South Dakota Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in South Dakota, with full citations and the original source on every page.
In a South Dakota city with an aldermanic form of government, can the city council fire the City Administrator on its own, or does only the mayor have that power?
Only the mayor can. South Dakota law (SDCL 9-14-13) gives the mayor sole authority to remove officers the mayor has appointed. A city ordinance giving the council appointment or removal power conflict…
In a South Dakota aldermanic city, can the city council fire the City Administrator if the mayor refuses to, or does only the mayor have that power?
Only the mayor. Under SDCL 9-14-13, in aldermanic-form South Dakota municipalities, the mayor has an absolute and exclusive power to remove any officer the mayor appointed, including the City Administ…
In South Dakota, can a candidate or officeholder pay for childcare or personal security out of their campaign account?
Probably yes, but only when the expense exists because of the campaign or office, not as a personal cost the person would have anyway. SDCL 12-27-50 is silent on these categories, so each expense has …
Can a South Dakota candidate or officeholder use campaign committee funds to pay for childcare or personal security expenses that came up because of the campaign or the job?
Likely yes if there's a clear campaign or officeholder nexus, but it's a gray area. SDCL 12-27-50 lets campaign committee funds be spent on a 'purpose related to a candidate's campaign' or 'expenses i…
Now that 2025 HB 1130 has forced South Dakota municipal and school board elections onto the June primary or November general election dates, do all those contests have to share one ballot, or can each entity print its own?
Each entity can print its own ballot if they want. HB 1130 requires municipal and school board elections to be held on the same date as the June primary or November general election, but it does not r…
Under South Dakota's 2025 HB 1130, do counties, cities, and school districts have to hold their elections on a single combined ballot, or can each level run its own ballot on the same day?
They can run separate ballots. HB 1130 only requires the elections to happen on the same date (June primary or November general), not that they share one ballot. 'In conjunction with' is about timing;…
Can a South Dakota city-owned liquor store sell THC beverages or other THC-infused products?
Mostly no, and the rest needs lab testing. South Dakota bans all synthetic cannabinoids, any product with more than 0.3% Delta-9 THC outside the medical cannabis program, and any product whose cannabi…
Can a South Dakota city-owned liquor store legally sell THC drinks and other THC-infused products?
Probably not most of what's on the market. SD bans products with more than 0.3% Delta-9 THC, all synthetic cannabinoids, and any hemp product made by chemically converting CBD into THC isomers (Delta-…
When an outside police department asks a South Dakota city's officers to arrest someone in that city, or comes into the city and makes the arrest themselves, what authority is actually in play?
The local officers can act on probable cause communicated to them by another department (collective knowledge doctrine). But the outside department cannot drive into another municipality and make a cu…
When South Dakota police arrest a suspect outside their own city limits because another department asked them to or because they had probable cause from a different jurisdiction, is that arrest legal? And does the host department have to step in if it isn't?
The 'collective knowledge' doctrine lets one department rely on another department's probable cause to make a stop or arrest, so probable cause can be borrowed. But the arresting power itself stops at…
South Dakota's new election law (HB 1062) tells the Secretary of State to post the statewide voter registration file online weekly, but another statute says voter registration info can't be put on the internet with unrestricted access. Do those statutes contradict each other?
No. The Secretary of State can satisfy both by posting the file behind a request-form gate: anyone can ask for access by submitting contact info and acknowledging the use restrictions, then gets a one…
Does South Dakota's new law forcing the Secretary of State to post the statewide voter file online clash with the older law that bans putting voter file data on the internet for unrestricted access?
No, the statutes can coexist. SDCL 12-4-37 (added by 2025 HB 1062) tells the Secretary of State to post weekly updates of the voter file on the Secretary's website. SDCL 12-4-41 says voter file inform…
Can the South Dakota Treasurer's Unclaimed Property Division proactively use data matching to find owners of unclaimed property and just send them a check, without making them file a claim?
Yes. SDCL 43-41B-25 says an owner 'may' file a claim, which means filing is permissive, not the only path. The Treasurer's general duty under SDCL 1-10-1 to safely keep and pay out public moneys, toge…
Can South Dakota's State Treasurer proactively find owners of small unclaimed property holdings and mail them a check, without waiting for the owner to file a claim?
Yes. The Uniform Unclaimed Property Act says an owner 'may' file a claim, not 'must,' which means the owner's claim is one route but not the only one. The Treasurer is the safekeeper of the property a…
Can a new road district be formed that overlaps with an existing road district? And does the county commission have any say in whether a properly-petitioned road district gets created?
No overlapping road districts: state law doesn't authorize them, and allowing them would double the tax burden on landowners and create administrative conflict. And no commission discretion: if a road…
Can a new road district be created on land that's already inside an existing road district, and can the county commissioners say no to a road district petition?
No on both ends. Overlapping road districts are not allowed in South Dakota. SDCL Chapter 31-12A doesn't authorize a second district to sit on top of a first one, and the AG concluded that allowing it…
Can the Pennington County State's Attorney's Public Information Officer also serve on the Rapid City Area School Board, or is that a built-in conflict of interest?
