House Resolution introduced urging Executive branch …not to lead?

For some reason, Representative Milstead has a problem with the executive branch seeking passage of legislation, and wants those in the executive branch to only do the bidding of the State Legislature. According to her bill, House Concurrent Resolution 6005:

2022 South Dakota Legislature
House Concurrent Resolution 6005

Introduced by: Representative Milstead

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION, Urging the executive branch to refrain from seeking or promoting specific legislative outcomes.

WHEREAS, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the right of the people to petition their government; and

WHEREAS, the right to petition the government often involves transmitting information and articulating how a legislative decision will likely affect a particular issue, cause, circumstance, or group of people; and

WHEREAS, given the realities of work commitments and travel constraints, the right of the people to petition their government is often exercised, on their behalf, by lobbyists; and

WHEREAS, lobbying has, since its earliest days, been a mechanism by which the people could, directly or indirectly, participate in the legislative decision-making process; and

WHEREAS, the right of the people to petition their government does not, through a metamorphical process, extend to or become a right or obligation of the executive branch; and

WHEREAS, Article II of the Constitution of South Dakota promotes a system of checks and balances through the creation of three distinct branches of government, each having specifically prescribed duties; and

WHEREAS, while the Constitution of South Dakota assigns to the Legislature the power to legislate, it assigns to the executive branch only the duty to faithfully execute the law;

WHEREAS, it is a direct conflict of interest for the executive branch to introduce legislation that, once enacted, is subject to the executive branch’s independent exercise of enforcement authority;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the House of Representatives of the Ninety-Seventh Legislature of the State of South Dakota, the Senate concurring therein, that the executive branch is urged to serve as a transparent resource in the provision of accurate and objective information to the Legislature, but to refrain from utilizing public resources, directly or indirectly, to introduce legislation or lobby members of the Legislature, in an attempt to seek, or promote, a specific legislative outcome.

Let me wrap my arms around this.. in our strong governor/part-time legislature system, Rep. Milstead wants it declared that the Legislature exclusively has “the power to legislate,” and the executive branch has “only the duty to faithfully execute the law.”

So, Governor Mickelson should not have created a revolving fund for business development, Governor Janklow should not have advocated for wiring the schools, Governor Rounds should never have suggested we turn Homestake Mine into a world class science center, and forget Governor Daugaard saying we needed to fix roads.  And absolutely nevermind Kristi Noem leading South Dakota through the COVID crisis.

If you didn’t catch it. The previous paragraph was sarcasm. Because the resolution is utterly preposterous.

It’s a bit ironic that this resolution comes from the House of Representatives, they can hardly agree on anything within their own chamber much less work across the rotunds with a currently more stable and unified State Senate to accomplish major policy items.  South Dakota is long used to the Governor leading, and equally used to the legislature coming to Pierre for several weeks in the winter and hopefully not doing too much damage.

The big chair on the second floor advocates for progress and gets to shoulder the solving of big problems. It’s what the people elect them to do. And it’s silly to have a resolution to literally disobey voters who demand that the Governor fix things.

Sorry, but this resolution does little more than come off as covetous of Governor Noem’s ability to exercise the authority of the office.

If House members don’t like it, they always know where they can take petitions out to give it a run themselves.