Dana Ferguson

dferguson@argusleader.com

PIERRE — The committee room felt like a courtroom Monday as lawmakers got an opportunity to cross-examine and strike back at supporters of an ethics law that campaigned on a message that South Dakota legislators are corrupt.

In a joint meeting of the Senate and House State Affairs Committees lawmakers for more than two hours considered a bill that would repeal the extensive ethics and campaign finance law narrowly approved by South Dakota voters as Initiated Measure 22.

Republican lawmakers grilled supporters of the law and asked them to substantiate claims set forth in their campaign. The House committee approved the repeal on a 10-3 vote then asked that South Dakota voters give them a chance to win back their trust.

"Judge us on the outcome of this legislative session," Rep. Larry Rhoden, R-Union Center, asked of constituents listening to the hearing. "Give us a chance to honor the will of the voters, because IM 22 didn't."

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Supporters of the repeal on Monday said problematic pieces of the law were too interwoven to address separately. Meanwhile opponents of a repeal said gutting the law with a clause that would prevent its referral back to the ballot would send a sign to voters that legislators don't care about their intent.

"I firmly believe we need to get rid of this, start over. It's better to throw it all out, start over so it's something done by South Dakotans for South Dakotans and not from anybody else," said House Majority Leader Lee Qualm, R-Platte.

The committee's two Democrats, Reps. Julie Bartling and Spencer Hawley, as well as Republican Rep. David Lust voted against the measure.

Hawley said he felt uncomfortable about the process of repealing the law in a hearing that brought together the committees from separate chambers as well as without any legislative effort to amend problem areas of the law rather than throwing it out.

“The answer is to fix it," Hawley said. "We need to respect the intent of the voters."

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Legislators filed a set of bipartisan bills Monday aimed at replacing pieces of the measure including establishing gift limits for lobbyists and establishing a state accountability board. Members of the committee said the new proposals would deliver on the promises made, but not kept by the backers of IM 22.

But supporters of the so-called Anti-Corruption Act disagreed, saying the move to eliminate the law without the ability to refer it back to the people posed a serious issue.

"The problem with repeal and replace is, what we've said from the beginning, that it repeals what the voters asked for and replaces it with something we didn't have a direct say in," Doug Kronaizl, spokesman for Represent South Dakota, said.

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The bill now moves to the House for a vote. If approved there it will return for to the Senate committee for its consideration.

Gov. Dennis Daugaard has said voters were "hoodwinked" by the group supporting Initiated Measure 22 and that he should have done more to oppose it. Tony Venhuizen, Daugaard's chief of staff, said the Republican governor would sign the bill gutting the law if it arrived at his desk.

Follow Dana Ferguson on Twitter @bydanaferguson, call (605) 370-2493 or email dferguson@argusleader.com

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