South Dakota
South Dakota lawmakers are leery of a ballot measure that would boost the state sales tax by 1 percentage point to give extra money to school districts and the health care program for low-income people, according to a survey by The Associated Press.
The billboard company Lamar is suing Rapid City over a citizen’s initiative that it says “effectively creates a ban on all types of new outdoor off-premises advertising.” According to a complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court, Lamar received 94 sign credits for removing some billboards and replacing others with smaller signs. The credits were supposed to allow Lamar to erect new signs or convert existing signs to digital billboards. But in a June 7 election, voters approved measures prohibiting digital billboards, increasing the required space between two signs, capping a company’s sign credits at 20 and limiting the life of unused sign credits to 20 years.
Two billboard initiatives plus races for mayor and city council are on the ballot in Tuesday’s election in Rapid City. The initiated measures would, among other things, double the distance required between new billboards and ban new digital billboards. Incumbent Alan Hanks is among four candidates running for mayor. There also are four contested seats for Rapid City Council.
Voters in Rapid City will decide June 7 whether to ban new digital billboards and restrict the proliferation of other billboards within city limits, but opponents are promising a legal battle. The Rapid City Council on Monday voted unanimously to accept two resident-driven initiated measures and set them for a citywide vote to coincide with the municipal election in June.
Voters looking to put a tax increase on a statewide ballot as a response to Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s proposed budget cuts might not have to wait until 2012. A bill endorsed Wednesday by the Senate State Affairs Committee would change the state’s election law temporarily by opening the door to initiated measures this November, one year before the next general election.
Rosebud Sioux Tribe members are currently circulating a recall petition against tribal President Rodney Bordeaux, citing mismanagement of tribal affairs. While Bordeaux defends himself, the Rapid City Journal reports that tribal officials are hampering signature collection efforts:
Last week Citizens in Charge Foundation - a partner organization to Citizens in Charge - sent a letter to Secretaries of State and Attorneys General in 12 states asking them to stop enforcing unconstitutional restrictions on ballot initiative rights. In light of recent legal action in which Kansas officials agreed with petition advocates that the state’s law against petition circulators from other states was unconstitutional, Foundation President Paul Jacob asked officials to “do the right thing” and stop enforcing similar
One of the greatest strengths of the initiative process is that it allows citizens to deal with issues or present positions that politician are unlikely to every tackle. Among those issues is drug policy reform, and the legalization/decriminalization of marijuana in particular.
A labor agency goes to court today in Pierre as it sues state officials over a ballot issue in the November election. The South Dakota State Federation of Labor objects to how Attorney General Marty Jackley explains a constitutional amendment concerning how employees in a workplace may join a union. A hearing begins at 1:30 p.m. today before Circuit Judge John Brown in the Hughes County Courthouse.
State senators changed legislation Thursday so that registered voters who have been inactive would still have the right to sign petitions to put a constitutional amendment, initiative or referendum on the South Dakota election ballot. The legislation, Senate Bill 13, contains a variety of changes in South Dakota election laws. It now heads to the House of Representatives for a committee hearing and possible action by the full House.
In 2006, South Dakota had an initiative on the ballot to ban virtually all abortions. An anonymous donor had contributed $750,000 to get the initiative on the ballot and to carry on the campaign for it. The measure lost, 46% to 54%. Also in 2006, the South Dakota Secretary of State had sued the campaign committee set up to promote the initiative to learn the identity of the committee’s donor.
South Dakota’s voter turnout for next November’s election could be a lot different than past years. A local political science professor says a smoking ban on that ballot would likely lure more people to the polls. He says that could have an impact on other initiatives and political races.
A new group is forming in opposition to the idea of bringing embryonic stem cell research back to a South Dakota ballot. The Coalition for Cures Not Cloning is the new group. They say they’ll be making an official announcement Thursday. The group will be planning efforts to fight a 2010 initiative that would reverse the current ban on cloning and embryonic stem cell research.
In a drive to get an initiative before voters in 2010 that would allow embryonic stem cell research in South Dakota, David Volk is convinced he has tapped into a wellspring of enthusiasm. “For 40 years I’ve been in South Dakota politics in one form or another. I’ve never been involved in a campaign for a candidate or an issue campaign where I’ve had this response,” says the former state treasurer, who suffered from cancer, an area of inquiry for stem cell research.
Several states –including Alaska, Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oregon and Wyoming – ban or restrict paying people who collect signatures on a ballot initiative, referendum or recall petition based on the number of signatures they collect. Payment-per-signature allows citizens greater certainty in judging the cost of a petition effort. Moreover, in states that have passed such bans, the cost of successfully completing a petition drive has risen considerably, sometimes more than doubling.