Updates from SA's State & Local Committee

A few updates:

• Section 8 of HB 1026 was removed before the bill itself passed.  Great work to all who contacted legislators!
• The City will now sell alcohol on Sundays
• Both the Director of the Union and the President’s Office have offered letters of support for the union as a polling location
• Elections are coming up — don’t forget to vote!

HB 1026 + Amendement

AMENDMENT FOR PRINTED BILL

 HOUSE BILL NO. 1026

 Introduced by: The Committee on Appropriations at the request of the Board of Regents FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act to authorize the Board of Regents to construct phase II of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Building on the campus of South Dakota State University, to accept donations for such purpose, to acquire land incidental thereto, and to make appropriations therefor. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA:

Section 1. The Board of Regents may contract for the construction, completion, furnishing, equipping, and maintaining of, including heating, air conditioning, plumbing, water, sewer, electric facilities, sidewalks, parking, landscaping, architectural and engineering services, and such other services or actions as may be required to construct, phase II of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Building, not to exceed twenty-nine thousand gross square feet, on the campus of South Dakota State University in Brookings, South Dakota.

Section 2. There is hereby appropriated from other fund expenditure authority the sum of five million one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars ($5,125,000), for the total project cost authorized by this Act. Of that sum: ——————————————————————————–

• (1) Four million four hundred thousand dollars ($4,400,000) shall be payable from funds donated for the purposes of this Act, and are appropriated for project costs other than those authorized in subdivision
•  (2) of this section or section 6 of this Act; (2) Four hundred fifty thousand dollars ($450,000) in other funds arising from sponsored program indirect receipts are appropriated to construct and to equip a photovoltaic laboratory within the facility; and
• (3) Two hundred seventy-five thousand dollars ($275,000) from the grant and contract indirect recovery, plant, and royalty funds, are appropriated for the purpose of purchase of the property described in section 6 of this Act. Section 3. Expenditure authority may be increased based on the receipt of grants or donations received pursuant to this Act. However, no adjustment to any cost estimate may exceed one hundred twenty-five percent of the authorized expenditure authority stated in section 2 of this Act. No increase in gross square footage authorized by section 1 of this Act may exceed ten percent. Any increase in gross square footage may only be made to accommodate design changes needed to comply with building code requirements and to address unforeseeable structural, subsoil, or environmental conditions.

Section 4. The design and construction of the facility authorized in this Act shall be under the general supervision of the Bureau of Administration as provided in chapter 5-14. The commissioner of the Bureau of Administration and the executive director of the Board of Regents shall approve vouchers and the state auditor shall draw warrants to pay expenditures authorized by this Act. No contract for construction may be issued until the donated funds referred to in section 2 of this Act have been accumulated sufficient to pay for the construction, completion, furnishing, equipping, including heating, air conditioning, plumbing, water, sewer, electric facilities, sidewalks, parking, landscaping, and architectural and engineering services, required to construct the facility.

Section 5. For the purposes of this Act, the term, gross square footage, means the sum of all areas on all floors of a building included within the outside faces of the building’s exterior walls, including floor penetration areas, however insignificant, for circulation and shaft areas that connect one floor to another as computed by physically measuring or scaling measurements from the outside faces of exterior walls, disregarding cornices, pilaster, buttresses, etc., which extend beyond the wall faces. The term includes excavated basement area; mezzanines, penthouses, and attics; garages; multiple floor parking structures; enclosed porches, inner or outer balconies whether walled or not, if the balconies are utilized for operational functions; and corridors whether walled or not, if the corridors are within the outside face lines of the building, to the extent of the roof drip line and the footprints of stairways, elevator shafts, and ducts on each floor through which the corridors pass. The term does not include open areas such as unenclosed parking lots, playing fields, courts, and light wells, clear span areas not exceeding three feet in height, or portions of upper floors eliminated by rooms or lobbies that rise above single-floor height.

Section 6. In order to secure regular dimensions for the site of the construction authorized in this Act, the Board of Regents may purchase improved real property adjacent to the campus of South Dakota State University at a cost not to exceed two hundred seventy-five thousand dollars. The parcel of real property is described as follows: W 85′ of Lots 1, 2 and 3, Block 1, Wheaton’s addition, City of Brookings, Brookings County, South Dakota.

Section 7. The Board of Regents may sell, dismantle, or otherwise dispose of any improvements on the property described in section 6 of this Act.

SPICY! City Council: 1/26

At first, last night’s city council meeting looked like it would be a short one.  The first 12 items of the agenda were checked off within an hour.  This included the student senate report, which informed the council that SA elections are coming up and that Capers is going on, though the condemnation of the upper half of Doner Auditorium’s seating inhibits maximum profit for APO and the City of Brookings.

The real action went down during the Swiftel discussion.  Several members of the community voiced their support for its expansion to include convention and conference space, but especially for a new hotel facility.  Three motions were proposed regarding moving forward.  The first suggested committing $8million to the project.  It failed 4-3, with Mayor Reed, Jael Thorpe, John Kubal, and  Mike McClemmens in opposition.

The same happened to the second motion, which stated that the Council would commit to going forward contingent upon the private sector presenting a hotel option for the city.  Mayor Reed underlined his concern that he wanted to be sure that that this is the best way to invest the taxpayers’ money. Proponents of the motion insisted that all the necessary information has been presented and that this risk is necessary for Brookings growth.

