Courts & Criminal Justice

Changes the fee for preparing wage garnishment paperwork.

This bill increases the reimbursement fee that garnishees must be paid for preparing garnishment disclosures from $15 to $50. The fee is taxed as part of the plaintiff's costs, and if not paid, the garnishment proceeding is void. The bill also makes minor language changes replacing 'shall' with 'must' throughout the statute.

Makes it a crime to trespass at churches and other places of worship.

Creates a new Class 5 felony crime for trespassing on places of worship or within 1,000 feet of such places with intent to disrupt worship services, menace/harass congregants or employees, or for political intimidation. Defines 'place of worship' as structures where people regularly assemble for religious worship, ceremonies, rituals, and education that a reasonable person would recognize as such by design, signs, or features.

Changes where certain offenders can live near schools and parks.

This bill changes the grandfather date for sex offender residence restrictions in community safety zones from July 1, 2024 back to July 1, 2006. Sex offenders who established residence before July 1, 2006 would be exempt from community safety zone restrictions, while those who established residence between 2006-2024 would lose their exemption. The bill is declared an emergency measure.

Changes fees for court record copies.

This bill modifies court clerk fees by increasing the fee for reproducing authenticated, exemplified, or double certificates of court records from $2 to $15, removes the $2 certification fee for documents, and makes minor grammatical corrections to the statute. The bill does not change any liability standards, legal procedures, or substantive law - only administrative fees charged by court clerks.

Changes the definition of aggravated assault.

This bill makes minor technical revisions to South Dakota's aggravated assault statute, changing the language structure from 'Any person who...' to 'No person may...' and updating verb forms for consistency (changing 'Attempts' to 'Attempt', 'causes' to 'cause', etc.). The bill also adds 'physical object simulating a deadly weapon' to the existing provision about physical menace with deadly weapons. The substantive elements and requirements for aggravated assault charges remain unchanged.

Creates a pilot program for releasing defendants before trial.

This bill creates a pilot program in the Unified Judicial System allowing magistrate and circuit court judges to place defendants charged with misdemeanors or felonies under the supervision of presentence court services officers as a pretrial release option. Judges may impose conditions of release under existing statute 23A-43-3. The program requires a report to the Legislature by December 31, 2027, including data on screenings, case supervision numbers, appearance rates, new criminal charges, failure to appear rates, bond revocations, and program costs. The pilot program expires December 31, 2027.

Exempts certain people from jury duty and requires specific jury notices.

This bill creates three new jury duty exemptions: (1) licensed healthcare providers caring for pregnant women or individuals with serious medical conditions if their absence would harm patients, (2) public safety workers (law enforcement, firefighters, hazardous response team members, emergency medical personnel) if their absence would risk public safety, and (3) individuals solely responsible for daily care of a household member with permanent disability if jury service would risk injury to that person's health. The bill also requires courts to give jurors at least 14 days advance notice of their specific appearance date.

Updates stalking laws and makes stalking public officials a felony.

This bill expands South Dakota's stalking laws in three ways: (1) adds a new form of stalking that criminalizes knowingly posting someone's personal information (address, identifying information) online without consent and with intent to intimidate or harass, (2) renames 'felonious stalking' of children to 'felony stalking of a child' with minor clarifying language changes, and (3) creates a new Class 6 felony for stalking public officials (statewide elected officials, federal/state legislators, federal/state judges, or law enforcement officers) with intent to cause fear of death, injury, or safety concerns.

Updates the crime victims' compensation program.

This bill makes administrative changes to South Dakota's crime victims' compensation program by consolidating language from two sections into one. It moves the requirements for departmental orders (including findings of fact, compensation amounts, payee names, review notices, and other necessary information) from a separate section into the main procedural section, and adds email and hand-delivery as additional methods for serving notice to claimants alongside existing mail service.