A South Dakota Senate panel is rejecting a proposal that would cap money from out-of-state entities that want to contribute to support ballot questions.
Critics of the measure say it is unconstitutional by restricting free speech and is also vague.
However, the question about out-of-state money to ballot questions is far from over.
House Bill 1216 caps out-of-state contributions at $100,000 for the first four years a group is registered with the Secretary of State’s office. The Senate State Affairs committee is tabling the bill. A similar bill failed last year in the same committee.
But voters will get the chance to weigh in on the issue in November. Speaker of the House Mark Mickelson circulated petitions last year that asks voters to ban all out-of-state money for the first four years a group is registered.
Mickelson says he’s tired of groups funding political measures without any real tie to South Dakota.
“I believe in free speech, I believe in free enterprise, and I believe in free political discourse," Mickelson says. "But I don’t want to be having that discourse with a puppet with the strings being pulled out of New York or Massachusetts. Let’s resolve our political differences here, with people that live in this state.”
Critics of the idea question the bill and ballot question on constitutional grounds.
David Owen is with the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce. He says they understand the frustration Speaker Mickelson has with out-of-state funded ballot questions, but says the first amendment overrides the idea.
“We often invite companies to set up operations in South Dakota, like Babybel, with the small cheese packets. They’ve been here two, maybe three years,” Owen says. “If someone decides to put a ballot measure on the ballot that outlaws cheese in South Dakota, that new company here—if they’ve not been here four years—can’t contribute. We don’t think that’s a good thing.”
Owen says a few ballot measure questions passed in 2016 that frustrated the legislature, but says that’s not an excuse to topple over the whole system.
The Secretary of State validated Speaker Mickelson’s ballot question to ban out-of-state money in January.