Efficient pace leads to early finish, unprecedented 'Crossover Day'

Lawmakers gavel out early on historically grueling day

PIERRE — It was 2:45 p.m. in the South Dakota House of Representatives on Wednesday in what traditionally is the longest, hardest working day of a legislative session.

But it didn’t feel that way this year. There was joking, frivolity and when the House gaveled out for the day, there was a sense of relief.

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“I don’t even have to look,” marveled House Speaker Hugh Bartels. “I know this is an all-time record.”

Lawmakers arriving at the South Dakota State Capitol for “Crossover Day” every year know what to expect typically — a long night at the desk working through several pages of bills.

However, the last two years in the Legislature have been a deviation from that practice, as lawmakers have walked out of the Capitol each of the past two years on that notorious day to be greeted by daylight.

Lt. Gov. Larry Rhoden, a longtime lawmaker who now presides over the Senate, was equally complimentary Wednesday after the Senate gaveled out at around 4 p.m. In all his years, he told the Senate, he’d never seen a Crossover Day handled so smoothly.

“Give yourselves a hand for the job you did so far,” Rhoden said.

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