(SB 3)
Initiative and referendum, penalty increased
for fraudulent filing of a petition.
Section
1.
That
§
2-1-10
be amended to read as follows:
2-1-10.
Each person
,
who circulates and secures signatures to a petition to initiate
or submit
a constitutional amendment or other measure or to refer legislation
to the electors
any law pursuant
to S.D. Const., Art. III, § 1
, shall sign a verification
of circulator
before filing the petition with the
officer in whose office it is by law required to be filed.
The verification shall prescribe that the
circulator made reasonable inquiry and, to the best of the circulator's knowledge, each person
signing the petition is a qualified voter of the state in the county indicated on the signature line and
that no state statute regarding the circulation of petitions was knowingly violated.
The State Board
of Elections shall prescribe the form for the verification
of circulator
. The verification
of circulator
shall be witnessed by a notary public commissioned in South Dakota or other officer authorized
to administer oaths pursuant to § 18-3-1.
Any person who falsely swears to the verification
provided for in this section is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Section
2.
That
§
2-1-6
be amended to read as follows:
2-1-6.
Every person who is a qualified voter may sign a petition to
propose a measure
initiate
a constitutional amendment or other measure
or
submit
to refer
a law.
Whoever
If a person,
knowing he or she is not a qualified voter of the state or knowing that he or she has already signed
the same petition,
signs a petition for initiation
or referendum
of a constitutional amendment or
other measure or for referral
of legislation
, when he is not a qualified voter of the state,
or
if any
person
signs a name other than his
or her
own,
that person
is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.