South Dakota now makes it illegal to falsely claim that a pet is a service animal in public places in order to gain access or privileges meant for people with actual service dogs. A violation is a Class 2 misdemeanor, and the law clarifies that only dogs specially trained to perform disability-related tasks count as service animals—not pets kept simply for emotional support or comfort.
This change converted the bill from its introduced form to its official enrolled version, which involved removing the legislative tracking language and bill numbering metadata while adding the formal enrollment signatures and certification pages required for final legislative passage. The substantive prohibition on misrepresenting animals as service animals and the Class 2 misdemeanor penalty remained unchanged.
Signed by the Governor S.J. 488
Delivered to the Governor S.J. 455
Signed by the Speaker H.J. 493
Signed by the President S.J. 434
House of Representatives Do Pass Passed, YEAS 66, NAYS 0. H.J. 457
Judiciary Certified uncontested, placed on consent H.J. 29
Judiciary Do Pass Passed, YEAS 12, NAYS 0. H.J. 29
Judiciary Scheduled for hearing
House of Representatives Referred to House Judiciary H.J. 194
First Reading House H.J. 182
Senate Do Pass Passed, YEAS 34, NAYS 0. S.J. 131
Judiciary Certified uncontested, placed on consent S.J. 7
Judiciary Do Pass Passed, YEAS 7, NAYS 0. S.J. 7
Judiciary Scheduled for hearing
First read in Senate and referred to Senate Judiciary S.J. 34
Prime sponsor · Rep.
R
Prime sponsor · Sen.
R
Do Pass
Judiciary — Do Pass
Do Pass
Judiciary — Do Pass