Democratic Legislative Leaders Respond to Republican Use of Extraordinary Methods to Overturn the Will of the Voters
PIERRE, S.D. – At their weekly press conference today, State Senate Democratic Leader Sen. Billie Sutton of Burke and State House Democratic Leader Spence Hawley of Brookings responded to the extraordinary and dubious methods used by Republican legislators to rush HB 1069 (which repeals Initiated Measure 22, the Anti-Corruption Act approved by the voters in November’s election) through the Legislature.
“Democrats believe making state government work better for all South Dakotans begins with listening to the voters when they speak and respecting their will when they approve ballot measures,” said Hawley. “That is why we opposed Republican efforts this week to completely repeal the voter-approved Initiated Measure 22. While Democrats had differing opinions of IM 22 before the election, we are united in the belief that the will of the voters must be respected. We have made clear our intention to work to make any needed clarifications and correct any constitutional issues but we also insist that the will of the voters to increase transparency and reform campaign finance and conflicts-of-interest laws is clear and should be heeded by the Legislature.”
“While we agree IM 22 was not perfect – no bill or ballot measure is – it is worth noting that if Republicans would have passed the ethics and campaign finance reform efforts brought by Democrats for the past several years instead of killing the legislation in committee on party-line votes, South Dakotans might not have felt the need to pass IM 22,” added Hawley.
Sen. Sutton also criticized the irregular tactics used by Republicans to pass HB 1069 at such incredible speed. “I was disappointed by the extraordinary measures used to ram HB 1069 through the legislature (HB 1069) so quickly – limiting public input by scheduling committee hearings and floor votes in a manner inconsistent with regular legislative procedure,” said Sutton.
“This is not the first time that Republicans in Pierre have shown their lack of respect for the will of the voters,” Sutton continued. “They also tried to undermine the increase in the minimum wage passed by the voters in 2014 by passing a youth minimum wage a full $1/hour lower than the wage passed by the voters a few months after the 2014 election – which was then overturned by the voters with 71% of the vote in 2016.”
“Democrats are willing and eager to work across the aisle to improve IM 22 so that it works as the voters intended, but we will fight against these extraordinary efforts to usurp the will of the voters through a rushed and questionable process,” Sutton said.
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