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authorize the forensic medical examination of certain minor victims without parental or guardian consent.

# HB 1103 Summary This bill removes the requirement for parental or guardian consent before medical professionals can perform forensic examinations on certain minor victims, likely in cases of suspected abuse or assault. The changes eliminate two existing legal sections that previously required such consent, allowing medical exams to proceed to help document evidence and protect vulnerable children.

require child abuse or neglect investigations upon the filing of truancy complaints.

# HB 1122 Summary When a school reports a student for truancy, South Dakota will now require child protective services to investigate whether the student is being abused or neglected. This change recognizes that chronic truancy can be a sign of child abuse or neglect and ensures these cases receive proper investigation.

add certain persons to the list of mandatory reporters of suspected child abuse or neglect.

HB 1212 adds people in "safety-sensitive positions" (defined elsewhere in state law) to the list of professionals who must report suspected child abuse or neglect to authorities. These mandatory reporters now face a Class 1 misdemeanor charge if they intentionally fail to report such suspicions, matching the penalty already applied to other required reporters like teachers, doctors, and law enforcement officers.

create a monitor to review and respond to complaints related to the care provided to youth in the custody or care of certain care facilities, treatment centers, and programs.

South Dakota will create a new monitor position to investigate and respond to complaints about how youth are treated in state care facilities, treatment centers, and youth programs. This establishes an oversight mechanism to ensure these institutions are properly caring for the young people in their custody.

revise certain provisions regarding human trafficking.

This bill strengthens South Dakota's human trafficking law by expanding the definition of "coercion" to include psychological tactics (like threats of violence or isolation), debt bondage, and exploitation of people with cognitive or mental impairments. The law also clarifies that human trafficking of anyone under 18 years old does not require proof of force, fraud, or coercion—the crime occurs simply by recruiting, transporting, or obtaining a minor for sexual activity or forced labor.

exclude second job income from child support obligations.

This bill changes how courts calculate child support by creating a rule that income from a second job generally cannot be counted toward a parent's child support obligation if their primary job already pays at least the state minimum wage for a full-time year of work (1,820 hours). A parent can still argue to include second job income if they have good reason, but the law now presumes it should be left out of the calculation.

establish qualifications for child custody evaluators.

This bill sets minimum qualifications for who can conduct child custody evaluations in South Dakota court cases—requiring evaluators to be psychiatrists, licensed psychologists, marriage and family therapists, or licensed social workers, or alternatively, to have nationally recognized training and experience in custody evaluation. If no qualified evaluator is available, both parents can agree on someone the court approves. The bill also clarifies that courts must split the costs of custody evaluations between the parents.

provide an appropriation for adoption assistance grants.

HB 1232 allocates state funding for adoption assistance grants to help families afford the costs of adopting children. The bill restructures and expands the existing adoption assistance program by modifying eligibility rules and grant provisions across multiple sections of state law. This change aims to make adoption more financially accessible for South Dakota families.

to establish limitations applicable to initial family assessments.

SB 173 modifies the rules for how child protective services must conduct initial family assessments when investigating potential child abuse or neglect. The bill adds specific time limits and procedural requirements that social workers must follow when first visiting families to gather information during these investigations.

increase funding for court appointed special advocates.

This bill increases a court fee charged to people convicted of crimes from $40 to $43, with the extra $3 going to support court-appointed special advocates—trained volunteers who represent children's interests in abuse and neglect cases. The fee, which courts already collect from defendants to help fund the criminal justice system, gets redistributed with this increase directing more money specifically toward these child advocates.

require the payment of attorney's fees in cases addressing noncompliance with visitation orders.

HB1139 requires a parent who violates a court-ordered visitation schedule to pay the other parent's attorney's fees if the case goes to court. This change makes it financially costly for a parent to ignore visitation orders, giving the court a tool to encourage compliance with custody and visitation agreements.

revise provisions regarding a custodial parent relocating a minor child.

