• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- New state laws taking effect Sunday will require South Dakota residents to pay slightly more on their phone bills to support the 911 emergency network, allow players to place higher bets in Deadwood casinos and change the way the state assesses school performance.
• Most laws passed by this year's South Dakota Legislature take effect July 1, the start of state government's fiscal year.
• Jim Fry, director of the Legislative Research Council, said lawmakers introduced 471 bills this year and 256 were passed by both the House and Senate. Gov. Dennis Daugaard vetoed three, so 253 were signed into law.
• One of the most controversial measures passed by the Legislature, the governor's plan to give bonuses to top teachers, is likely to be suspended and referred to a statewide public vote. Secretary of State Jason Gant said his office expects to complete checking petition signatures submitted by opponents of the law on Monday or Tuesday. If enough valid signatures were submitted to put the measure on the November ballot, the law will be suspended pending the outcome of the public vote.
• That law would give bonuses to top teachers, establish college scholarships to recruit new teachers into critical subjects, give bonuses to math and science teachers, and phase out tenure for teachers who are not already tenured by 2016.

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