North Dakota State Office Appointment Amendment, Measure 1 (June 2012)

Office Appointment Amendment
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Type:	Constitutional amendment
Constitution:	Article IV, Section 6
Referred by:	North Dakota State Legislature
Topic:	Administration of government
Status:	Approved a

The North Dakota State Office Appointment Amendment, Measure 1 was on the June 12, 2012 statewide ballot in North Dakota as a legislatively-referred constitutional amendment where it was approved. Measure 1 allows state legislators to be appointed to other government offices. The amendment further stipulates that the appointment of a member of the Legislative Assembly to a state office for which the compensation was increased more than an increase provided to full-time state employees during the member's term of office is prohibited.

A similar amendment appeared on the ballot in 2008. That measure was defeated with only 43% of the vote in favor.

The measure was sponsored by Rep. Al Carlson.

Election results

The following are official election results:

Measure 1
Result		Votes	Percentage
a Yes		96,951	60.48%
No		63,350	39.52%

426 of 426 precincts reporting

Results via the North Dakota Board of Elections.

Text of measure

The measure as it appeared on the ballot:

This constitutional measure would amend and reenact section 6 of Article IV of the North Dakota Constitution. This measure would prohibit the appointment of a member of the Legislative Assembly to a state office for which the compensation was increased in an amount greater than any general legislative increase provided to full-time state employees during the member's term of office. YES – means you approve the measure as summarized above. NO – means you reject the measure as summarized above.

Constitutional changes

The measure amends Section 6 of Article IV of the Constitution of North Dakota.

Article IV, Section 6 would be amended to read:

Text of Section 6: While serving in the legislative assembly, no member may hold any full-time appointive state office established by this constitution or designated by law. During the term for which elected, no member of the legislative assembly may be appointed to any full-time office whichthat has been created, or by the legislative assembly. During the term for which elected, no member of the legislative assembly may be appointed to any full-time office for which the compensation has been increased, by the legislative assembly during that termhas increased the compensation in an amount greater than the general rate of increase provided to full-time state employees.

Support

Editor's note: According to reports, no organization has formed a campaign in favor of the measure.

• State Representative Kim Koppelman, one of the primary sponsors of the bill, spoke in support of the measure saying, "You know, the framers of the constitution clearly intended legislators to be potentially appointed to their positions in government and they often were. Many people that serve in state government were once legislators but the framers of the constitution also wanted to make sure that they had a safe guard against corruption because the legislature sets pay for all these positions."

Opposition

Editor's note: According to reports, no organization has formed a campaign against the measure.

• State Senator Mac Schneider stated, "The only people who care are legislators who would like to be appointed to statewide office,” he said. “It doesn’t affect the everyday lives for North Dakota.”

• State Senator Ray Holmberg commented, "I think it will fail. I think there will be reluctance on the part of the people and they might vote against it.”

Media editorial positions

See also: Endorsements of North Dakota ballot measures, 2012

Opposition

• The Minot Daily News published an opinion against the measure, saying, "Voters rejected a similar measure in 2008, and we see no real need to change the rules now."

Other perspectives

Reports out of the state said that the measure did not get a lot of attention from either side. According to Robert Wood, a University of North Dakota professor of political science, "I haven’t seen a lot of advertising for it either way. That leads me to believe this is a fairly low, complicated measure. My guess is the first time people will see this will be when they are in the ballot box.”

According to State Representative Stacey Dahl, no groups officially came out in favor or against the measure.

Path to the ballot

See also: Amending the North Dakota Constitution

According to the North Dakota Constitution an amendment proposed by either the House or the Senate required only majority approval.

The House approved the measure following a 89-5 vote on April 18.

On April 19, 2011 the Senate voted 37-8 in favor of referring the measure to the ballot. Previously, the House approved the measure following a 89-5 vote on April 18.

Timeline

The following is a timeline of events surrounding the measure:

Event	Date	Developments
Approval	April 18, 2011	The House approved the measure following a 89-5 vote.
Final Approval	April 19, 2011	The Senate voted 37-8 in favor of referring the measure to the ballot.

See also

By Eric Veram Ballot measure writer

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• North Dakota 2012 ballot measures
• 2012 ballot measures

External links

• HCR 3047 (status)
• HCR 3047 (text)