There are cheers from medical marijuana advocates today. The South Dakota IM 26 received 70 percent voter approval in the last general election. However, IM 26 has been contested in both the House and the Senate for the past several weeks. As the legislation period comes to a close, it was time for the House and the Senate to come together to make compromises. This would be in order to pass HB 1100 on to Governor Noem. After hours of debate the committee could not agree on a compromise. The bill died in its last stage of discussion.

House Bill 1100

HB 1100 was introduced and sponsored by House Speaker Spencer Gosch. The bill originally called for the creation a committee for marijuana implementation and push back the start date from July 1, 2021, to July 1, 2022. HB 1100 has seen many amendments and changes to it in the past month as it has filtered through committee hearings. The bill is considered hoghoused, meaning it’s not the same as originally proposed. Some major differences that have happened to HB 1100 are: 

• Changing the committee members to include medical professionals and citizens who have benefitted from taking medical cannabis. 
• Answering questions that IM 26 didn’t answer in said committee.
• Extending the implementation start time from July 1, 2021 to January 1, 2022 (just a six month change) 

This version of HB 1100 passed the House and went on to the Senate. Further changes then occurred. The biggest change the Senate added was decriminalizing small amounts of recreational marijuana, 8 grams or less. This amendment would also allow medical patients to carry up to three ounces of marijuana on them without punishment. This is more than the original limit of one ounce IM 26 proposed back in November. 

Unable to Compromise

When the changes were returned to the House after the Senate approved them, the House refused to approve. “I think what the Senate is doing, has done, to us, is outrageous,” Representative Fred Deutsch (R) said in response to the Senate’s amendments. “This is totally in my five years here the worst bill I have ever seen. There are no standards to protect South Dakotans here.”

In a vote of 24-46, the House rejected the Senate amendments to HB 1100. A compromise committee formed in response to the rejection. There were three Senators and Three House members, including the bill’s sponsor House Speaker Gosch. Speaker Gosch proposed one final amendment to hopefully appease Senators into changing their mind. This amendment received backing from Governor Noem. She has personally been pushing for the delay of South Dakota IM 26 since its approval in November. She’s said that her citizens “made the wrong choice” when it came to marijuana. 

This new amendment would surprisingly keep the implementation start time of July 1, 2021. It would reduce the amount of cannabis a patient could have overall. Plus, patients under 21 would not be allowed access to smokable cannabis as a treatment method. They would have to look into capsules or pills to take their cannabis prescription. Finally, no home cultivation allowed under any circumstances. 

This committee sat deadset at 3-3 with House members for the amendment and Senators against. The members adjourned with no compromise before House Republicans had a closed door meeting. After this meeting, Speaker Gosch thanked the members of the House for allowing a small committee to meet and attempt to come up with a compromise. Unfortunately, no compromise could be reached. In response, Speaker Gosch encouraged members of the house to Vote to defeat HB 1100. They did so with a vote of 67-3

IM 26

With the defeat of HB 1100, South Dakota IM 26 now becomes implemented as written and approved by voters. Beginning July 1, companies and dispensaries can apply for licenses for cultivation and sales. Patients would apply for prescription cards through their physician and the state. Sales aren’t expected until the summer of 2022, but the process has begun. Reform is coming and many are excited about this.

There is still some confusion on where Governor Noem stands. Originally, the governor stated that the eight months between voter approval to when implementation wasn’t enough time. So she asked lawmakers to push back the period by at least a year. That way South Dakota could do things right. Then the compromise came to be a six month delay to still allow for a committee to meet and make the rules. Now, with this last proposed amendment she endorsed, no delay seemed necessary. Just more restrictions added. There is now rumor that Governor Noem and her allies were going to use the delay period to create legislation to replace and repeal IM 26.

Governor Noem has yet to speak about the defeat of HB 1100. A statement released from her office stated they weren’t going to negotiate through the press. If her office does make a statement, we will be sure to update you with the latest. 

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