After much debate, Mayor Reed changed his position and the Council passed a third motion similar to the rejected second.

Today: Legislative Begins

Here are a couple of news pieces about the SD Legislature’s opening day of 2010

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) The South Dakota Legislature has convened for the year. Lawmakers were called into session shortly after noon Tuesday.

State senators and representatives were to take care of some organizational details and then gather in the House chambers to hear Gov. Mike Rounds’ state of the state address.

From KELO:

Some committees already met Monday to get their work in order before the session kicks off. Yankton Representative Bernie Hunhoff says that’s because the part-time legislature needs to get ready for the next two months of full-time work.

“We are truly a citizen legislature. We’ve kind of been in our ‘home-mode’ for the last nine or ten months taking care of family and business, and you have to get yourself indoctrinated back into politics and government,” Hunhoff said.

And while some lawmakers showed up early they don’t expect to get done early. With the main focus of this year’s session being on the budget, lawmakers say waiting for those final financial forecasts and hammering out those details will take them right up to the last few minutes of the session.

85th Legislative Session

Check out the Important Dates for the 2010 Legislative Session below.  Term definitions will be posted soon.

January

• January 12 — Session opens @ noon.
• January 19 — Executive orders filed
• January 26 — Last day for unlimited bill and joint resolution introduction
• January 28 — All bill drafts with sponsors due by 5p.m.

February

• February 1 Final day to introduce individual bills and joint resolutions
• February 2 Final day to introduce committe bills and joint resolutions
• February 19 Last day to use Joint Rule 5-17
• February 22 Last day to move required delivery of bills or resoultions in the house of origin
• February 23 Last day for a bill or joint resolution to pass the house of origin.

March

• March 4 J.R. 5-13 in effect
• March 8 Last day to move required delivery of bills or resolutions in the second house.
• March 9 Last day for a bill or joint resolution to pass both houses.
• March 10 Last day to introduce commemorations
• March 29 Consideration of gubernatorial vetoes

Bike Sharing: Possibilities

Lee Jones from B-Cycle presented at the Transportation Board yesterday.  State and Local Grandorff was in attendance took notes from his presentation and Q&A.

B-cycle is a private bike sharing program.  Bikes are kept at stations like this:

These stations can be AC or Solar powered.  They feature Wi-Fi where users can access their personal page on the B-Cycle website, which keeps trak of data such as distance, duration, calories burned and carbon offset thanks to technology included on each bike.  The stations can hold 3-24 bikes each.

The actual bikes are versitile in design, with a three speed hand grip shift,  low mid section, basket for laptops, and security features like adjustable but not removable seats, security screws for the tires, and a lock for rider stops.  Head and tail lights are powered by the rider, and they stay active for up to three minutes after the rider has stopped (great for stop lights).

How it works is that each user has a card (initially obtained at the station mentioned above) that they insert at any station, choose the bike they want from the dock, and go.  Bikes can be returned at any station.

“B-cycle members can access the system using their B-connected card…
Both B-cycle members and walk-up riders gain immediate access to the system upon approval.” B-Knowledge

The Costs of starting a program like this would be approximately $3500 per bike.  To pay for this, charges and advertising are viable options.  Estimated annual pricing options are as follows:

Annual Individual: $50

Annual Student: $30

Additionally, walk-ups pay a fee using a credit card. The card is debited for the minimum amount, as well as ensuring an available balance just in case the bike is not returned.

Maintanence is usually provided through a service agreement with a 3rd party (like the local bike shop).  Same goes for overflow issues (e.g. if all the bikes end up at one location).

The system can be open or closed, meaning (for example) that access can be limited to only SDSU students and personnel or not at all.

While this sounds like a great option, I would also like to encourage everyone to search out other and similar programs.  For example, TusBic provides many of the same features, only requires a deposit and does not charge users.

Please reply with any questions, suggestions, or concerns!

10/20 Meetings

TRANSPORTATION BOARD

2p.m. @ City Hall
311 3rd Ave.

BIKE SHARING

4p.m. @ Sioux River Bicycle
501 Main Ave.

City Council: 9/22 Summary

On September 22nd, Senators Carruth and Hanson attended the Brookings City Council meeting. Senator Carruth updated the Council on what the Students’ Association Senate has been working on, including approving resolutions in support of the SDSU Student Discount Club and joining the Brookings Chamber of Commerce. The Students’ Association asked for an update on the status of the bike lanes. Currently, the city has the signs for the bike lanes and should be putting them up within the next couple of weeks.

S&L City Council Report 9/22

This week, Senator Carruth updated the Council on relevant Students’ Association’s activities and concerns.

• We are proud to report that the SDSU Students’ Association unanimously passed a resolution in support of the SDSU Discount Club, joining the Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Brookings, Inc. in supporting the program
• Also, the student senate unanimously passed a resolution in support of having the Students’ Association become a member of the Chamber of Commerce.
• This semester we have noticed numerous faculty members and students taking advantage of the nice weather and biking to and from campus. In their interest, we would like to inquire as to the status of the bike lane project.

Senators’ Corresponding Districts