South Dakota Attorney General Jackley Announces Legislative Package
PIERRE.S.D. — South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley has introduced five bills in the 2023 legislative session and all five are scheduled for their first committee hearing this week.
“Our legislative package aims to enhance public safety, strengthen the integrity of our elections, and protect the privacy of South Dakotans,” said Attorney General Jackley.
The five bills, all Senate bills, are:
*** Senate Bill 46: An act to establish the crime of petition circulation perjury and provide a penalty therefor. “Circulating a petition to amend our Constitution, create a law, or place a candidate on the ballot for a public vote is one of our most fundamental rights in our democracy,“ Jackley said. “This legislation will penalize those who violate that trust and then lie about it.”
*** Senate Bill 47: An act to revise exceptions to the imposition of a Class 2 misdemeanor for election law violations when no other penalty is provided by statute. “Under current law there are numerous election law violations with no penalties attached and therefore no enforcement. This amendment will treat election law violations as Class 2 misdemeanors like other violation of law which have no specific penalty attached,” said Jackley.
*** Senate Bill 48: An act to enhance the penalty for attempted first degree murder of a law enforcement officer. “We need to protect our law enforcement officers who place themselves in harm’s way to protect us,” said Jackley. “We believe those who are willing to harm law enforcement officers in the performance of their duties present even a greater risk and should face an even stricter penalty.”
*** Senate Bill 49: An act to prohibit the improper storage and disposal of records containing personal or protected information and provide a penalty therefor. This bill extends existing protections for digital documents to include similar protections for paper documents. “Protection of personal and confidential information continues to be a threat to our consumers,” Jackley said. “This consumer protection bill provides further guidance on how to protect confidential and private information and strengthens the penalty for those who do not protect confidential information or try to profit from the sale of that information.”
*** Senate Bill 50: An act to revise the crime of witness tampering. “The foundation of our judicial system is to allow witnesses to present facts and information to Judges and Juries to help them make fair determinations. Unfortunately, all too often there are attempts to tamper with witnesses and evidence, and this amendment provides prosecutors with clearer authority to address when someone corruptly influences witnesses,” Jackley said.
All five bills are scheduled to be heard by the Senate Judiciary Committee starting at 7:45 a.m. Thursday in Room 413 of the state Capitol. The meeting agenda and proposed bills can be found at https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/243078.pdf
“We appreciate the chance to present our bills to the Senate Judiciary Committee,” said the Attorney General. “We look forward to the opportunity to discuss why we believe this legislation is good for South Dakota.”
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All election violations should have a felony attached, not a misdemeanor! Do you actually think the scum willing to interfere, dictate, and manipulate the results of our elections care about misdemeanors? News flash: they don’t! Secondly, any and every law is utterly useless if they are NOT ENFORCED.
Why are we wasting time with misdemeanors? Attach serious felonies and crippling fines to our most important, yet most vulnerable, rights being infringed when someone chooses to break the laws protecting those rights. The sooner our elected government officials recognize free and fair elections are the foundation for our Constitutional Republic functioning as our founding fathers intended, the better chance we have at saving, and thus keeping, our Republic.
Jackley writes: “Circulating a petition to amend our Constitution, create a law, or place a candidate on the ballot for a public vote is one of our most fundamental rights in our democracy,“ Jackley said. “This legislation will penalize those who violate that trust and then lie about it.”
Be very afraid.
This looks like it is meant to scare the general public into avoiding involvement in circulating petitions for Constitutional amendments and other initiatives. Yet another way to protect the legislature from a citizen veto.
After all – isn’t gathering signatures for an initiative just a direct way to introduce a bill? It’s simply followed by a public vote instead of legislative action.
Do legislators who lie go to jail? Now… there’s a thought.
These proposals are the basis for some important conversations about some big issues.
It all seems like good work to me.
That said, it might have been a good idea to attempt to clarify prosecutorial responsibilities of SD Law Enforcement regarding cannabis. A large and growing community full of talented, capable entrepreneurs and their customers faces uncertainty in SD.