Legislative Session Wraps with Progress on Chamber Priorities

The 2026 Legislative Session concluded its main run on March 12. This session, like nearly every other, included a wide variety of issues the Legislature sought to address. Some of the main ones were owner-occupied property taxes, funding for post-secondary education capital projects, reform of economic development tools in the state, data centers, funding for airport projects and more. Your Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce advocacy team tracked more than 100 bills this session, as we saw the largest number of bills filed in over 20 years.

Some of the key issues the Chamber advocacy team worked on this year included funding for the Sioux Falls airport terminal expansion, continuing to support the use of state and local economic development tools such as Tax Increment Financing and the Future Fund, supporting an expansion of the advanced manufacturing program at Southeast Technical College and opposing red tape on businesses, employers and employees. Overall, we were successful with our priorities this year in a Legislature that has many fractures and factions, which can at times make it difficult to build consensus. While our team is on the ground every day in Pierre, input and outreach from our Chamber members to legislators is paramount in raising awareness about issues important to the Sioux Falls and South Dakota business community.

There will be a more in-depth breakdown of the Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce’s legislative priorities from the past legislative session, along with our legislative scorecard, in the next issue of Chamber News.