Attorney General Jackley Releases Draft Explanation For Proposed
Constitutional Amendment Eliminating Single Subject Rule

PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley has released a draft ballot explanation for a proposed constitutional amendment, proposed by Quincy Hanzen of Sioux Falls, that would repeal the single subject rule.

This proposed constitutional amendment would remove the current limitation that a proposed constitutional amendment can include only one subject. The ballot explanation can be found here.

State law requires the Attorney General draft a title and explanation for each initiated measure, initiated constitutional amendment, constitutional amendment proposed by the Legislature, or referred measure that may appear on an election ballot. The Attorney General’s explanation is meant to be an “objective, clear, and simple summary” intended to “educate the voters of the purpose and effect of the proposed” measure, as well as identify the “legal consequences” of each measure.

The Attorney General takes no position on any such proposal.

Once the Attorney General has filed and posted the draft explanation, the public has 10 days to provide written comment. The explanation was filed today (Tuesday, June 6), and the deadline for comments on this explanation is June 16, 2023, at the close of business in Pierre, South Dakota. The final explanation is due to the Secretary of State on June 26, 2023.

The draft amendment would require 35,017 valid petition signatures to qualify for the 2024 general election ballot.

To file written comments on a draft Attorney General’s explanation please use one of the following methods below. Copies of all received comments will be posted on this website.

Comments may be submitted via mail, or through hand delivery, to the Attorney General’s Office at:

Office of the Attorney General
Ballot Comment
1302 E. Hwy. 14, Suite 1
Pierre, SD 57501

Comments that are hand delivered must be received by the close of business in Pierre, South Dakota, by June 16, 2023. Comments that are mailed must be received by the Attorney General’s Office before the deadline expires to be accepted.

Comments may also be emailed to ATGballotcomments@state.sd.us by June 16, 2023. Comments should be clearly expressed in the body of the email. The Attorney General’s Office will not open attachments in an effort to prevent malware or other digital threats. Please include your name and contact information when submitting your comment. The title of the comment must be included in the subject line of the email.

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“Agriculture will continue to be the state’s economic backbone, but most South Dakotans will earn a living in non-farm jobs that require technical skills, Gov. Bill Janklow says.

Janklow says his program to provide topnotch telecommunications to all schools means that service is in nearly every city. Businesses also can hook their computers and phones into those high-speed lines, he says.

”It’s going to get us into the information age, and that is where the future is going to be for the majority of our people,” the governor says.”

– Governor Bill Janklow, Associated Press (via Yankton Press & Dakotan), January 31, 2000

In an article at South Dakota Searchlight yesterday, while Senator John Thune and others continue Bill Janklow’s legacy for a connected South Dakota for the benefit of all, one South Dakota legislator thinks it’s more appropriate to spit on Janklow’s legacy, and tell people who live and work in remote areas of South Dakota that government support of bringing broadband to remote areas is an “overstep” by government.

Thune is the ranking member of the Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Media and Broadband. Despite rising costs, he remains committed to broadband expansion given the benefits.

“Whether it’s distance learning, telemedicine or precision agriculture,” Thune said. “And it’s becoming easier for people to work and live here. Even if they have a job someplace else, if you have high-speed internet services, the sky is the limit as to what you can do.”

and..

Rep. Chris Karr, R-Sioux Falls, questions if providing high-speed internet access is the role of government.

“The federal government has already been spending billions and billions of dollars on this,” Karr said. “Is it the role of government to cut through a mountain to deliver internet? I question that. Because, if you move somewhere remote, there are going to be trade-offs.”

Citing mounting concerns over inflation and the federal budget deficit, Karr argues government’s involvement in broadband expansion is an overstep that should be curtailed.

Read the entire story here.

I don’t know what a person says to to such short-sightedness in calling broadband connection “an overstep.”

Anyone want to be the South Dakota Elections Coordinator?

No, really. Is there anyone who wants to do it? Because the job is open again the day before the next round of elections:

From the last report, the job had been filled around February, so Secretary of State Monae Johnson is back to the drawing board on a person to serve as her point person for election questions.

