Lame duck legislator travel rules won’t be changing

House kills bill aimed at reforming policy for outgoing lawmakers

PIERRE — An effort to reform a taxpayer-funded travel policy for lame duck lawmakers ran into a buzzsaw in the South Dakota House of Representatives Wednesday.

After cruising through a pair of legislative committees and the state Senate, Senate Bill 68 found its demise when 60 of 70 members of the state House voted against the measure.

The bill sought to give the power of authorizing legislative travel for outgoing lawmakers to the Legislature’s Executive Board instead of allowing the presiding officers in the House and Senate to approve or deny legislative travel requests.

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