The Government Accountability Task Force, empaneled by the 2017 Legislature to look into campaign finance rules, will hold its third and final meeting on Monday, October 16 in Pierre. Convening at 10:30 a.m. Central in Room 413 of the Capitol, this interim task force will review draft legislation in the morning, take public testimony after lunch, then recommend which legislation to kick up the ladder for consideration during the 2018 Session.
The task force has not posted any draft legislation yet, but I’m sure Government Accountability Task Force chairman Senator Jordan Youngberg (R-8/Madison), who is keenly interested in public input on this important topic, will get on the horn to LRC and tell them to hurry up and post whatever draft legislation is pending on the task force’s Monday meeting webpage. I’m also sure Chairman Youngberg will post copies of that draft legislation along with the meeting announcement on his official Senate Facebook page, since he wants to do everything he can to promote his task force’s hearings.
If Chairman Youngberg is keeping an eye on keeping his party leadership happy, he should consider drafting a bill to outlaw out-of-state contributions to candidates for state and local office. Such a measure would certainly boost House Speaker G. Mark Mickelson’s (R-13/Sioux Falls) initiative to outlaw out-of-state contributions to ballot question committees, since it would show that Republicans hold consistently to the principle that out-of-state money has a negative influence on South Dakota politics. Senator Youngberg could take the argument even further: if non-South Dakota money can harm South Dakota by inducing voters to pass one bad law, non-South Dakota money can do far more harm to South Dakota by inducing voters to elect one Governor who can push all sorts of bad laws for four years.
If you think that’s a good idea, head to Pierre Monday and say so to Senator Youngberg and his task force!