State legislators want to hold delegates accountable if there’s ever a constitutional convention. Members of the House State Affairs committee heard testimony on House Bill 1215 Wednesday morning. The bill limits delegates’ authority and ability to vote for amendments that don’t follow the legislature’s instructions. If delegates do vote for an amendment that has nothing to do with the convention, they can face recall and punishment. Representative Manny Steele is the prime sponsor of the bill. He says it doesn’t encourage South Dakotans to call on Congress to hold a convention, but rather to make sure delegates are meeting the state’s needs.
“Regardless of whether we favor or oppose calling an Article V convention, I think all of us want to be absolutely sure that there is never a runaway convention. Seventeen states have already called for an Article V convention for a balanced budget amendment. Who among can be sure that at some point in the future there won’t be such a convention, whether we favor it or not,” Steele says.
Opponents of the proposed legislation say it goes against the United States Constitution because states don’t have the authority to propose amendments to it. Committee members passed the bill to the full House 8-5.