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North Dakota Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum Endowment Fund Referendum (2020)

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North Dakota Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum Endowment Fund Referendum
Flag of North Dakota.png
Election date
November 3, 2020
Topic
State and local government budgets, spending and finance
Status
Not on the ballot
Type
Referendum		Origin
Citizens

A referendum on Section 5 of Senate Bill 2001 was not on the ballot in North Dakota as a veto referendum on November 3, 2020.

Measure design

This referendum would have required Section 5 of Senate Bill 2001, which was approved by the legislature and signed by the governor on April 26, 2019, to instead be placed on the 2020 ballot in North Dakota for a statewide vote of the people for their approval or rejection.

Section 5 of SB 2001 was designed to create the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum Endowment Fund. This referendum sought to block Section 5 from taking effect.

Text of measure

Ballot title

Ballot title
“ This referendum seeks to reject section five of Senate Bill 2001 passed by the 2019 Legislative Assembly. This section creates in the state treasury the Theodore Roosevelt presidential library and museum endowment fund, provides for the designated funds to be invested under the supervision of the board of university and school lands, and appropriates the interest and earnings on a continuing basis to pay the interest on a loan from the Bank of North Dakota and provide grants to a private entity for operation and maintenance of the presidential library. The grants are conditioned on the private entity raising one hundred million dollars in cash donations and binding pledges to be used for construction of the library and museum, including a donation of ten million dollars to a higher education institution to digitize documents and create a TR conservation scholars program and related academic mission. The private entity must also agree to donate three hundred thousand dollars to a city for costs previously incurred related to planning for a presidential library.[1] ”

Full text

  • The full text of the referendum petition is available here.
  • The full text of Senate Bill 2001 is available here.

Referendum petition sponsor Riley Kuntz, a Dickinson electrician, said a $50 million endowment to operate the library is not a good use of taxpayer money, according to KVRR News.[2]

Background

See also: Veto referendums in North Dakota

In North Dakota, bills passed by the state legislature can be put before voters through a veto referendum petition.

  • Signature requirement: 2 percent of the state population at last decennial census
  • Result of a yes vote: targeted law upheld
  • Result of a no vote: targeted law repealed
  • Successful veto referendum petitions suspend the targeted law until the election.

From 1916 to 2016, 75 veto referendums have appeared on the ballot in North Dakota. Of the 75 referendum measures, 62.67% (47 of 75) resulted in the targeted law being repealed or rejected by voters. The targeted law was upheld in 37.33% (28 of 75) of cases.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing the initiative process in North Dakota

The state process

In North Dakota, the number of signatures required to qualify a veto referendum for the ballot is equal to 2 percent of the population of the state. Signatures for veto referendums must be submitted 90 days after the bill targeted for repeal is signed into law.

The requirements to get a veto referendum certified for the 2020 ballot:

Once the signatures have been gathered, the secretary of state verifies them using a random sample method. Since North Dakota does not have a voter registration system, the secretary of state may use "questionnaires, postcards, telephone calls, personal interviews, or other accepted information-gathering techniques" to verify the selected signatures.

Since the governor signed SB 2001 on April 26, 2019, signatures for the referendum were due 90 days later on July 25, 2019.

Details about this initiative

  • Riley Kuntz of Dickinson, North Dakota, is the chairperson of the referendum's sponsoring committee.[3]
  • The sponsor did not submit the required number of signatures by the deadline.

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  2. ↑ KVVR Local News, "Dickinson Electrician Begins Petitions Against Three Bills, Including Teddy Roosevelt Library Funding," accessed June 6, 2019
  3. ↑ North Dakota Secretary of State, "Referendum petition on SB 2001," accessed June 6, 2019
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