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SD Legislature won't quit trying to make it harder to change the constitution • South Dakota Searchlight

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SD Legislature won't quit trying to make it harder to change the constitution • South Dakota Searchlight


South Dakota voters aren’t particularly fond of ballot measures that seek to change the state constitution. They’re even less enamored of attempts to mess with the way that their constitution can be changed. That history of failure doesn’t keep legislators from trying.

The latest attempt is House Joint Resolution 5003 sponsored by Rep. John Hughes, a Sioux Falls Republican. Currently, constitutional amendments placed on the general election ballot are passed with 50% of the vote plus one. Hughes seeks to raise that benchmark to 60% of the vote.

The resolution has passed its first two hurdles, getting approval from the House State Affairs Committee on an 11-2 vote and passing the full House on a vote of 61-5.

According to Hughes, because South Dakota has a 50% plus one threshold, “We are a target for being used as a laboratory for the emergence of new values and new ideas that many, many, many South Dakotans do not share.”

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Lawmakers consider higher bar for constitutional amendments and a trigger to end Medicaid expansion

Often during the testimony about HJR 5003, there were complaints about the millions of dollars dumped into South Dakota elections by out-of-state interests. It sounds naive to think that big-money interests would stay away from South Dakota elections if the threshold for passing a constitutional amendment were raised to 60% of the vote.

Many of South Dakota’s current crop of legislators weren’t around in 2017 when their brethren in the Legislature made quick work of dismantling Initiated Measure 22, an anti-corruption bill endorsed with 51% of the vote. IM 22 may have been as unworkable as it was unconstitutional, but instead of letting the courts decide on its demise, lawmakers acted fast to do the job themselves.

Their eagerness to enact some parts of the initiated measure and ignore other parts led some people — particularly those people who are interested in getting their ideas on the ballot — to believe that the Legislature was circumventing the will of the people. The Legislature’s fast action on an initiated measure made constitutional amendments, which can’t be messed with by lawmakers once the voters approve, all the more compelling for people who want to raise issues that the Legislature won’t tackle.

Resolutions like the one Hughes is backing don’t have a good track record with voters. In 2018, the mysteriously named Amendment X sought to raise the approval threshold on constitutional amendments to 55%. It garnered only 46% of the vote. In 2022, Amendment C sought to raise the requirement to three-fifths of the vote if the amendment in question required an increase in taxes or fees or the appropriation of $10 million over five fiscal years. Voters didn’t like that one either, with 67% of them voting against it.

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Often during the discussion about HJR 5003, Hughes and the committee members asserted that voters are suffering from “ballot fatigue.” Their suffering will only get worse in 2026 when, besides ballot issues, voters will be faced with choices for governor, U.S. representative, state constitutional offices and the Legislature. The “ballot fatigue” argument leads to the realization that lawmakers are irony-impaired.

Prior to voting to put HJR 5003 on the ballot, members of the committee approved HJR 5001, a constitutional amendment that would ease South Dakota’s escape from paying for expanded Medicaid. There’s also a joint resolution in the Senate seeking to put yet another constitutional amendment of the ballot. If lawmakers themselves weren’t so eager to change the constitution, South Dakota’s ballots would be shorter.

In 2024, two of the constitutional amendments originated with lawmakers — a work requirement for Medicaid and a neutering of the language used in the constitution to get ride of male pronouns. The language amendment failed. Voters approved of the Medicaid work requirement, but if Hughes’ effort was in effect, it would have failed since it got only 56% of the vote.

South Dakota finds itself at a veritable Bermuda Triangle of election factors that attract out-of-state influence. It’s a state where it’s relatively easy to get on the ballot, media costs are cheap by national standards and campaign finance laws are hard to enact ever since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that political spending is a form of free speech.

In the end, there’s not much that the Legislature can do to keep away out-of-state interests and their fat wallets. But lawmakers can help out voters by curbing their baser instinct to continually use their power to put even more constitutional amendments on the ballot.