If you missed this story from South Dakota News Watch last week, there’s an item in it that’s somewhat concerning regarding Minnehaha County Auditor Leah Anderson.

Anderson advocated for petition circulators to be banned from the entrance of the Minnehaha County Courthouse, and pushed into designated petition zones in the parking lot, much like the maligned free speech zones of college campuses. And that they have to check into her office before exercising their free speech..  sorry, exercising their petitioning.

But the really bad part of this is the fact that Anderson appears to have skin in the game.

Anderson not just worked for one of the primary organizers of petition opponents at one time, but she donated money to the petition opponents, according to campaign finance reports:

Verbal skirmishes between the groups, and what some county employees and customers characterize as increasingly aggressive behavior from circulators, led the Minnehaha County Commission to adopt a new policy for petition gathering on May 2. It was based upon the recommendation of county auditor Leah Anderson, who was elected in November and sworn in on March 5.

The new policy would restrict petition circulation to two designated rectangular areas: one about 50 feet from the main entrance to the administration building, in the parking lot off Minnesota Avenue, and the other southeast of the main entrance to the courthouse.

The policy mandated that circulators check in at Anderson’s office prior to conducting political activity “to permit the placement of safety markers and to verify space availability within the designated areas.”

and..

Anderson, who proposed the rule changes, is a former secretary and treasurer for the Alpha Center, the Sioux Falls pregnancy resource center founded by Leslee Unruh, a leader of the state’s anti-abortion movement who also co-chairs the Life Defense Fund. Anderson’s campaign PAC, Leah for Minnehaha Auditor, donated $200 to the Life Defense Fund, according to campaign finance reports.

In court, though, Anderson testified that her motivation to change the policy was based on conversations with county staffers who observed an increase in aggressive behavior from petition circulators that made entering and exiting the administration building burdensome, including petitioners who stationed themselves inside the main entrance.

Read the entire story here at SD News Watch.

If Republicans oppose free speech zones on University campuses, they probably need to examine whether they should take the same position for free speech zones at the Minnehaha County Courthouse.

According to the South Dakota Register, the State Board of Elections is having a hearing on a number of topics around election tabulation and security, including voter registration file security, testing and sealing of automatic tabulation equipment, and a number of other hot-button items coming up on June 28th.

As detailed in the notice:

State Board of Elections (Office of the Secretary of State): (June 2, 2023) intends to amend rules to change the date for a statewide runoff; prescribe the oath for a county recount board; prescribe the notice for testing automatic tabulating equipment and prescribe the method for testing such equipment; describe how to seal automatic tabulating machines; prescribe ballot box storage and security; clarify how an auditor is to conduct absentee balloting at nursing facilities, assisted living centers, and hospitals; make changes to the voter registration form; add email address and telephone number to the precinct committeeman or committeewoman statement; change the acknowledgement notice for rejected voter registrations from forwardable to non-forwardable; clarify the procedures for voter registration file security; and prescribe the oath for a post-election audit board. The general authority for these rules, as cited by the board, is SDCL 12-1-9, 12-4-35, 12-4-37, 12-4-56, 12-17B-5.2, 12-17B-17, 12-17B-18, 12-19-9.1, 12-19-9.3, and 12-21-2.

A public hearing will be held in the Secretary of State Business Office, 215 East Prospect Avenue, Pierre, South Dakota, on June 28, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. (CT). Copies of the proposed rules may be obtained without charge from the State Board of Elections, 500 East Capitol Avenue, Pierre, South Dakota 57501, or at https://sdsos.gov or https://rules.sd.gov. Written comments may be sent to State Board of Elections, 500 East Capitol Avenue, Pierre, South Dakota 57501 or emailed to elections@state.sd.us. Material sent by mail or email must reach the board seventy-two hours before the date of the hearing. This hearing is being held in a physically accessible location. Persons with special needs for which the board can make arrangements may call (605) 773-3537 at least 48 hours before the public hearing.

Read the notice as found here.

