As session marches on, the shape of South Dakota’s 2026 year in politics becomes clearer by the day. Legislative leaders say there is still a long road ahead.

The budget, property taxes, and affordability are all major talking points across the state, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

Senate assistant majority leader Carl Perry said in a legislative press conference Thursday lawmakers have a lot on their plates two weeks in.

“We’re up to 1,022 drafts, and that’s more than normal," Perry said. "For bills in the House – the House is leading the Senate by a mere three votes. They have 111 bills, and we have 108 bills for a total of 219. So, we’re very busy.”

It makes for a docket filled with varying priorities and competing interests according to Senate majority leader Jim Mehlhaff.

“Obviously, our property tax, economic development, election integrity is also a big one – I think we’ll be seeing a lot of those in state affairs," Mehlhaff said. "Government transparency – we’ve already took up some of those the attorney general brought for open meeting laws and to prohibit foreign nationals from participating or contributing to candidates.”

Meanwhile, Democratic leadership counterparts like Senate minority leader Liz Larson come with their own list of goals for 2026.

“Under this umbrella we’ll be pushing from both in the front and behind the scenes addressing food security, out of school care, school lunches for children, we’ll be advocating to keep public dollars in public education and preserving Medicaid," Larson said. "We’ll be fighting against the zero percent raise across the ‘Big Three’, of course. We’ll be watching SNAP and (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) closely. Given the social services cuts to SNAP and unnecessary cuts to TANF without legislative approval, we will be prioritizing people.”

All the while, the governor’s budget left over $14 million unallocated dollars for lawmakers to consider throughout the session.