Search Bills

Change the approval requirement for the construction or expansion of a municipal camping or tourist accommodation facility.

This bill makes it easier for South Dakota cities to build or expand public campgrounds and tourist facilities by changing how many private campground owners must approve the project. Instead of requiring approval from all private campground owners within 15 miles, cities now only need written approval from owners representing at least 75% of existing private campgrounds in that area, and if a campground has multiple owners, just one owner can give approval on behalf of all of them.

Provide for the administrative approval of certain drainage applications by counties.

Counties that manage drainage permits can now designate a drainage administrator to approve or deny certain straightforward drainage applications without going through the full board or commission review process. The administrator can approve projects that drain into named waterways, streams, or road rights-of-way as long as the applicant gets written approval from nearby affected landowners. More complex drainage applications that don't fit these categories still require the full board or commission approval process.

Provide for the recall of a member of a board of a school district.

South Dakota voters can now recall school board members by submitting a petition signed by at least 15% of registered voters in their school district, but only for specific reasons like crimes in office, corruption, gross incompetency, or misconduct. The school district's business manager must present valid petitions to the board at their next regular meeting, and signatures must have been collected within 60 days of filing. This creates a new mechanism for removing school board members that didn't previously exist in state law.

Provide the board of commissioners with authority over certain intra-county land uses and construction projects.

County commissions gain new authority to create rules for how infrastructure (like roads and utilities) can be built or operated within county rights-of-way when a development project crosses county lines. Before approving such projects, counties must notify affected cities and townships at least ten days in advance, and applicants must notify them upfront and submit proof of that notice with their application.

Allow the governing body of a municipality to change the use of municipally owned parkland by ordinance.

Municipal governments in South Dakota can now change how city-owned parkland is used by passing an ordinance, as long as the new use serves a public purpose. Before making this change, cities must publish notice of the proposed ordinance in their official newspaper for at least two weeks, with the final notice appearing at least 14 days before the city council's first reading of the ordinance.

Prohibit the adoption or implementation of certain policies related to immigration enforcement.

South Dakota will prohibit state agencies and local governments from blocking their employees from reporting someone's immigration status to federal immigration officials or from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement. The law also prevents local jurisdictions from granting unlawful immigrants any form of legal status within South Dakota, and protects law enforcement officers from discipline if they refuse to follow policies that would violate these rules.

Prohibit political subdivisions from interfering with immigration enforcement.

South Dakota cities and counties are prohibited from creating rules that prevent their employees from reporting immigration status information to federal authorities or cooperating with federal immigration enforcement. Any local ordinance or policy that interferes with such cooperation or grants unauthorized legal status to individuals would be void and unenforceable.

Revise certain provisions pertaining to municipal government.

SB167 reorganizes and clarifies South Dakota's municipal government laws by streamlining requirements for dissolving small towns, simplifying petition procedures, and updating various municipal governance provisions across multiple chapters. The bill makes numerous technical changes to existing rules—such as clarifying which county can receive dissolution petitions for municipalities spanning multiple counties and reformatting petition requirements into a numbered list for clarity—while repealing a few outdated provisions. Overall, this bill modernizes the municipal code without substantially changing how municipalities operate, focusing mainly on making the rules easier to understand and follow.

Require counties and municipalities to provide emergency medical services within their jurisdictions, increase liquidated court costs, and create the emergency medical services fund and make an appropriation therefor.

Counties and municipalities must now provide emergency medical services within their jurisdictions. The bill increases court-ordered liquidated costs from $50 to $55 per criminal conviction, with the additional $5 going toward a new emergency medical services fund instead of law enforcement training. These changes ensure more consistent EMS coverage across the state while shifting some criminal justice funding to support emergency medical response.

Authorize municipalities to impose a new tax to fund capital improvement projects.

Municipalities can now impose a new local gross receipts tax of up to 1 percent on sales of goods and services to fund capital improvement projects, but only if a capital improvement board approves the plan and at least 60 percent of local voters support it in an election. This tax works the same way as the state sales tax but applies only within the municipality that creates it and has a lower rate cap than the state tax.

Modify the permissible dates for a school district bond election.

School districts must now hold bond elections during primary or general elections instead of special elections held at other times. If voters reject a bond measure at a primary election, the school board can resubmit the same question at the next general election without waiting or calling a new special election.

Provide that no county transfer jurisdiction of a county highway to a municipality unless the highway meets a minimum pavement condition rating, or unless there is mutual agreement of the county and municipality.

Counties can only transfer control of their highways to municipalities if the road meets a minimum pavement quality standard (a rating of 85 or higher), unless both the county and municipality agree to the transfer anyway. This new requirement prevents counties from passing off poorly maintained roads to cities without their consent.

Revise the authority of the South Dakota State Historical Society Board of Trustees regarding state-owned property.

