Background: House Bill 1267 would prohibit the use of paid petition circulators.
Our position: The ACLU of South Dakota opposes house Bill 1267.
South Dakotans are well-versed in direct democracy. The state was the first in the nation to adopt an initiative and referendum process in 1898, giving citizens the power to propose and approve laws under which they live. In 1972, citizens were given the ability to petition for constitutional amendments to be added to the ballot.
House Bill 1267 is designed to make it more difficult to collect enough signatures to place new initiatives on the ballot. South Dakotans only use the citizen initiative process if the state legislature is not accountable to the voters. Our legislators should be doing everything they can to encourage people to participate in democracy, not try to thwart it.