South Dakota House members use South Dakota's Constitution to take a stand against back room deals being cut during the legislative session and bypassing public input

From my email:

DISSENT AND PROTEST PASSAGE OF SB 53

 

                Pursuant to Joint Rule 1-10, we, the undersigned Representatives, do hereby respectfully dissent and protest the passage of SB 53. The bill was amended in its entirety on the House floor to include four objects of one time appropriations, that were not subjected to public committee hearings, and which clearly violate the explicit requirements of South Dakota Constitution Article XII, Section 2 which states: ".. All other appropriations shall be made by separate bills, each embracing but one object, and shall require a two-thirds vote of all the members of each branch of the Legislature "  After being defeated, the bill was discussed in closed meeting by a quorum of House members in which the public and minority party legislators were specifically excluded, and the bill was subsequently reconsidered and passed.  We believe that this is in contravention of South Dakota Constitution Article III, Section 15 which states “The sessions of each house and of the committee of the whole shall be open, unless when the business is such as ought to be kept secret.”  The reasons for appropriation and disbursement of tax payer dollars should NOT be kept secret.  For these reasons, we believe that the passage of the bill is in contravention of South Dakota’s Constitution, is injurious to the rights of the people of South Dakota, and is therefore null and void. We respectfully request that this dissent be printed in the House Journal as required by Joint Rule 1-10.

 

Respectfully submitted,                   

Stace Nelson                                                                                                     

Lance Russell

Elizabeth May                                                                                                   

Dan Kaiser

Troy Heinert                                                                                                      

Kevin Killer

Paula Hawks                                                                                                      

Dean Schrempp

Patrick Kirschman                                                                                           

Dennis Feickert

Comments

[larry kurtz]

twitter, steve. i'll plow the road.