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• The majority of new laws will have little or no noticeable effect on most people.
• However, nearly all South Dakota residents will be affected by a new law that increases the 911 surcharge on monthly bills for cellphones and landlines from the current 75 cents a month to $1.25. A 2 percent surcharge will be added to all prepaid cellphone service.
• Ted Rufledt Jr., chair of the State 911 Coordination Board, said the surcharge has not been changed since it was imposed in 1989. The additional revenue will be used to support the 911 centers and to update the system, he said.
• "That's 23 years without a funding increase in an industry that has changed almost beyond recognition in that time," Rufledt said.
• He said the most of the existing system is based on technology from the 1970s, which means people with modern smart phones cannot send text messages or pho

tos or videos of crime scenes or suspects to 911 dispatch centers.
• Another new law raises the current $100 bet limit in Deadwood casinos to $1,000. Supporters said the higher bet limit could help casinos recover from a drop in revenue attributed in part to a ban on smoking in casinos imposed nearly two years ago.
• The state Education Department will begin using a new accountability method that replaces the requirements set in the federal school improvement law known as No Child Left Behind. The new law would measure public school achievement using indicators that include student growth and their readiness to attend college or enter the workforce.
• Sunday also marks the day the new $4 billion state budget takes effect. The spending plan begins to replace money cut last year for school districts and medical services for poor people. It also gives state employees a 3 percent across-the-board pay raise, their first salary increase in three years.
• Also taking effect are a number of financial incentives the governor proposed to recruit doctors and other health professionals to rural areas and to train people to fill shortages in technical jobs.
• Another law repeals a tax rebate program for low-income households and reallocates the money to a different system to help people buy food. Roughly $838,000 left in the tax refund program would be used to give grants to organizations that distribute food to the needy.
• At the suggestion of Attorney General Marty Jackley, lawmakers also passed a law aimed at preventing death-row inmates from filing repeated appeals in an effort to delay their executions. After people convicted of serious crimes have completed

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