This bill clarifies the process for when a custodial parent wants to move a child to a different location by requiring the parent to notify the other parent and giving that parent 30 days to request a court hearing. If the non-relocating parent doesn't request a hearing within 30 days, the move is automatically allowed; if they do object, the court will decide based on what's best for the child.

recalculate abatement of the basic child support obligation.

HB 1147 changes how South Dakota calculates child support reductions when a parent has overnight custody of their child. Instead of giving courts flexibility to reduce support by 38-66%, the bill creates a fixed schedule where the reduction percentage automatically increases based on how many nights per month the child stays with the paying parent—ranging from 6.5% for 2 nights to higher percentages as overnight custody increases. This removes judicial discretion and replaces it with a formula-based approach to ensure more consistent child support adjustments across cases.

revise provisions regarding confidential communications between a student and certain school employees.

This bill creates a new confidentiality rule protecting private conversations between students and school counselors, psychologists, or social workers—these professionals generally cannot share what a student tells them with anyone else without written permission from the student's parent or guardian. However, the bill requires these school employees to tell parents what the student said unless they suspect the parent has abused or neglected the child. The bill also clarifies that this confidentiality protection does not apply in cases where child abuse or neglect is being investigated.

include children with a hearing loss in the reporting criteria required for deaf and hard-of-hearing children.

HB 1228 expands South Dakota's reporting requirements for deaf and hard-of-hearing children to now include children with hearing loss, broadening the population covered under state law. The bill modifies several sections of law related to deaf and hard-of-hearing services and removes two outdated provisions that are no longer needed.

provide for child safety accounts for students subject to certain safety incidents.

This bill creates "child safety accounts" that allow parents to request funding from their school district if a safety incident at school cannot be resolved to their satisfaction. When a parent requests an account, the school board must deposit an amount equal to the average yearly per-pupil cost of South Dakota schools (prorated if the incident occurs mid-year), plus additional funding if the student has an IEP or 504 plan. The school district must then notify the state Department of Education about any accounts created.

revise parenting guidelines and repeal Supreme Court authority to promulgate guidelines.

SB 121 changes South Dakota's child support guidelines by revising the rules that courts use to calculate parenting payments and removes the South Dakota Supreme Court's authority to create or update these guidelines in the future. Instead of allowing the Supreme Court to set parenting guidelines, the Legislature will control how child support is determined going forward.

establish limitations applicable to initial family assessments.

When the Department of Social Services investigates child abuse or neglect, law enforcement officers may accompany caseworkers only to protect the caseworker's safety—they cannot participate in the investigation or gather evidence themselves. Officers must tell any adults present about this limitation, though they can resume normal law enforcement duties if they witness a crime, need to take a child into protective custody, or face an emergency situation.

authorize forensic medical examinations for certain persons.

This bill allows doctors, hospitals, and clinics to perform forensic medical examinations (such as evidence collection for sexual assault cases) on adults under guardianship or conservatorship if that person gives informed consent, even without permission from their guardian or conservator—unless the guardian or conservator is the suspected perpetrator. The bill protects medical providers from legal liability or professional discipline when they make good-faith decisions about whether a protected person can consent to such an examination.

require parental notification of self-injurious behavior expressed during counseling sessions.

This bill requires school counselors, psychologists, and social workers to notify parents if a student under 18 expresses feelings of gender dysphoria or interest in self-injurious behavior during counseling sessions. It carves out an exception to South Dakota's existing confidentiality protections for school counselors, which currently prevent them from disclosing student communications to others.

revise Senate Bill 38, An Act to revise the General Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2020, as previously enacted by the Ninety-fifth Session of the South Dakota Legislature.

This bill adjusts the state budget for fiscal year 2020 by reallocating funds across several state agencies and programs. The Bureau of Finance and Management receives an additional $55.7 million in federal funds for computer services, while the Department of Social Services sees reductions in general funding for medical services and children's services, though some of these cuts are offset by increases in federal funding for those same programs.