Court Opinion

ID: 9594374
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 00:29:25.375407+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:36:06.016843
License: Public Domain

SABERS, Justice
(concurring specially).
I write specially to point out that SDDS presents a strong case for the proposition that the Legislature has enacted a bill approving SDDS’s facility and therefore, SDDS has fully and immediately complied with the initiated measure. The crack in the armor of the proposition is that all legislative acts are subject to referendum by the people.
Article III, § 1 of the South Dakota Constitution provides in part:
[T]he people expressly reserve to themselves ... the right to require that any laws which the legislature may have enacted shall be submitted to a vote of the electors of the state before going into effect[.]
SDCL 2-1-3 provides in part:
Any law which the Legislature ... [enacts] [with exceptions not material here] shall, upon the filing of a [referendum] petition, ... be submitted to a vote of the electors of the state at the next general election[.]
Therefore, any legislative enactment, even if authorized by the people through an initiated measure, such as here, is subject to referendum. S.D. Const, art. Ill, § 1 & SDCL 2-1-3.