From the desk of the Executive Director 

By Cathy Berg, Executive Director

Spring forward! Wow, what a legislative session! We had a very busy session as most of you probably already know with 22 bills and 2 Resolutions that affected the industry that our lobbyist monitored and worked on throughout the session. You will see a list of the bills and the end result within this newsletter issue. We are very pleased as to the results of most of the bills, and although the session is over, it is never further from our minds, as there are always issues that you as a member/business owner are affected by whether personally as a business owner or that we are all affected by on a local or state level. Therefore, it is important that we hear from you with any issues so that we can continue to work for you in this highly regulated industry. The board will be reviewing the various bills and discussing any issues that developed during the session at our upcoming spring board meeting and in the coming months as we prepare for the 2020 session. Please feel free to contact our office at any time with your input.

It’s a new year which brings to mind Membership dues for 2019. You should have received your invoice for payment of dues. If you have not already done so, please be sure to bring your dues up to date. Your membership is very valuable not only to the organization but to the industry. It is your support and dues that will help us continue our work as we fight legislation during the session and throughout the year. We are always looking for new members to help us continue our work for the industry. You can help us become stronger by recruiting new member(s) into the association. It takes a lot of man power and hours to work through these issues on a community and state level.

On another note, the summer months are right around the corner and many of you are probably already thinking about hiring your summer help. As we have reiterated in the past, it is important that your current employees as well as those you hire seasonally know the South Dakota laws in serving alcohol. There are a couple of options you can choose from in getting this accomplished, either holding a class within your establishment if you have 12 or more needing to be certified where we can provide the instructor or by them going online. This is the time to schedule those classes. There is also the option of having one of your own employees becoming a TAM instructor who can conduct classes on their own for your employees once certified. Please contact our office for further details on TAM class information and what options are available to you and your staff at #800-721-1789.
We look forward to working with you in the coming year and welcome your input at any time.

Thank you.