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Obituary for John E Jastram at Miller Funeral Home & On-Site Crematory

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Obituary for John E Jastram at Miller Funeral Home & On-Site Crematory


John Earl Jastram, 72, passed from this world February 3rd, 2025. John was born in Sioux Falls, SD January 28th, 1953 to Roy and Lorraine Harden Jastram. John spent his childhood years in the Hartford area on the family farm as well as Sioux Falls. He graduated from Washington High



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South Dakota Senate revives bill to expand powers for state auditor • South Dakota Searchlight

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South Dakota Senate revives bill to expand powers for state auditor • South Dakota Searchlight


The state Senate voted unanimously to grant the state auditor the right to access and investigate agency records on Thursday — 24 hours after shooting down the idea by a single vote. 

The Wednesday loss for Senate Bill 60 at the state Capitol in Pierre came amid confusion over a compromise amendment meant to appease the concerns of the governor’s office. The bill was introduced by Attorney General Marty Jackley and supported by Auditor Rich Sattgast. 

Several lawmakers said Wednesday from the Senate floor in Pierre that all three offices had agreed to remove the audit and investigatory authority of the auditor from the original bill, so as not to duplicate the work of the attorney general. 

Others signaled that such a move would defang the bill, and that they preferred the attorney general-supported version that cleared a Senate committee on Jan. 27.

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The auditor and attorney general sat in the gallery for the second round of debate on the bill Thursday. Jackley brought it to lawmakers at the start of session in the face of the myriad scandals involving former state employees.

  • Ex-Department of Social Services (DSS) employee Lonna Carroll is accused last July of embezzling $1.8 million from the state.
  • Former Department of Revenue employee Sandra O’Day allegedly created 13 fake vehicles to help her secure $400,000 in loans before her death last year. Two more former revenue department employees, Lynne Hunsley and Danielle Degenstein, were later charged for malfeasance.
  • Renee Strong faces felony charges for allegedly submitting falsified reports of food-service health inspections for the Department of Public Safety.
  • Former DSS employee Amalia Escalante Barrientos pleaded guilty last month to a misdemeanor for using a voucher intended for a foster family to buy groceries for herself.

Senate revives auditor authority bill

After the Senate voted to reconsider SB 60 on Thursday, Sen. Jim Mehlhaff, R-Pierre, moved an amendment similar to the one he’d spoken against the day before. There was “quite a bit of confusion” Wednesday about Jackley’s position on the compromise amendment, he said, but “this is very much supported by the attorney general,” as well as the governor’s office and auditor.

Currently, the state auditor doesn’t have the authority to access agency records and assess their financial and operational fidelity. In its original form, SB 60 empowered the auditor with access to the financial and internal records of state agencies for the purposes of conducting audits, and to conduct investigations.

The governor’s office had argued that an elected state auditor doesn’t necessarily have the professional expertise to conduct agency audits. There were also concerns about duplicating investigative efforts.

Thursday’s amendment still removed audit authority, but preserved access to records, as well as the ability to investigate financial transactions. In the event malfeasance or irregularities emerge, the auditor would report them to the attorney general.

Senate President Pro Tempore Chris Karr, R-Sioux Falls, said he was pleased to see the state office-holders compromise with the legislature to ease their worries about the bill’s value as a bulwark against misconduct.

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“Do I still like the original bill? I do. Is this amendment, I think, a compromise we should move forward? I think it is,” Karr said.

Wednesday’s version of the bill died 17-18; Thursday’s iteration passed 35-0.

The Senate did vote Wednesday to advance another Jackley-backed transparency bill, Senate Bill 61, which seeks to strengthen the state’s internal control board. 

Senate Bill 60 now moves to the state House of Representatives.

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Obituary for Brad A. Anfinson at Miller Funeral Home & On-Site Crematory

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Obituary for Brad A. Anfinson at Miller Funeral Home & On-Site Crematory


Brad Allen Anfinson, aged 40, passed away on February 2, 2025, in Sioux Falls, SD. He was born on December 18, 1984, in Sioux Falls, SD, to Gregory and Cindy Osborne Anfinson. Visitation will be held on Saturday, February 8, 2025, from 4-7 PM at Miller Funeral Home Southside Chapel.



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