By Denise Ross

My headline might be outlawed by a bill sponsored by Sen. Bill Napoli, R-Rapid City. But I reserve the right to call Senate Bill 185 FANTASTIC!

On a day that looks like it’s shaping up to be a mass slaughter of Democratic bills by the majority GOP, SB185 leads my lineup for the 3 most interesting bills of the day - none of which are sponsored by Dems.

No doubt spurred on by the MPEACHW kerfluffle of the summer, SB185 seeks to “restrict the combination of numbers and letters which may be permitted on personalized motor vehicle license plates.” Perfect entertainment for those mid-session doldrums.

It starts off, in Section 1, sounding like it could thread that tiny needle where free speech might be hampered:

Combinations of letters or numbers that are, in any language, vulgar, derogatory, profane, racial epithets, or obscene.

Then, in Section 2, it delivers on all its promise by seeking to prohibit “69″ and other sexually suggestive messages.

Combinations of letters or numbers that are suggestive of, in any language, any private body parts or relate to sexual or eliminatory functions. Additionally, “69″ formats are prohibited unless used in combination with the vehicle make, for example, 69 CHEV

But then it kills all the fun in Section 5, goes dead on arrival, in fact, with this little bit of unconstitutionality.

Combinations of letters or numbers that refer, in any language, to a … political statement.

Jeez, Napoli, I thought you didn’t like the ACLU. Why would you giftwrap this one for them? Political speech is, I’m told, the most protected form of speech. First among equals or something.

SB185 tries to bury that “political statement” restriction in a section that also would bar use of messages about race, ethnic heritage, sexual orientation or disability - all sketchy enough, constitutionally.

No doubt the Senate Transportation Committee also will be aware of a Monday court ruling. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Arizona could not prohobit anti-abortion groups from getting state-issued specialty plates bearing a “Choose Life” message.

Today’s ruling, Schafer said, shows that “when the state opens the door, generally, for private organizations to speak, its bureaucrats may not slam the door in the face of pro-life speakers or others that it may seek to censor simply because of the viewpoint of the speaker.” 

All right. Enough about license plates.

This next bill, Senate Bill 174 - also before the Senate Transportation Committee - is FASCINATING.  

It appears to relate to the DM&E Railroad, and it appears to be an attempt to thwart efforts by landowners - some represented by former Gov. Bill Janklow - to mount a series of court challenges to eminent domain claims.

SB174 would set up a process to appeal decisions (made by the governor or the transportation commission) granting eminent domain through a hearing examiner and would explicitly prohibit circuit courts from intervening. (See also SB183.)

Wow.

Finally, we have Senate Bill 169.

This is one of the minimum teacher-pay bills. It would set a minimum teacher pay at $29,000 and ramp that up to $35,000 by 2012. It also would lock in a 3.5% per-student state aid increase.

Since SB169 is tied in with a much larger and robust debate over school funding, I’ll bet the Senate Education Committee defers action on this to a later day.

Spread the word

Hide Sites