PIERRE - South Dakota voters may be asked to decide a ballot issue next November to make it clear that the Board of Regents has no control over the state's four technical institutes.

A resolution that would put the issue on the ballot was introduced in the state Legislature on Thursday.

HJR1002 is sponsored by 59 of the state's 105 lawmakers.

The issue of control over the technical institutes at Watertown, Rapid City, Mitchell and Sioux Falls came up last year during legislative consideration of a failed bill that would have set up a special board for those schools.

The Board of Regents argued that it has constitutional authority over them.