Government & Elections

Requires state agencies to check with aviation officials before buying or selling state aircraft.

This bill requires state agencies to consult with the Aeronautics Commission when purchasing, transferring, or disposing of state-owned and operated aircraft, including unmanned aircraft systems. The commission must provide advice and expertise in the form of a written report to the Governor and the requesting agency.

Changes how casino revenue is distributed.

This bill modifies the distribution formula for gaming revenues from the Gaming Commission fund. It changes the percentage allocation to the state general fund (decreasing from 70% to 20% over time from 2026-2029) and to the City of Deadwood's historic restoration fund (increasing from 10% to 60% over the same period). The percentages for municipalities and school districts in Lawrence County remain unchanged at 10% each.

Addresses various issues facing South Dakota.

This bill creates a non-substantive statement that 'The Legislature shall address issues facing South Dakota.' It appears to be either a placeholder bill or potentially defective legislation with no actual legal effect or requirements.

Creates a fund to reduce homeowner property taxes.

This bill adds a general statement that 'The Legislature shall promote the future success and development of South Dakota' to state law. It appears to be purely aspirational language with no substantive legal changes, requirements, or mandates.

Bans data centers from keeping certain agreements secret.

This bill prohibits state agencies and political subdivisions from entering into confidential or nondisclosure agreements with non-governmental entities, private persons, or public-private businesses concerning data center construction, development, or location. It requires that any such agreements be treated as public records.

Updates rules for how city governments operate.

This bill revises municipal government procedures including: clarifying the process for filling mayoral vacancies through aldermen appointment; establishing succession rules for mayor pro tempore positions; updating eligibility requirements for municipal officers to require 3-month residency and qualified voter status; revising appointment procedures for municipal officers; updating oath and bonding requirements for appointed officers; and clarifying when vacancies occur and removal procedures for municipal officers.

Changes the rules for putting local government decisions to a public vote.

This bill extends the time period for filing referendum petitions against local government ordinances and resolutions from 20 days to 45 days. It applies to county, municipal, and school district ordinances/resolutions. The bill also standardizes the signature requirement at 5% of registered voters and updates publication timing requirements to align with the new 45-day referendum period.

Expands who can use the state's cybersecurity protection services.

This bill expands South Dakota's cybersecurity services initiative by changing the eligible entities from just counties and municipalities to also include nonprofit utilities and utilities operated by political subdivisions. The bill maintains the $7 million appropriation to the Attorney General's office but broadens the scope of who can receive cybersecurity infrastructure and technology protection services.

Changes rules for submitting candidate petitions.

This bill modifies filing deadlines and procedures for nominating petitions across multiple election contexts. It changes municipal candidate filing deadlines from 70 days before election to specific dates (second Tuesday of March for June elections, second Tuesday of August for November elections), extends registered mail receipt deadlines to March 31st and August 31st respectively, modifies candidate withdrawal procedures, updates primary election petition filing deadlines from last Tuesday of March to second Tuesday of March, and adjusts school board candidate petition filing requirements.

Creates a task force to study how AI affects the state.

This bill creates a taskforce to study the impact of artificial intelligence systems on South Dakota. The taskforce includes 17 members from various industries (healthcare, banking, retail, manufacturing, technology), education, government officials, and appointees from the Governor, Supreme Court Chief Justice, and Board of Regents. The taskforce must report findings and recommendations by December 1, 2028, and is dissolved after delivering the report. The Act becomes effective January 1, 2027.

urging the people of the state of South Dakota to seek the Lord Most High for His healing presence and mercy upon South Dakota.

Updates rules about public access to government records.

This bill makes minor technical updates to South Dakota's open records law, including grammatical changes (replacing 'which' with 'that'), punctuation corrections, reorganizing text structure for clarity, and updating federal statute citations with effective dates. The substantive exemptions from open records disclosure remain unchanged - the bill only improves readability and organization of existing exemptions.

Changes rules about what government records can be made public.

This bill modifies public access to voter registration records by expanding privacy protections for certain officials. It adds new protections for personally identifiable information (home addresses, phone numbers, and personal email addresses) for elected/appointed statewide, legislative, and federal officials, current and retired judges, and law enforcement officers. The bill restructures existing privacy protections that previously only applied to judicial officers' home addresses and extends these protections to both current county records and the statewide historical archive maintained by the Secretary of State. It also includes a provision stating that violations do not create a private right of action.

Bans paying people to collect petition signatures.

This bill prohibits the use of paid petition circulators for ballot measures in South Dakota. It removes definitions for 'paid circulator' and 'volunteer circulator' from state law, adds a new definition of 'compensate' that broadly covers any payment or inducement for petition circulation (excluding legitimate expense reimbursement), and requires petition circulators to provide handouts stating they are not being compensated for their work. The bill effectively bans any form of compensation for petition circulation activities.

Clarifies when agencies must disclose financial impacts of new rules.

This bill modifies the administrative rulemaking process by requiring agencies to provide financial resource information to code counsel (in addition to the Interim Rules Review Committee) when proposing rules that increase fees. The financial information includes fund balances, receipts, and disbursements for the last two fiscal years plus projections for current and next fiscal year. This information must now be filed earlier in the rulemaking process - at least 20 days before public hearings rather than just before committee review.

Allows voters to recall county commissioners.

This bill creates a new process allowing voters to recall county commissioners from office. It establishes petition requirements (15% of district voters or 5% of county voters), specifies allowable grounds for removal (corruption, crimes in office, drunkenness, gross incompetency, gross partiality, malfeasance, misconduct, nonfeasance, oppression, and theft), and sets procedures for special elections to remove and replace commissioners within 60 days of petition submission.

Requires ballot measures to say whether they came from citizens or lawmakers.

This bill requires ballot questions to disclose whether they were proposed by the Legislature or by citizen initiative. It adds disclosure language to attorney general statements that appear on ballots, specifying whether constitutional amendments or referred laws came from the Legislature versus citizen-initiated petitions.

Changes when cities can hold their elections.

This bill makes technical amendments to municipal election procedures by changing terminology from 'annual municipal elections' to 'regular municipal elections' throughout various statutes. It also makes minor procedural changes to election timing requirements, allows boards of trustees to extend terms from 3 to 4 years for even-year elections, and updates language for filling municipal office vacancies including mayors and aldermen.

Requires public notice when the governor appoints people to positions.

This bill requires the governor's office to publish notice of all gubernatorial appointments and reappointments to state boards, commissions, councils, or other entities in the South Dakota Register.

honoring the life and achievements of the late Charlie Kirk.

Updates the state's official law books.

This bill updates the official South Dakota Code of Laws by adding new volume revisions (2025 revision of volumes 20, 30, and 31, plus a new volume 20A), renumbering subsequent volumes, and updating the effective dates from 2025 to 2026 for when the updated code takes effect. It is purely a technical housekeeping measure to incorporate newly revised volumes of statutes into the official code.