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Groton Daily Independent
Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 223 ~ 20 of 52
South Dakota panel rejects plan on constitutional changes
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A South Dakota committee voted down a measure Wednesday that sought to end the ability of voters to bypass the Legislature and amend the state constitution.
The House State Affairs Committee rejected the plan, which would have required approval from the voters and the Legislature to enact a constitutional amendment. Right now, people who collect enough signatures to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot can ask voters to pass it without lawmakers’ blessing.
Sister Lynn Marie Welbig, a lobbyist for the Presentation Sisters, said the measure would have stamped out the people’s “real right to amend the constitution.”
“Bills like this, while they’re well intended, spread division and distrust among the people,” she told the committee. “Please, I beg you not to try to do things to usurp those rights of the people.”
House Speaker Mark Mickelson, a supporter, said there should be a “rigorous process” when amending the state constitution. It would have needed voter approval to take effect.
The panel debated several measures asking voters to impose tighter restrictions on amendments to the state constitution. Members tabled a plan that would have ended citizens’ ability to gather names to propose constitutional amendments, instead only allowing amendments to originate in the Legislature.
But the panel did send a proposal to the full House that would require constitutional amendments to encompass only one subject. If approved by the Legislature, the measure would go to November voters. Mickelson, the sponsor, said it’s intended to make sure that people understand the idea they’re voting
for at the ballot box.
Democrats on the committee opposed the plan. Democratic Rep. Julie Bartling questioned how it would
be implemented.
Tearful student asks Trump, ‘How do we not stop this?’ By CATHERINE LUCEY and MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Spilling out wrenching tales of lost lives and stolen security, students and parents appealed to President Donald Trump to set politics aside and protect America’s school children from the scourge of gun violence. Trump listened intently to the raw emotion and pledged action, including the possibility of arming teachers.
“I turned 18 the day after” the shooting, said a tearful Samuel Zeif, a student at the Florida high school where a former student’s assault left 17 dead last week. “Woke up to the news that my best friend was gone. And I don’t understand why I can still go in a store and buy a weapon of war. An AR. How is it that easy to buy this type of weapon? How do we not stop this after Columbine? After Sandy Hook?”
Trump promised to be “very strong on background checks.” And he suggested he supported allowing some teachers and other school employees to carry concealed weapons to be ready for intruders.
On Twitter Thursday, Trump continued to discuss arming teachers and others at schools, though said that didn’t mean giving guns to all teachers.
“I never said ‘give teachers guns’ like was stated on Fake News @CNN & @NBC. What I said was to look at the possibility of giving ‘concealed guns to gun adept teachers with military or special training experi- ence - only the best,’” he said.
Trump continued to argue that armed school employees could re back against shooters. He said: “AT- TACKS WOULD END!” and “GREAT DETERRENT!”
The president had invited the teen survivors of school violence and parents of murdered children in a show of his resolve against gun violence in the wake of last week’s shootings at Marjory Stoneman Doug- las High School in Parkland, Florida, and in past years at schools in Connecticut and Colorado. The latest episode has prompted a renewed and growing call for stronger gun control.
Trump asked his guests to suggest solutions and solicited feedback. He did not fully endorse any speci c policy solution, but pledged to take action and expressed interest in widely differing approaches.
He largely listened, holding handwritten notes bearing his message to the families. “I hear you” was written in black marker.