South Dakota law on repeat drunk driving convictions now requires a mandatory minimum of six years in prison (with at least one year on parole) for sixth or subsequent DUI offenses when the person has five prior DUI convictions within 15 years. The court can only avoid this sentence if it orders the person into a specialized drug, DUI, veterans, or mental health court program, and the law strengthens license revocation requirements and parole monitoring conditions like ignition interlocks or alcohol monitoring devices.
The amendment makes minor technical corrections, including fixing a hyphenation error ("twenty-5 five" to "twenty-five"), correcting a statutory citation reference ("§ 23A-24 27-19" to "§ 23A-27-19"), and changing the mandatory minimum prior convictions threshold from six to five convictions within fifteen years for enhanced sentencing—which WEAKENS the bill by making it slightly easier to trigger the six-year minimum prison sentence for repeat DUI offenders.
Signed by the Governor H.J. 534
Delivered to the Governor H.J. 520
Signed by the President S.J. 470
Signed by the Speaker H.J. 492
Senate Do Pass Passed, YEAS 33, NAYS 0. S.J. 426
Judiciary Certified uncontested, placed on consent
Judiciary Do Pass Passed, YEAS 4, NAYS 0.
Judiciary Scheduled for hearing S.J. 1
First read in Senate and referred to Senate Judiciary S.J. 161
House of Representatives Do Pass Passed, YEAS 65, NAYS 0. H.J. 182
Judiciary Certified uncontested, placed on consent
Judiciary Do Pass Passed, YEAS 13, NAYS 0.
Judiciary Scheduled for hearing
First read in House and referred to House Judiciary H.J. 135
Judiciary — Do Pass
Do Pass
Judiciary — Do Pass