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promote free speech and intellectual diversity at certain institutions of higher education.

# HB1087 Summary This bill requires South Dakota's public universities and the state university system to adopt policies protecting free speech and intellectual diversity on campus, including limiting "cancel culture" practices against students and faculty. The institutions must establish procedures for handling complaints about free speech violations and ensure that ideological viewpoint diversity is considered in hiring and curriculum decisions. These new requirements aim to prevent universities from suppressing unpopular opinions while maintaining academic standards.

restrict the enactment of policies governing the possession of firearms at public institutions of higher education.

SB122 prevents public colleges and universities in South Dakota from creating their own rules that would restrict students, faculty, or staff from possessing firearms on campus. This takes away the authority that schools currently have to set stricter gun policies than state law allows, meaning campuses must permit firearms unless state law specifically prohibits them.

exempt from alcoholic beverage regulations certain uses of alcohol by postsecondary institutions.

HB1062 exempts South Dakota colleges and universities from certain state alcoholic beverage regulations when they use alcohol for educational, scientific, or research purposes. This means postsecondary institutions can conduct legitimate academic work with alcohol—such as chemistry experiments or brewing studies—without having to follow all the same licensing and regulatory requirements that apply to bars and liquor stores. The exemption allows schools to handle alcohol more flexibly for legitimate educational activities while still maintaining safety standards.

revise certain programs regarding the board of regents and promote efficiency in state government and to make an appropriation therefor.

# HB1168 Summary This bill revises programs overseen by the Board of Regents (which manages South Dakota's public universities) to promote efficiency and cost savings in state government. The bill makes specific changes to how these programs operate, though the exact programmatic changes would depend on the bill's detailed provisions. The bill also includes funding appropriations to implement these revised programs.

prohibit certain licenses and registrations from being withheld from certain persons owing a debt within the Board of Regents' system.

HB1214 prevents the Board of Regents from refusing to issue or renew professional licenses and vehicle registrations to people who owe money to state universities or other Regents institutions. This removes a collection tool the Board currently uses to pressure borrowers to repay debts like unpaid tuition or student loans.

provide for the disposition of South Dakota Building Authority refinancing revenues for the Board of Regents.

This bill directs money from refinancing deals by the South Dakota Building Authority to go toward the Board of Regents' operations and projects instead of going into the general state fund. The change lets the Board of Regents keep more of the savings or revenues generated when the Building Authority refinances its debt obligations.

revise the permanent endowment trust, to authorize the Board of Regents to sell certain extraneous real property and to purchase certain real property, to make an appropriation of sale proceeds, and to declare an emergency.

SB44 allows the Board of Regents to sell extra land owned by the state's universities and use the money from those sales to buy other property the universities need. The bill treats this as an emergency matter so the land transactions can happen right away rather than following the normal legislative timeline.

provide for the use of the Obligation Recovery Center by certain postsecondary technical institutes.

HB 1039 allows postsecondary technical institutes to use South Dakota's Obligation Recovery Center, which is a state agency that collects unpaid debts owed to the government. This expands the center's current services, which primarily help state agencies recover money from people who owe them, to now include helping technical schools collect unpaid tuition and other student debts.

revise the definition of campus security officers for purposes of the South Dakota Retirement System.

SB 42 changes which security officers qualify as "campus security officers" for purposes of the South Dakota Retirement System, likely expanding or narrowing the types of positions eligible for this retirement classification. This allows more (or fewer) security personnel working on campuses to participate in the state retirement system under the campus security officer category.

revise the definition of campus security officers for purposes of the South Dakota Retirement System.

HB1045 changes who qualifies as a "campus security officer" eligible to join the South Dakota Retirement System, likely expanding or narrowing the definition to include or exclude certain types of security personnel at educational institutions. This affects which campus security employees can participate in the state's retirement benefits program and potentially their eligibility for pension benefits.