This bill requires South Dakota state agencies to follow five guiding principles when developing or running programs that could affect Native Americans living on reservations, including cooperating with tribal governments, respecting tribes as sovereign nations, communicating early and regularly with tribal officials, and being accountable for addressing tribal concerns. The law establishes a state policy of consulting with tribal governments but clarifies that it doesn't create any legal rights that people can enforce in court.
The amendment narrowed the bill's scope from applying to all state "policies or administrative rules" with "direct implications" to only state "programs" with "the potential of affecting" tribal members on reservations, while also converting the requirement that agencies "document consideration" of principles into a softer statement that the state merely "recognizes" these guiding principles. Additionally, a new disclaimer was added stating the principles cannot confer substantive rights in litigation, significantly weakening the bill's enforceability.
This change converted the bill from its engrossed (pre-passage) form to its enrolled (final, signed) form, making minor grammatical edits like changing "which" to "that" and "the reservation" to "a reservation," while adding standard legislative formatting and signature pages—the substantive policy content remains unchanged.
Signed by the Governor H.J. 578
Delivered to the Governor H.J. 556
Signed by the President S.J. 512
Signed by the Speaker H.J. 542
Senate Do Pass Amended Passed, YEAS 34, NAYS 0. S.J. 481
State Affairs Certified uncontested, placed on consent S.J. 39
State Affairs Do Pass Passed, YEAS 6, NAYS 0. S.J. 39
State Affairs Scheduled for hearing
State Affairs Scheduled for hearing
First read in Senate and referred to Senate State Affairs S.J. 260
House of Representatives Do Pass Amended Passed, YEAS 63, NAYS 3. H.J. 295
State Affairs Certified uncontested, placed on consent
State Affairs Do Pass Amended Passed, YEAS 12, NAYS 0.
State Affairs Motion to amend
State Affairs Motion to amend
State Affairs Scheduled for hearing
State Affairs Scheduled for hearing
House of Representatives Referred to House State Affairs H.J. 194
First Reading House H.J. 181
Prime sponsor · Rep.
R
Cosponsors
State Affairs — Do Pass
Do Pass Amended
State Affairs — Do Pass Amended