In other ballot question budgetary news, Marsy’s Law is costing us another $65,000. In its budget overview yesterday, the Bureau of Finance and Management told Joint Appropriations that the Attorney General needs $65,000 more this fiscal year to rewrite the Statewide Automated Victim Information Notification software. This update is needed to comply with Article 6 Section 29 of the South Dakota Constitution, the costly vanity amendment written by California billionaire Henry T. Nicholas to enshrine his poor dead sister’s name in our state constitution (and every other state’s, if he has his way).
Even our recognition that Marsy’s Law was poorly written and our groundbreaking effort to scale back Nicholas’s ego trip hasn’t spared us continued cost increases. Montana and Kentucky apparently fully saw the light and overturned this bad law. Our legislators could have given us voters the chance to do the same; instead, they chose to got in bed with Nicholas’s money.
Henry T. Nicholas spent millions of his personal fortune to enact this law, but he hasn’t lifted a finger to help us pay for it. Thanks for nothing, Henry!