25.338.10 100th Legislative Session HC8001
2025 South Dakota Legislature
House Commemoration 8001
Introduced by: Representatives Weisgram, Emery, Moore, Venhuizen, and Walburg and Senators Crabtree and
Perry
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A LEGISLATIVE COMMEMORATION, Honoring Donna Leslie of the South Dakota 1
Retailers Association for outstanding service to the business community. 2
WHEREAS, Donna Leslie has been a leading staff member of the South Dakota Retailers 3
Association since being hired as communications director on September 12, 1988; and 4
WHEREAS, Donna has worked for four executive directors, three dozen board presidents, 5
and more than one hundred fifty board members during nearly thirty-seven years of service; 6
and 7
WHEREAS, Donna has written virtually every article in nearly three hundred issues of the 8
Retail Prophet magazine, which provides important, timely information to thousands of South 9
Dakota businesses; and 10
WHEREAS, Donna has “kept an eye” on thirty -seven legislative sessions for the South 11
Dakota Retailers Association and produced more than one hundred sixty issues of the 12
Legislative Bulletin, while compiling each edition of the popular Legislative Lineup guide to 13
the legislative session; and 14
WHEREAS, Donna has been the historian and information hub of the South Dakota 15
Retailers Association, helping guide its growth from two thousand members in 1988 to four 16
thousand today; and 17
WHEREAS, Donna has skillfully managed the South Dakota Retailers Association’s 18
scholarship program, which has awarded two hundred eighty scholarships totaling more than 19
two hundred fifty thousand dollars; and 20
WHEREAS, Donna’s incomparable fashion sense has translated into bronze as the guiding 21
force in dressing the statue of Governor Robert S. Vessey outside the Retailers Association 22
office; and 23 25.338.10 2 HC8001
Underscores indicate new language.
Overstrikes indicate deleted language.
WHEREAS, Donna is the longest-serving employee during the one hundred twenty -eight 1
years the South Dakota Retailers Association has served this state; and 2
WHEREAS, the press release announcing her hire stated that, “Hiring Donna Leslie is a 3
positive step that will help us in providing better information to our members and the public 4
as well,” and she has more than lived up to that billing; and 5
WHEREAS, after consuming approximately forty -eight thousand two-hundred eighty-five 6
cups of coffee during her tenure, Donna intends to retire in May 2025; 7
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT COMMEMORATED, by the One Hundredth Legislature of the State 8
of South Dakota, that Donna Leslie has made a positive difference in the lives of many South 9
Dakotans by helping make the South Dakota Retailers Association one of the country’s largest 10
and most effective business organizations. 11