Kristi Noem has just vetoed the bill protecting female sports in South Dakota after the legislature refused to change it per Noem’s request:
Non-veto veto pic.twitter.com/ZLymOM2AY0
— KELO Bob Mercer (@pierremercer) March 29, 2021
According to a reporter in South Dakota: “HB1217 now vetoed. Citing the SD Constitution’s “returned … as a vetoed bill” language, Gov. Noem is claiming SHE didn’t veto it. Instead (deep breath) her rejection of the Legislature’s rejection of her style and form veto forces the bill to be “treated as if it was vetoed.””
Noem is apparently claiming that she didn’t veto the bill, but by refusing to certify the bill, it gets treated “as a veto”:
I know this is confusing. But it's really important to Noem that she can say she hasn't vetoed HB1217, to ward off critics from the right. Remember, she went on Fox to argue her style and form veto wasn't an actual veto. Neither is this, she says. (Yet HB1217 is in fact vetoed).
— Jeremy Fugleberg (@jayfug) March 29, 2021
And then this happened:
Things getting even more bizarre on the HB1217 veto front. The House has sent Noem a letter basically asking her to confirm she's vetoed the bill, as opposed to effectively vetoing it. Per @Argus_Joe, Noem's office has refused receipt of the letter.
— Jeremy Fugleberg (@jayfug) March 29, 2021
And now, according to the Argus Leader, the House tried to override Noem’s veto today and failed:
The South Dakota Legislature Monday failed to override Gov. Kristi Noem’s veto of House Bill 1217, a measure that aimed to make it illegal for transgender women and girls to compete in sports designated for women and girls.
First blocking the legislation with what’s known as a style or form recommendation, a tool to allow the partial veto of a bill that’s cleared both the state House and Senate, Noem took issue with the inclusion of collegiate sports in the measure.
But after much debate about whether using that method to block legislation was constitutional, the House resoundingly rejected Noem’s style and form veto Monday morning with 67 members voting against affirming the changes she wanted.
That meant HB 1217 was to come back to the House floor as an outright veto, which the House failed to override with a two-thirds vote.
This means that “legislators will have to wait a year to revisit the issue.” Unless Noem calls a special session, which looks likely:
Noem said via a news release late Monday that she’s working with Legislative leaders to schedule a special session either in May or June.
For now, the bill is dead. But even if they do resurrect it in a special session, it looks like Noem will get her way or either the bill will suffer the same fate.