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/* Election to state Senate */
In 1999, Dyess authored SB73 to make Louisiana State University at Alexandria a four-year institution. The bill was tabled when the local legislative delegation agreed that first a Senate Concurrent Resolution had to be passed wherein the Board of Regents would study the need to convert LSUA to four-year status. Subsequently, Dyess filed the necessary Senate resolution, and in 2000, Senator Joe McPherson presented the bill that passed to make LSUA a four-year institution, effective in 2001. Dyess, Representatives Randy Wiggins and Charles W. DeWitt, LSU Board Chair Charles Weems, former Representative [[Jock Scott]], and Alexandria Mayor Edward Gordon "Ned" Randolph (1942-2016) all testified at the Education Committee hearing on behalf of LSUA.
While in the Senate, Dyess' relationship with [[Governor]] [[Mike Foster|Murphy J. "Mike" Foster, Jr.]], was strained when Dyess claimed on the Senate floor that Foster was not opposed to gambling.<ref>''New Orleans Times-Picayune,'' ''The Baton Rouge Advocaate,''''The Alexandria Town Talak'', [[''The Advocate (Baton Rouge)|Baton Rouge Morning Advocate]],'', ''The Alexandria Town Talk,'' 1999 editions.</ref> Foster replied with such anger toward Dyess that the Senate, on a motion by Republican Tommy Casanova of Acadia Parish, passed a resolution praising Dyess for his integrity. This was the first such resolution issued in this manner to a fellow senator.
During his senatorial service, Dyess labored for the cause of homelessness through membership in the Louisiana Integral Action Council for the Homeless.<ref name=skains/>
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