South Dakota

Not the 21st century, mind you. But South Dakota, where American direct democracy began in 1898, is considering whether to change its woefully outdated laws that permit initiative sponsors to write their own descriptions of what their measure would do. In the world outside South Dakota, titles and summaries have been written by public officials who are supposed to be neutral. (In California, it's the attorney general). More details of the proposal from this story in the Mitchell Republic.

The Wall Street Journal thinks so. Here's the Journal's round-up of state ballot measure. The paper pays extra close attention to a South Dakota ballot initiative that would ban naked short-selling, a practice that many companies have blamed for contributing to the collapse of big firms. Short sellers are folks who borrow a stock and then sell it when they think the price will drop. "Naked" short selling is whe folks do this through contracts without actually borrowing a stock. Supporters of the initiative believe the SEC should have cracked down on this practice.

A little-noticed ballot initiative in South Dakota is turning into a big battle being closely watched by the financial services industry, hedge funds and investors around the country.

The initiative would ban "naked short selling," the practice of selling short shares of a stock that have not been determined to exist. Typically, you're supposed to borrow a stock -- and determine it can be borrowed -- before you sell it short.

Naked short selling is supposed to be illegal, but loopholes allow it to happen. An SEC ban on such short selling in several companies expired this week. The financial industry is up in arms about the South Dakota ban, which has no exceptions.

It's another populist blast from South Dakota, the first state to adopt direct democracy (in 1898). The sponsor of the measure is a Republican state senator who says he wants to protect businesses from being forced into bankrupcy by the practice. "We're just doing the job [the SEC] should be doing," he tells Markets Media Online.

That's the concern being expressed about a South Dakota initiative, Measure 10 on the November ballot, that would bar the use of taxpayer funds for lobbying. Cities, counties and school districts lobby the state government, and they use taxpayer funds. They're concerned.

Today's final Democratic presidential primaries have focused public and media attention on South Dakota and Montana, two largely rural western states that get the last vote in the 2008 primary season. Here's something else these two states have in common: They're both early education laggards.

South Dakota and Montana are two of only 11 states without any kind of state pre-k program. (Great Plains and Rocky Mountain states comprise the majority of laggards here--North Dakota, Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming also lack pre-k.) Nor are they among the 9 states that provide full-day kindergarten for all children. In fact, both states' finance systems actually create a disincentive for school districts to offer full-day kindergarten, because school districts receive the same money per kindergartener regardless of whether they offer half- or full-day kindergarten programs. South Dakota, however, provides the same amount of state funding for kindergarten as it does for other grades, while Montana provides school districts with only half as much money per kindergartener. And neither state rates well on the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies' ranking of state standards and oversight for childcare centers and family care homes.

ANTI ABORTION BAN MAY BE UNCONSTITUTIONAL: South Dakota's attorney general suggests that if approved by voters, a November ballot initiative to ban abortion in almost all cases there could face a legal challenge. Such challenges are common, and often are successful. In California, nearly half of all inititiatves passed by voters since World War II have been invalidated at least in part by the courts. (Hat tip: ballotpedia).

DENVER COUNCIL DOESN'T WANT INITIATIVE REVIEW: In California and other initiative states, there is often talk of giving legislative bodies more of a role in reviewing initiatives before they go on the ballot. In Denver, however, the city council, which has such power, doesn't want the headache anymore. Perhaps this has something to do with the extraterrestial commission.

PROBLEMS FOR UTAH BAN ON LAND USE REFERENDA: Is Utah ban on land use referenda and initiatives constitutional? The state's attorney general thinks not.

ADDICTED TO INITIATIVES? An Oregon activist with a love of initiatives is found in contempt of court for using assets to pay for campaigns that a judge says should have gone to a fraud judgment.

Reason magazine, now edited by the brilliant Matt Welch (friend of the blog and fan of God's favorite baseball team, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim), has become a must-read, even for us non-libertarians. Here's a thought-provoking piece that uses the South Dakota abortion initiative to think about the limits of ballot initiatives and majorities when it comes to rights.

REPUBLICANS GO AFTER GOVERNOR: This story from the Redding paper is worth a read for those who follow California politics. Republican politicians in the far north of the state sharply criticized Schwarzenegger's handling of the budget, during a public meeting late last week and: Sam Aanestad, a state senator, sounds particularly angry. He says that Schwarzenegger is sending mixed signals (though that's hardly a new charge, and accurate given the incredible diversity of his administration and his management methods, which encourage internal arguments). But he goes even further by saying that Schwarzenegger does not have the state's best interests at heart. "He's much more interested in the governor's future than in Californians'. He's got two more years. He can slide through and become a senator," Aanestad said.

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS: My post Friday on Gov. Schwarzenegger's personal spending on initiatives should have said that his latest donations to the redistricting initiative come from his political committee, not his own pocket. As the Sacramento Bee correctly points out today.

UPDATED APRIL 4 After two nights of contacting gatherers and reading initiatives from all over the country (AND SOME EXCELLENT CORRECTIONS ON ARKANSAS AND MICHIGAN FROM Ballotpedia), here's my report on what's "on the street" and circulating in this great democratic land of ours. Please let me know if you think I'm missing important measures. For a more progressive take and focus, you can look at the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center's issues map.