This bill gives the State Historical Society Board of Trustees the power to set standards for keeping properties on the state historic register and removes that authority, ensuring continued consistency with federal preservation standards. The bill also requires state agencies and local governments to get written permission before listing any state-owned property on the state historic register, giving them more control over whether their buildings are designated as historic.

Clarify the enactment and effective date of a measure initiated or referred within a political subdivision.

SB 13 standardizes the language used in state law to describe when voter-approved measures in cities and counties take effect, replacing outdated phrases like "become operative" and "take effect upon" with the clearer term "is effective." The bill specifies that initiated or referred ordinances and resolutions become effective the day after election results are officially canvassed, making the timing consistent across all four affected statutes.

Require that pipeline applicants acquire county permits prior to submission of a permit application to the Public Utilities Commission.

Before companies can apply to the state Public Utilities Commission for a pipeline permit, they must first obtain a county permit under this new requirement. This adds a local approval step before the state-level permitting process can begin, giving counties an opportunity to review pipeline projects before they reach the state commission.

Update provisions on the interim legislative oversight of administrative rulemaking.

This bill overhauls South Dakota's system for how the Legislature reviews and oversees administrative rules created by state agencies during the time between legislative sessions. The changes update procedures for how rules are filed, reviewed, and challenged, including modifications to emergency rule processes and the legislative oversight committee's authority to examine agency rulemaking.

Authorize the recall of county commissioners.

This bill creates a new process allowing voters to recall county commissioners from office for reasons such as misconduct, corruption, incompetence, or crimes. To trigger a recall election, voters must gather signatures from either 15% of registered voters in the commissioner's district (or 5% of countywide voters if the commissioner represents the whole county) within a 60-day period, and must specify the grounds for removal on the petition. This new authority gives South Dakota voters a mechanism to remove county commissioners before their term ends, something that was not previously available.

Revise percentages regarding certain municipal proceeds of gaming revenues.

This bill reallocates gaming tax revenues from Deadwood once the city receives its guaranteed $6.8 million annual payment, shifting money away from the state general fund and toward the City of Deadwood's historic preservation fund. Specifically, it reduces the state's share from 70% to 10% of remaining gaming proceeds, while increasing Deadwood's share from 10% to 70%, while keeping the shares for other Lawrence County municipalities and school districts at 10% each.

Authorize the cooperation of counties for purposes of operating an office of county director of equalization.

Counties can now jointly operate a single office of county director of equalization instead of each county maintaining its own separate office. This change allows neighboring counties to enter into cooperative agreements to share the costs and responsibilities of property assessment services. The bill modifies the requirement that each organized county must have its own independent equalization office.

Require counties and municipalities to provide emergency medical services within their jurisdictions.

This bill changes South Dakota law to require counties and municipalities to provide emergency medical/ambulance services within their areas, rather than making it optional as it currently is. Counties and municipalities can either run these services themselves or contract with another provider to deliver them. The change shifts ambulance service from a "may provide" to a "shall provide" requirement.

Authorize display of certain flags on public property.

South Dakota public property can only display specific flags: the U.S. flag, state flag, military flags, flags of counties and municipalities, flags of other U.S. states, flags of foreign nations at peace with the U.S., and Native American tribal flags. Flags representing political viewpoints—including those related to gender, political ideology, race, or sexual orientation—are banned from public property, though the Governor can approve temporary ceremonial displays and state boards can authorize educational displays.

Extend the timeframe for filling a vacancy in a board of county commissioners.

When a county commissioner position becomes vacant, county boards must now fill it within 35 days or by the end of the second regular board meeting after the vacancy occurs, whichever takes longer—extending the previous timeline. The bill also clarifies that remaining board members must appoint a qualified person from the same district where the vacancy happened, and requires the county auditor to participate if an even number of commissioners remain on the board.

Require every permanent or emergency administrative rule proposal to receive the approval of an elected official before submission to the Legislative Research Council.

This bill requires state agencies to get written approval from an elected official (such as a department secretary, commissioner, or the Governor) before they can propose new permanent or emergency administrative rules to the Legislative Research Council. Currently, agencies can submit rule proposals without this elected official approval step, so this bill adds a new checkpoint in the rule-making process to give elected leaders more control over which regulations agencies can propose.

Require the publication and review of an explanation of the open meeting laws of this state.

This bill requires South Dakota's Attorney General to publish and periodically review an explanation of the state's open meeting laws so the public can understand their rights. The Attorney General must ensure this explanation is accessible and kept current, making it easier for citizens and public officials to comply with transparency requirements.

Modify renewal fee requirements for an on-sale liquor licensee whose business premises have been annexed into a municipality of the first class.

When a liquor bar or restaurant with an on-sale license gets annexed into a first-class city, this bill allows the city to charge a renewal fee based on the city's population—rather than the smaller population the business had before annexation. This prevents the renewal fee from jumping dramatically just because the business's legal jurisdiction changed, while still allowing cities to charge appropriate fees for their new licensees.