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establish the crime of failure to summon aid for a suicide attempt and provide a penalty therefor.
South Dakota would create a new crime for bystanders who witness someone attempting suicide or seriously harming themselves but intentionally fail to call for emergency help—making it a Class 1 misdemeanor punishable offense. The law includes exceptions for people who reasonably feared for their own safety, already believed help was called, are under 18, or physically couldn't summon aid.
encouraging the Executive Board of the Legislative Research Council to form an interim legislative committee to study the role and function of county boards of mental illness.
This resolution asks South Dakota's Legislative Research Council to create a special committee that will study how county boards of mental illness operate, including their authority over involuntary commitments and their role in reporting information to the national background check system. The study will also examine whether current state laws governing voluntary and involuntary commitments are working effectively and how they could better work with background check procedures. This is not a law change itself, but a request to investigate these issues for potential future legislation.
reschedule the pharmaceutical composition of crystalline polymorph psilocybin in a drug product approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a Schedule IV controlled substance.
South Dakota currently bans psilocybin (a hallucinogenic substance) as a Schedule I controlled drug, but this bill creates an exception for FDA-approved psilocybin medications, which would be classified as Schedule IV drugs instead. This change would allow doctors to legally prescribe psilocybin-based medications that the federal government has approved, such as treatments for depression or other medical conditions, while keeping recreational psilocybin illegal.
make an appropriation for victim services provided by nonprofit organizations.
South Dakota will provide $8 million annually to nonprofit organizations that help abused children, domestic violence victims, sexual assault survivors, and trafficking victims. The Department of Public Safety will award these grants based on applications submitted each July and August, with funds supporting emergency services, counseling, crisis lines, case management, and specialized programs like child advocacy centers. The department will prioritize grants to organizations that have already tried to fund these services themselves through other sources.
make an appropriation for a non-residential, school-based, therapeutic services facility in Brown County and to declare an emergency.
This bill provides $2 million in state funding to the Department of Education to grant to a nonprofit organization that will build and equip a non-residential therapeutic services facility in Brown County for students in alternative school settings. The nonprofit must have experience running combined educational and therapy programs with schools and cannot use the money for residential or 24-hour care services. The bill declares an emergency so the funding takes effect immediately upon passage.
authorize a comprehensive study of juvenile correctional and residential facilities, to make an appropriation therefor, and to declare an emergency.
South Dakota's Department of Corrections will study how other states run juvenile correctional and residential facilities, looking at best practices like rehabilitation-focused housing, vocational training, mental health services, and staff-to-youth ratios, with visits to at least three out-of-state facilities. The state is appropriating $50,000 for this study, and the Department must report its findings to the Legislative Research Council by September 1, 2026.
permit technical college employees to join the state health plan.
This bill allows employees of South Dakota's technical colleges to enroll in the state health plan, which was previously limited to other state employees. Technical colleges can voluntarily join the plan by agreement with the state's human resources commissioner, and the colleges themselves (rather than the state) must contribute at least as much toward employee health coverage as the state contributes for other state workers. The bill also allows technical colleges to handle payroll deductions for employee health plan contributions rather than having the state process them.
establish a pilot program to provide benefits for menstrual hygiene products and diapers for individuals who receive temporary assistance for needy families, and to make an appropriation therefor.
South Dakota will create a new pilot program that gives monthly cash benefits to people receiving temporary assistance for needy families—$14 per month for women ages 18-50 who menstruate, and $30 per month for each child under age 3 in their care. These benefits will be added to participants' existing electronic benefits card alongside their regular welfare payments and can only be used to buy menstrual products (like tampons and pads) or diapers.
revise provisions related to the practice of addiction counseling and prevention services.
South Dakota's addiction counseling and prevention services board is clarifying and updating its authority to regulate professionals in this field—including certified addiction counselors, prevention specialists, and peer support specialists. The bill expands the board's stated mission to focus on ensuring practitioners are competent, meet national exam standards, and protect public safety. The changes also reorganize and update various licensing and disciplinary requirements scattered throughout the existing regulations.
require that certain mental health information be submitted to and subsequently removed from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
South Dakota will now require prosecutors to report mental health records to the FBI's background check system within two hours (instead of seven days) when someone is found not guilty by reason of insanity or deemed incompetent to stand trial, allowing the system to flag these individuals as prohibited from purchasing firearms. The bill also establishes a process for removing this information from the national database once certain legal conditions are met. These reports will contain only identifying information, not medical details about diagnosis or treatment.
make an appropriation to implement the rural health transformation program, and to declare an emergency.
South Dakota is appropriating $402 million in federal funds to the Department of Health to carry out a rural health transformation program authorized by a federal law passed in 2025. The Department of Health must spend this money by October 30, 2027, and report quarterly on how the funds are being used.
supporting the secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture in establishing a working group of nutrition experts to determine national standards for foods and beverages purchased with supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits.
This resolution does not change South Dakota state law; instead, it expresses the state's support for the federal government to create national nutrition standards for foods that can be purchased with SNAP benefits (food stamps). South Dakota is urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture to establish a working group of nutrition experts to set clear guidelines about which foods and beverages SNAP recipients can buy, based on current health science.