Legislature Down to Three Amendments for Public Vote; Maybe Nine Ballot Questions Total?

Last updated on 2018-03-06

Revise my count downward! Of fourteen constitutional amendments floated by the 2018 Legislature, only three remain alive:

Bill	Title	Cmte1	Floor1	Cmte2	Floor2
HJR 1001	Raise legislator salaries and peg to one fifth of median income	9–3	38–26	tabled 6–0
HJR 1002	Give Legislature authority to set method of filling Legislative vacancies	4–7
HJR 1004	Revise crime victims amendment	11–0	65–0	6–0
HJR 1005	Make hunting, fishing, and trapping a constitutional right	1–11
HJR 1006	Impose single-subject rule on initiated amendments	11–2	56–11	Senate State Affairs pending
HJR 1007	Take away voters’ right to initiate constitutional amendments	tabled 13–0
HJR 1008	Give Legislature veto power over voter-approved initiated measures	6–7
HJR 1009	Create independent redistricting commission	2–11
HJR 1010	Change legislator terms and term limits from four two-year terms to two four-year terms	5–7
SJR 1	Raise vote threshold for passage of constitutional amendment at general election from 50%+1 to 55%	6–2	26–9	10–2	55–9
SJR 2	Expand “militia” eligibility to all adults	7–2	29–3	2–10
SJR 4	Create unclaimed property trust fund	1–8
SJR 5	Cap annual increase in state general fund appropriations	2–6
SJR 9	Allow gambling in Yankton	4–3 no recomm.	12–23

SJR 1, Senator Jim Bolin’s unnecessary plan to raise the popular vote required to amend the constitution from simple majority to 55%, got final approval from the House yesterday, 55–9. A joint resolution to put an amendment on the November ballot requires no signature from the Governor; thus, unless Secretary of State Shantel Krebs sneaks in another petition validation today or tomorrow, SJR 1 should appear on the November ballot as Amendment X.

HJR 1004, Speaker Mickelson’s cowardly surrender to the out-of-state big money backing Marsy’s Law, awaits only its Senate vote (possibly today). Speaker Mickelson is still bucking for special treatment for his bill by placing it on the June primary ballot, separate from the other measures on the November ballot, but Senator Lance Russell and Senate State Affairs rebuffed Mickelson:

Mickelson, the House speaker, promised senators Monday also he’d find legislation for procedural changes that a June vote on a constitutional amendment would also require.

Sen. Lance Russell, R-Hot Springs, the only lawyer on the committee, expressed “real trepidation” about voting on a constitutional amendment in June. “I just think it’s a bad precedent for us,” he said.

Democrats at this point don’t have a statewide primary election, and there’s no reason for most or possibly any independents to vote, Russell said [Bob Mercer, “Senate Panel Supports Victim Rights Changes,” Rapid City Journal, 2018.02.27].

Finally, HJR 1006, Speaker Mickelson’s effort to stymie initiated amendments with an unnecessary single-subject rule, is still alive and awaiting hearing before Senate State Affairs. Mickelson’s original amendment included an exception to the new 2017 that initiated laws and amendments take effect on July 1 following the election. That exception would have enacted HJR 1006 the day after the 2018 general election canvass in November, which might have allowed Mickelson and his knothead lwayer friends to challenge Amendment W as a multi-subject amendment if it survived voter scrutiny. House State Affairs struck that provision, avoiding an interesting potential constitutional complication.

We thus have four measures headed to the ballot for sure:

1. Amendment W: Initiated Measure 22 2.0!
2. Amendment X: Bolin’s 55% rule for amendment passage.
3. Initiated Measure 24: Mickelson’s unconstitutional out-of-state ballot-question money ban.
4. Initiated Measure 25: Mickelson’s tobacco tax for vo-tech tuition subsidy.

I maintain my speculation that three more citizen initiatives make the ballot: open primaries, prescription drug price caps, and voting at home. Joined by the two pending amendments above, I’m guessing we see nine ballot measures: Amendments W, X, Y, Z and A, and Initiated Measures 24, 25, 26, and 27.