HB 1141: Initiative Special Election Dodges Legislative Responsibility

House Bill 1141 has been hoghoused from a gentle little bill specifying a timeframe for ballot printing and absentee voting into one of the linchpins of the South Dakota Legislative session. The new bill, as amended by Senator Cooper Garnos (R-21/Presho) on Wednesday, makes possible a special election this November for any ballot measure initiated by the people by August 2.

This bil opens the door for the much-talked-about possibility of an initiated measure to raise taxes to mitigate potential budget cuts. Without this bill, any initiative would not be decided by the people until the November 2012 general election, per SDCL 2-1-2.

Governor Daugaard doesn't much like this idea. He continues to play hard chicken with the Legislature on any deviation from his intent to impose 10% budget cuts and raise no taxes. The governor says he will veto any early special election, arguing that an off-year special election would happen too fast, draw too few voters, and thus poorly reflect the true will of the people.

Senator Russell Olson (R-8/Wentworth), who voted against the measure in committee, frets that outside groups might threaten his control over the budget. I'd complain that Russ is once again making up straw men to argue against... except this time, I can see his point. There are indeed well-funded groups who target South Dakota as a cheap market in which to try getting their pet ballot measures turned into precedent-setting law. We've seen it happen with the JAIL amendment, last year's secret-ballot amendment, and the abortion ban. That's a risk we take with the initiative process, and we check it by limiting its frequency. HB 1141 is not specific to a tax-related initiative—it probably can't be. Pass HB 1141, and any group that wants to get its petition-freak on can do so.

But of greater concern to me is the door HB 1141 for the Legislature to dodge its fiscal responsibility. The legislators have heard from numerous voters saying they'd rather pay an extra-penny sales tax or contribute revenue in other ways rather than suffer the job losses and harm to education and nursing homes that Governor Daugaard's budget will do. The legislators have a budget to pass this month. Schools can't wait until November to find out whether they can afford to keep their history and foreign language teachers on staff or whether they can cover health insurance for the coming school year. At peril of sounding like the Rapid City Tea Party, our legislators need to find the courage to do their job and fund our schools and other vital services now.

The only reason legislators seem to have for not wanting to vote on a tax increase is their sheer ideological aversion to having "voted to increase taxes" attached to their record. Dear legislators, we are in different times. Voting to increase taxes this year will not get you voted out of office. If it means saving your local school district, voting to raise taxes now may well win you more votes in 2012.

If there is no other way to raise taxes and save our schools, I don't mind taking the issue to a public vote. But that fix wastes time. Legislators, you can solve the budget problem now. Show some leadership. Skip the special election. Do the people's work now.