A promotional image found out on the internet for Save South Dakota event, with former Minnesota and now Elkton South Dakota election conspiracist Rick Weible, is promoting Weible as “Rick Weible, South Dakota Hero.” The flyer advertises Weible at a meeting in Aberdeen this coming Saturday, declaring that Transparency is the incoluation (sic) to all conspiracies.  I’d note that both Save South Dakota and Midwest Swamp Watch are entities that Weible created.. so really, his groups seem to be declaring him as a hero without citing a factual basis for their declaration.

I know Rick has been involved in his election conspiracy groups, and was involved in the Monae Johnson for Secretary of State race before Monae Johnson sprinted away from Weible and his spouse after the election (as Weible relates here at about 6:20).  But I can’t find any records of heroism on Rick’s part from a cursory check of Google. I wouldn’t want to cast doubt in an unfair manner, so I think we’d all agree that there are minor acts of heroism that don’t make the news media. If we want to be generous we can give Rick the benefit of the doubt and venture a guess that yes, maybe he might acted in an unsung heroic manner.. and maybe he saved a cat from a tree or something to that effect?

If you look at the rest of the poster, it IS kind of a mess, and needs a lot of work. The colon should come after Elections, and not on the next line. And I don’t think they should have capitalized Root or Save in the promo sentence for the event. But I’m guessing that the proofreader for the the poster is the same one who is establishing the qualifications of what constitutes heroism for the group’s purposes.

And in both cases, they should do a lot of reworking on it.

This might come as a shocker, but if you go visit one of the medical marijuana pop-up clinics, you too might find out that you have a debilitating condition you never knew you had.

And in a story that appeared a few days ago at Dakota Scout, that’s just what State Representative Fred Deutsch did. He went to one of the pop-up clinics being held across the state for this purpose.  And shocker – he was declared debilitated and issued a card.

At the appointment, held in a breakout room at the Watertown Holiday Inn, Deutsch met with a medical practitioner who determined he met a qualifying condition, he said.

Deutsch said was truthful throughout the consultation, telling the practitioner he’d been in a car accident last year and had some pain as a result.

“If you qualify for pain, it’s supposed to be debilitating. But she didn’t ask me if it was debilitating,” he said. “I went in to see if they’re following the law and they really aren’t.

Read the entire story here.

I’m kind of thinking the legislature might add a little more scrutiny to the “Holiday Inn-Doctors” declaring people as having medical marijuana qualifying conditions this next session.

South Dakota is home. It’s where I grew up, went to college, met my wife, and where I chose to raise my kids. June 5 holds a special place in the hearts of South Dakotans.

In honor of 605 Day, I asked South Dakotans what they like most about our state, and I think you’ll agree with a lot of their answers:

• Needles Highway
• Wide open spaces
• Garage sale season
• The best sunsets over the prairie—it seems endless.
• Every time I cross the border or fly back into FSD, it just feels like home, like you can breathe easier.
• Small town living and helping out at the family farm.
• The stars at night are amazing because the sky lasts forever.

There’s so many great things to do and see in South Dakota, but one answer that was the most common was the quality of the people. I got answers like the below:

• The people there are the nicest you will meet. If your car gets stuck in the snow, they will come out of their house to help you shovel it out and bring you hot coco to warm up.
• Anyone will talk to you, so you have a “friend” no matter where you go.

The people of South Dakota are what makes it so great. We take “Midwest nice” to another level. Being able to do our favorite things with our favorite people makes the memories more special. And whenever we have visitors to one of our unique state and national parks, I know they’ll be greeted with a smile and treated with kindness.

I hope you celebrate 605 Day with some chislic and fellow South Dakotans.

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The need to address the federal budget has only grown more urgent as the Biden administration has racked up trillions of dollars in more debt in the last two years alone. Recognizing that this level of spending is irresponsible and unsustainable, the American people elected a Republican majority in the House of Representatives last year as a check on the president’s policies and Democrats’ reckless spending. Although the president tried to avoid negotiating budget cuts for over three months, Republicans were intent on restoring fiscal sanity to Washington. Divided government requires compromise, and the spending reform deal that Speaker McCarthy negotiated shows what can be achieved when both sides work together.

