Watertown legislators Lee Schoenbeck, president pro tempore of the S.D. Senate, and Hugh Bartels, speaker of the S.D. House, have sent a letter to Dakotans for Health leader Rick Weiland asking that he stop making certain statements about the language contained in Initiated Measure 28, which would eliminate state taxes on groceries and other consumables.
Dakotans for Health is a nonprofit organization pushing for passage of IM 28.
The wording of the measure has come under scrutiny for its vagueness. The measure states that the state shall not tax the sale of “anything sold for human consumption.” That phrase has come under criticism because no definition of “human consumption” is offered. How the phrase is interpreted would have a major impact on the overall effect of the measure.
According to Schoenbeck and Bartels, Weiland has responded to questions about IM 28’s wording by saying the language came “on advice from the South Dakota Legislative Council.”
That is simply not the case, the Watertown lawmakers say.
In their letter to Weiland, they say: “The LRC, in compliance with its statutory duties, provided you a suggested rewrite of your original proposed language so that it would be written in a “clear and coherent manner” and not be “misleading or likely to cause confusion among voters,” but that no “advice” was offered. They also say the LRC did not mention the phrase “human consumption” in any form. Instead, they say the language the LRC offered was: “The retail sale of food or food ingredient for any purpose” should be exempt.
“The LRC did not advise, recommend, or suggest using the term ‘consumed’ or a variation of that term,” Schoenbeck and Bartels said in their letter. “More specifically, the LRC did not advise, recommend, or suggest using the phrase ‘anything sold for human consumption.’”
The letter asks Weiland to “ensure that neither your statements nor any advertising contain any suggestion of endorsement or approval by the Legislative Research Council.”
Bartles said they signed off on the letter after complaints from LRC staff members.