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CHRIS HILL DIRECTOR OF MUNICIPAL ELECTRIC SERVICES Legislative session is over! The three electric utility providers in South Dakota worked together to pass some important legislation regarding electric vehicles this year. Senate Bill 80 is an act to exempt the provision of electricity through electric vehicle charging stations from the definition of electric utility. This bill protects businesses from needing to become a utility if they have charging stations installed at their place of business. So, if your local business wants to install EV charging stations, they will have to purchase the power for those charging stations from the incumbent utility provider rather than generating their own power and becoming a utility and following the regulations of a utility provider.
a great recap of bills that affected the SDML during legislative session and a great chance to network with other municipal employees. The SDMEA Conference is April 5 and 6, so depending on when you read this, the conference might still be going on. Once again, I want to encourage our members to attend any event that we host. It is key to be able to understand issues that may arise in your community and helps us to keep the conversations going. Upcoming events include our annual SDMEA Golf Tournament which we are hoping to host in early June. This one-day event helps promote our association and brings us all together for a fun event. This year we are also hoping to add another event in the fall – possibly a trap shooting event. Information on that will be coming in the next couple of months as well! We have lots of great things that are taking place within our association. The involvement of our members and opportunities for our members to work together at events is critical for the development of our association and can help you to make your HOMETOWN great! ■
This year the South Dakota Public Power group also hosted a late session dinner for our legislators. The SDMEA, Heartland Consumers Power District, and Missouri River Energy Services hosted a dinner on March 1. Unfortunately, the Senate Republicans also had a dinner that night, so we were down a few legislators, but quite a few of the Senate Republicans did make an effort to come visit with us before their dinner began. In total we were able to visit with 73 of the 105 legislators to discuss municipal electric utilities and the future of our electrical systems, including electric vehicle integration. The South Dakota Municipal League district meetings are now over, and I am thrilled that I had a chance to visit with many of you during the meetings. The district meetings are
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