The bill they agreed to, the Fiscal Responsibility Act, delivers on Republicans’ promise to rein in excess federal spending. It reduces the deficit by $1.5 trillion through spending cuts and by restoring budget caps – all without raising taxes. The Fiscal Responsibility Act also claws back more previously allocated federal funds than any other bill in American history, rescinding tens of billions of dollars in unused COVID funding. And it begins to chip away at the unnecessary influx of money that would have gone to hiring new IRS agents.

Equally as important as limits on spending are the common-sense policies in the bill that limit the size of government. The Fiscal Responsibility Act strengthens work requirements in federal assistance programs to ensure those who are able can move from welfare to work. It makes a down payment on permitting reform that will help get energy projects off the ground more quickly, encourage domestic energy production, and lower costs for American families. And it creates zero new federal programs.

This is not a perfect bill, but these cuts and reforms are important steps in changing the trajectory of the federal budget. At $31 trillion, our national debt is larger than the entire economy, and it continues to grow at an unsustainable rate. Just paying the interest on the debt is taking up an enormous share of the budget. In a few years, unless additional responsible fiscal policies are enacted, interest payments will exceed what we spend on national defense. Think about that – we’re on pace to spend more money on interest payments than what we spend to maintain our top-tier armed forces and other defense capabilities. And it’s out-of-control spending that is driving these concerning trends and jeopardizing our future prosperity.

The policies in this bill won’t magically correct years of wasteful spending, but they are meaningful reforms and spending cuts that mark an important step toward helping to get our fiscal house in order. Our spending problem didn’t emerge overnight, and it won’t be solved with a single bill, but I am committed to restoring fiscal responsibility in Washington, and I hope President Biden and congressional Democrats are as well.

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I first ran for public office for a handful of reasons, but the reason at the heart of everything has always been my kids – and now my grandkids. I ran to ensure that they would be able to live in the same South Dakota that I was born and raised in. I ran so that that they would understand why America is the greatest nation in the history of the world. I ran so that they would learn the small-town values that built the generations before them.

Today, South Dakotans can be confident that their kids will inherit the greatest state we can give them.

As Governor, I have prioritized building a stronger South Dakota that we will be proud to pass on to the next generation.

South Dakota has the strongest economy in the nation. Our people see it in the money that’s staying in their pockets. And the rest of the nation is seeing it too. Freedom-loving people from all over America are picking up their lives and moving to South Dakota.

Just recently, Moody’s Investors Service reaffirmed South Dakota’s AAA stable credit rating. The report reads that “South Dakota continues to stand out among US states in terms of its very healthy finances and its low debt, pension, and fixed cost liabilities. These will remain long-term credit strengths that bolster the state’s capacity to attend unforeseen challenges.”

South Dakota’s record-breaking economy is here to stay. We have continued to grow through challenges like a global pandemic and harsh winters – and our economy is equipped to face any challenges that come our way.

Unemployment in South Dakota is the lowest in the history of our state. More than that, it’s the lowest in American history. And we still have open jobs!

This kind of economic success doesn’t just happen overnight. I went into my first term as Governor with a goal to let South Dakotans make decisions for themselves. It is not the role of the government to tell people how to live their lives. And it’s thanks to South Dakota’s fiscal responsibility that our economy has been so successful these last few years.

The people of South Dakota made this possible, and we will continue to give back to them. We will keep supporting our state’s top industries like agriculture and tourism. We will keep passing policies that allow South Dakotans to keep even more of their money in their pockets. And we will keep empowering our citizens to make the best decisions for themselves and for their families.

I am proud of how far South Dakota has come. I am also proud of our work ethic. We are a kind of people that never settle, we never say “good enough.” Even though we have the best economy in America, we are still working to make it better.

I have never been more confident that we will give the next generation a South Dakota that is thriving and growing. Our kids and grandkids will inherit a state that embodies the American Dream – a state that will be a shining beacon of Freedom for years to come.

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