House Republicans set stage for pair of ballot initiatives in 2026

Party-line votes send two proposed ballot measures to the floor

Photo by Arnaud Jaegers on Unsplash

PIERRE — The fate of two more ballot initiatives could be decided by South Dakota voters in the next general election - after the South Dakota Legislature’s House State Affairs committee gave first approval to a set of proposals.

Both have ties to measures that South Dakotans voted on in 2024. House Joint Resolution 5001 if adopted would allow the state to consider pulling out of the federal Medicaid expansion in the event the federal government began to fund it at less than 90 percent. Freshman lawmaker John Hughes’ HJR 5003 would require that constitutional amendments receive at least 60 percent of the vote in order to obtain adoption into the state’s Constitution.

Hughes amended his bill during the committee hearing - it went from requiring two-thirds of voters approval to just 60 percent, suggesting that would put the bill in line with existing state law in places like Florida and Illinois.

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