South Dakota lawmakers want limits on campaign donations… to stay at the level they were before Initiated Measure 22.
Voter-approved IM 22 reduced the amount of cash people can put into South Dakota elections. Earlier this session, lawmakers repealed it. Now the South Dakota House of Representatives has amended a bill to revert to the old campaign finance caps.
State Representative Mary Duvall lives in Pierre.
“So it kind of pushes the reset button," Duvall says. "It takes out the reference to the fact that PACs could make unlimited contributions and it just restores the language to what it was before IM 22 passed.”
Supporters want to give a new legislative task force a clean slate, so members can determine proper political donation limits.
Senate Bill 54 first sought to clean up campaign finance language. Lawmakers amended more than 10 times. Critics say the bill doesn’t maintain enough integrity for them to support it.
The House passed the bill 55 to 12. The State Senate has to okay the amendments or it goes to a conference committee.