Advocates,
These are among the bills that are very important, if we hope to continue to be able to exercise our citizen rights to initiate and refer laws.
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ALL Rep’s will vote on these in a floor session. I expect it will be tomorrow(Tue), starting at 2:00(1:00Mt), because amended bills usually go to the floor 2 days after they pass out of committee. Â Â
Email format: firstname.lastname@sdlegislature.gov
Phone message to rep’s: 605-773-3851
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OPPOSE
HB1177 would make it incredibly difficult for grassroots groups to utilize the initiative process. Every petition circulator would be required to have his/her name and phone and email on a small handout to give to every signer, not just info about the measure itself and its sponsors and whether you are a volunteer or paid, but your personal contact info. In other words, every petition circulator would need a PERSONALIZED handout, each verified by the Sec of State. Imagine working with 100 volunteers. Suddenly, you need 100 different handouts prepared, different for each one. Clearly, a logistical mess.Â
   Plus, requiring volunteers to disclose their personal contact information to numerous strangers would have a chilling effect on volunteer participation.  (Maybe we could ask legislators to imagine if one of their daughters wanted to circulate a petition for some good cause. Is this a requirement they would want placed on her?)
   If necessary, HB1177 could apply only to paid circulators. Leave the volunteers alone. Requiring you to disclose your volunteer status should suffice.
[You can thank these who opposed it in committee: Bartling, Hawley, Rhoden]
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OPPOSE
HB1196Â is similar to HB1177 In that the amount of information it requires people to disclose is excessive. It might sway people away from participating in the process.Â
  Also similar to HB1177, this proposal could possibly be acceptable by amending it to apply only the paid petition circulators AND to paid circulators of candidate nominating petitions as well.
   1196 would require you to disclose more info to the state to gather a signature than is currently required for you to but a shotgun. The depth and breadth of personal information required from circulators, whether paid or volunteers, is absurd. Ballot question committees should be expected to verify residency of their paid circulators, of course. But the personal questions for volunteers in HB1196 cross a line and, intended or not, would chill political participation.
[You can thank these who opposed it in committee: Bartling, Hawley, Lust, Rhoden]
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You can comment on two together for House floor. There are more coming up in some committees.
It sounds like you must give up your privacy if you become involved with the political process. When is there an opportunity to say something when you must wait for a background check? This is another assault on the petition process.
Just legalize recreational marijuana so S.D. is not last to do so. It’s substantial tax revenue and far less law enforcement expense.