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House overrides governor to require district-by-district signatures for constitutional amendments
Summary
The South Dakota House voted to override Gov. Larry Roden’s veto of House Bill 11 69, adopting a requirement that citizen-initiated constitutional amendments include signatures from each senatorial district equal to 5% of that district’s gubernatorial vote in the last election.
The South Dakota House of Representatives voted to override Governor Larry Roden’s veto of House Bill 11 69, approving a measure that would require petitions to propose constitutional amendments to include signatures from each of the state’s 35 senatorial districts equal to at least 5% of the votes cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election.
The measure’s sponsor, Representative Reimer, said the change is intended to ensure “support comes from all across this beautiful state of South Dakota and not just our largest cities.” Representative Reimer urged colleagues to overturn the veto, saying, “HB 11 69 makes South Dakota stronger, fairer, and more a representative republic.”
The governor’s veto message, delivered to the House before reconsideration, warned the bill “attempts to change the South Dakota constitution in statute” and raised constitutional concerns, including the possibility that courts could find a severe burden on political speech. Governor Larry Roden wrote that the proposal risks giving “veto power to any one district” and could be vulnerable under current Eighth Circuit precedent.
Lawmakers debated whether the geographic signature requirement would help rural residents have a voice or whether it would instead raise barriers to citizen-led initiatives. Representative Muncke said she opposed overriding the veto, arguing the requirement could advantage well-funded groups able to staff petition drives across the state and could give a single district effective veto power. Representative Jorgensen, who had supported the bill earlier, said she would back the governor’s veto on reconsideration and called the new rule “cumbersome” for grassroots organizers.
Other members defended the proposal as a modest requirement. Representative Sharda called the signature threshold “not that high of a bar,” estimating it would amount to only a few hundred signatures per district. Representative Ladner and Representative Lehi compared the proposed rule to mechanisms that protect less-populated places in other parts of government, saying the change would help ensure statewide buy-in before altering the constitution.
On the question to override the governor, the clerk reported 50 ayes, 18 nays and two excused. The presiding officer declared the bill passed “the veto of the governor notwithstanding.” House members were told the action would be communicated to the senate and to the secretary of state’s office as the next steps in the legislative process.
Supporters said enforcement would rely on existing petition validation procedures administered by the secretary of state rather than new criminal penalties; Representative Reimer said the bill does not itself create new criminal enforcement but that existing statutes governing petition circulation and validation would apply.
Votes at a glance: House Bill 11 69 — motion to override the governor’s veto: passed; recorded tally 50 yes, 18 no, 2 excused. The override requires a two-thirds majority and the presiding officer declared that threshold met.
