Referendum Fodder: CAFO Zoning, Collective Bargaining, Pipeline Protests

The Legislature has killed a fair number of the dumb ideas that its members have submitted this Session. But plenty of clunkers have already been signed by Governor Kristi Noem or seem likely to make it to the Snow Queen’s desk. Which bad bills look like the best targets for a referendum?

• Senate Bill 157 (on today’s House agenda): The continued crushing of local control and the business-über-alles sanctification of confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) could mobilize a geographically and politically diverse network of activists. Numerous counties in East River have vocal groups of CAFO opponents who could quickly activate networks of petition circulators. Environmental groups could use an SB 157 referendum to engage young and old green voters who want to protect South Dakota’s clean air and water. Farm activists could rally behind a statewide conversation about smaller-scale sustainable farming and the ills of corporate factory food production. Progressive petitioners could find allies among conservatives who dislike (a) Governor Noem, (b) Noem’s continued power grabs at the expense of local governments, and (c) the state’s overemphasis on meat, milk, and manure at the expense of other avenues of economic development that might be choked off if South Dakota smells like one big manure pit.
• SB 147 (passed by House last Tuesday, awaiting Governor’s signature): The Legislature took collective bargaining away from vo-tech employees three years ago and not many people noticed. Whacking our public university professors and workers with that same stick cold mobilize a louder response. The South Dakota Education Association could see that K-12 teachers are next in the Legislature’s anti-labor, anti-education crosshairs, and they may realize that they have to rally the public behind them and the universities now while they can build a town-and-gown coalition rather than waiting until next year or the year after and being the last lonely defenders of collective bargaining for their members. This assault on higher education could also serve as a rallying point for South Dakotans who are outraged by the Legislature’s ignorant and insular old-whiteyism: properly framed, a referendum on SB 147 could serve as a broader platform for discussing the many ways in which the Legislature not only fails to invest in youth, talent, and intelligence but actively drives those assets away with policies that ultimately harm our cultural and economic development.
• House Bill 1117 (passed Senate Thursday, awaiting Governor’s signature) and House Bill 1199 (hoghoused Thursday in Senate Commerce and Energy, requires House vote and conference committee): Governor Noem’s revised pro-pipeline anti-protest plan and Senator Lee Schoenbeck’s crafty rewording of “riot boosting” to “incitement to riot” seek to shoot down any resistance of TransCanada/TC Energy and its exploitative Keystone XL. Coronavirus and Saudi Arabia may save us from the pipeline for another year by driving oil prices down to $36 a barrel, below the breakeven point for the Alberta tar sands oil that TransCanada wants to ship across South Dakota… so why not keep all those pipeline protestors sharp by sending them around the state with a referendum petition in hand to raise awareness and build support for the protests we’re trying to keep the Governor from criminalizing?

CAFOs, collective bargaining, and protest rights are relatively easy issues to boil down into sidewalk petition pitches. The bills above can each mobilize a variety of opponents, volunteers, and donors. Overturning any one of those issues at the polls isn’t guaranteed, but putting those substantive policy measures on the ballot would make for good statewide policy conversations.

So how do you get those conversations going? Here’s a quick rundown of the steps to referring a law signed by the Governor to a public vote:

1. File a statement of organization for a ballot question committee (it just takes one person, one sponsor, filing one document online with the Secretary of State—no fee!).
2. Create a referendum petition, circulator handouts, and circulator affidavits (alas, Senate Bill 180 hasn’t passed yet and won’t take effect until July 1, so circulators this spring must still hand out their name, e-mail, and phone number to all petition signers and file the cumbersome and vague circulator affidavit with their petitions… but you still don’t need badges!).
   1. If you take on the pipeline protest bills, remember you’ll need a separate petition for each bill—you can’t refer two laws with one petition!
3. File the petition and circulator handouts with the Secretary of State for approval.
4. Wait until the Legislature adjourns on Veto Day, March 30, to start collecting signatures.
5. Collect at least 16,961 signatures from registered South Dakota voters in 90 days. (Aim high: collect a cushion of at least 25%—21,200 signatures minimum.)
6. Hand those signatures on notarized petition sheets, along with your notarized circulator affidavits and a notarized sponsor affidavit to the Secretary of State by Monday, June 29 at 5 p.m. Central. (The Secretary of State’s website incorrectly says the deadline is June 27, but that’s a Saturday, and state law says that when a statutory deadline falls on a weekend or holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day.)

If you have questions about the referendum process, let me know. I’ll be happy to help you help South Dakota.