going to leave girls and women — transgender or not — vulnerable to accusations and discrimination based on how they conform to someone else's standard of gender,' Healy said, 'and protecting the rights of transgender people expands protections for all women by ensuring that nobody's going to dictate who you are by how you look.' Lawmakers split 35-35 — and therefore failed to pass — House Bill 1260. It would prohibit birth certificate and driver's license updates regarding gender identification. Schaefbauer, who introduced the bill, said it would provide clarity for governments to make public policy and for third parties, such as medical providers, to assist unresponsive patients in an emergency situation. The bill would only allow birth certificates to be amended within a year of a person being born or after a court finds the document was factually inaccurate. Fort Pierre Republican Will Mortenson told lawmakers he voted in support of the bathroom bill but would vote against HB 1260. He could identify how the prior legislation might 'impact someone else.' 'I can't see how it impacts me when it just says what's on someone's driver's license,' Mortenson said. Rep. Taylor Rehfeldt, R-Sioux Falls, said the bill could negatively impact people with sex chromosome anomalies found later in life. After the tie vote, Rep. Logan Manhart, R-Aberdeen, announced an intent to reconsider the bill. The House could revive the bill later if it draws enough support from lawmakers. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
A look ahead to Day 11 of the 2025 legislative session
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — Here's a look at some of the events scheduled at the state Capitol for Wednesday, January 29, the 11th working day of the 2025 session of the South Dakota Legislature. at 7:45 a.m. CT in room 413 considers legislation that would provide $4 million of state funding for education savings accounts that parents could use for students attending nonpublic schools and home schools. at 8 a.m. CT in room 412 considers legislation that would shift $3 million from the tobacco prevention and reduction fund to the state general fund. The Senate and the House convene at 2 p.m. CT. There are four bills on the Senate debate calendar and four bills on the House debate calendar. QUOTE OF THE DAY: 'I'm losing my voice. People are happy.' — Republican Rep. Brandei Schaefbauer during a House committee meeting Tuesday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
