South Dakota's Attorney General can now obtain an investigative subpoena from a judge to demand business records from internet and telecommunications companies during investigations into internet crimes against children or human trafficking. The Attorney General must show a judge there is reasonable cause to believe the records are relevant to an active criminal investigation before issuing the subpoena. This creates a new legal tool for gathering evidence from providers like email services, internet providers, and phone companies in these specific types of criminal cases.
The amendment changed the statute section number from 26.459.10 to 26.459.11 and weakened judicial oversight by changing language from "shall approve" to "may approve" an investigative subpoena, while also allowing providers to be prohibited from notifying account holders when their records are subpoenaed. This shifts the bill toward giving law enforcement more discretionary power and less transparent procedures for obtaining business records in internet crimes against children and human trafficking investigations.
The amendment is purely procedural and formatting—it converts the bill from its engrossed (committee) version to its enrolled (final passed) version by removing legislative markup language and standardized headers while keeping all substantive provisions identical. This is a routine step with no change to the bill's purpose or content.
Signed by the Governor S.J. 548
Delivered to the Governor S.J. 510
Signed by the Speaker H.J. 543
Signed by the President S.J. 485
House of Representatives Do Pass Amended Passed, YEAS 52, NAYS 15. H.J. 512
House of Representatives Remove from Consent Calendar H.J. 486
Judiciary Certified uncontested, placed on consent H.J. 31
Judiciary Do Pass Passed, YEAS 11, NAYS 0. H.J. 31
Judiciary Scheduled for hearing
First read in House and referred to House Judiciary H.J. 136
Senate Do Pass Amended Passed, YEAS 34, NAYS 0. S.J. 95
Senate Deferred to another day S.J. 85
Judiciary Do Pass Amended Passed, YEAS 6, NAYS 0. S.J. 3
Judiciary Motion to amend S.J. 3
Judiciary Scheduled for hearing
Judiciary Scheduled for hearing
First read in Senate and referred to Senate Judiciary S.J. 13
Do Pass Amended
Judiciary — Do Pass
Do Pass Amended
Judiciary — Do Pass Amended