Senate pumps the brakes on ethics law repeal

PIERRE — South Dakota senators on Thursday pumped the brakes on an accelerated effort to gut a voter-approved ethics law.

Minutes into the Senate discussion on House Bill 1069, Senate Majority Leader Blake Curd, R-Sioux Falls, called for a joint rule delaying debate on the measure until Wednesday.

A majority of the chamber stood to support the motion, which drew applause from supporters of the ethics law who watched from above, some wearing yellow Represent South Dakota T-shirts.

"This is not ripe yet. It's not ready for prime time yet," Curd said of the bill after the session adjourned. "Plus isn't this what the people have been asking for, slow the process down? So it's a multi-modal decision."

MORE: S.D. lawmakers file bill barring transgender students from shower, locker rooms

Democrats earlier in the day said waiting until next week to consider the bill that would strike the provisions written into state law upon the passage of Initiated Measure 22 would allow for additional public input. Democratic leaders said they'd planned to call for the same rule as they had the support of at least a pair of Republicans frustrated that the bill had sped through the House State Affairs Committee, Senate State Affairs Committee and House chamber in less than a week.

The call from Curd and support from Republicans came as a surprise as the group had passionately advocated for the bill's passage. Curd and other Republican leaders earlier in the day said they weren't concerned about the potentially negative optics of expediting the bill's path through the Statehouse.

“Our duty here in the Capitol is not to make law based on how it appears, our duty is to make law based on sound policy, so sometimes that’s a messy process,” Curd said. “But at the end we hope that we have something that we can stand behind instead of this travesty, which is IM22 that has all these problems.”

SEE ALSO: S.D. Senate OKs alternate teachings on scientific theories

Doug Kronaizl, spokesman for Represent South Dakota — a group that has rallied support for the ethics law — said grassroots efforts to stall repeal were successful in affecting the call for delay. He said the ethics law's supporters will put pressure on lawmakers this weekend at cracker barrel discussions across the state.

Delaying the debate and vote on the measure likely won't alter the outcome in that chamber, where 27 lawmakers have sponsored the bill. And the support will likely also find support with Gov. Dennis Daugaard, who on Thursday told reporters that he planned to sign the bill assuming it was "technically sound" when it reached his desk.

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