VDA Testimony to SD House State Affairs Committee Hearing on March 3 in Support of SB 92

On March 3, I testified before the SD House State Affairs Committee in Pierre and delivered the following statement in support of Senate Bill 92:

“Good morning Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. My name is Zebadiah Johnson, I’m from Sioux Falls, SD. I’m here representing the Voter Defense Association, and we are testifying in support of SB 92.

We consider this a technical fix, hoping to bring more consistency to our initiative process. Since 2018, when the single subject rule was created for initiated amendments and initiated state statutes, the legislature has gradually worked at implementing the statutory framework for that single-subject rule to ensure compliance. At the moment, this includes a pre-circulation single-subject review for initiated amendments to the Constitution but does not include single-subject review for initiated measures.

This bill would allow initiative supporters or opponents, so it’s any interested party, to challenge the Secretary of State’s determination to certify or not to certify based on the single subject rule, and that will then accelerate the litigation, going on expedited review to the South Dakota Supreme Court. So as the prime sponsor said, this will help avoid situations where an initiative is overturned because of single subject violations, you know, after tens of thousands of signatures have been collected, or even after voters have had their say.

Overall, we support this bill and we ask that you do too. Thank you.”

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