No built-in conflict. SDCL 13-7-3 only bars 'county, municipal, or state officers' (and other office holders with incompatible duties) from school board membership. A Public Information Officer is an …
When the South Dakota Lottery licenses video lottery operators, does the state need to do more than check the applicant's home address to confirm residency? And does the partnership-and-corporation residency rule apply to LLCs too?
Yes, more than an address check is needed when something raises a question; and no, the partnership/corporation rule does not extend to LLCs. SDCL 42-7A-43 puts the burden on the applicant to prove re…
If an employee of the county State's Attorney's Office runs for a seat on the local school board, does that automatically create a conflict of interest that disqualifies them?
No. SDCL 13-7-3 only disqualifies elected officers or holders of an 'office' whose duties are incompatible with school board service. A Public Information Officer in the State's Attorney's Office is a…
What does South Dakota's video lottery operator law actually require for 'residency'? And does the partnership/corporation majority-ownership rule apply to LLCs and limited partnerships too?
The South Dakota Lottery has to satisfy itself, with whatever investigation is needed, that an applicant actually lives in South Dakota as their permanent home. And the majority-South-Dakota-resident-…
Can a South Dakota full-time state's attorney still do private legal work on the side, like estate planning, business contracts, or federal court cases?
Yes, mostly. SDCL 7-16-19 prohibits full-time state's attorneys from representing private parties in civil or criminal actions in South Dakota state courts. It does not prohibit other private legal wo…
Can a South Dakota State's Attorney who is now a full-time county employee still do private legal work on the side, as long as it's not in state court?
Yes. SDCL 7-16-19 only bars a full-time state's attorney from representing private clients in cases pending in South Dakota state courts. Other private practice (transactional work, federal court matt…
If I own three parcels in a South Dakota road district, do I get three votes? And can I vote absentee in road district elections?
One vote per landowner, no matter how many parcels you own. SDCL 31-12A-1.2 defines an eligible voter by ownership of 'land' in the district, not by number of parcels, and explicitly limits corporatio…
In a South Dakota road district, if I own three parcels of land in the district, do I get three votes? And can I vote absentee in road district elections?
One vote per landowner, no matter how many parcels. Absentee voting is available in formation elections, in initial trustee elections in districts with over 1,000 voters, and in referendum elections. …
Does South Dakota's Athletic Commission have legal authority to regulate slap fighting contests (where two competitors trade open-hand blows to the face)?
No. The Athletic Commission's jurisdiction is limited by statute to boxing, kickboxing, and mixed martial arts. Slap fighting does not fit any of those definitions (no gloves, no fists, no kicks, no w…
Does the South Dakota Athletic Commission have any authority to regulate slap fighting events in the state?
No. The South Dakota Athletic Commission's jurisdiction under SDCL 42-12-9 is limited to boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and sparring exhibitions. Slap fighting doesn't fit any of those statut…
Can an individual city council member (alderman) demand to look at a specific city employee's timesheet, and are city employee timesheets public records anyone can request?
No on both. Individual aldermen have no special statutory right to access employee timesheets beyond what any member of the public has. And timesheets are exempt from public disclosure under South Dak…
If you want to pull a piece of land out of a South Dakota sanitary district, how many petition signatures do you need? Is it 20% of all voters in the district, or 20% of votes cast for the top trustee at the last election?
It is 20% of the votes cast for the top vote-getter at the last annual trustee election, not 20% of all district voters. So in a small new district where the leading trustee got 40 votes, an exclusion…
Can a South Dakota city with a home rule charter, like Sioux Falls, switch its municipal elections to ranked choice voting or approval voting instead of a traditional one-vote-per-person plurality system?
Approval voting yes, ranked choice voting no. Chief Deputy McGuigan concluded that approval voting, where voters can mark approval of multiple candidates, fits within SDCL 9-13-25's framework (a runof…
In South Dakota, when residents want to split off part of a township and form a new township, does the petition to start the process need signatures from a majority of the whole original township, or only from a majority of the people in the area that would become the new township?
Only the affected portion. AG Ravnsborg ruled that SDCL 8-1-8(3) requires signatures from a majority of registered voters living in the portion of the township that would actually be split off, not fr…
If a 16- or 17-year-old comes to a South Dakota hospital for a sexual assault exam after being assaulted by their boyfriend or girlfriend, can the medical staff keep the assault confidential because the teen does not want to report it to police?
No. AG Ravnsborg ruled that the mandatory child-abuse reporting statute, SDCL 26-8A-3, requires medical professionals to report suspected sexual abuse of anyone under 18 to law enforcement, the state'…
If one child in a South Dakota family already attends a neighboring (nonresident) school district under open enrollment, must the nonresident district also accept a sibling who needs special education services it cannot provide, just to keep the family in one district?
No. AG Ravnsborg ruled that SDCL 13-28-44 lets a nonresident district deny an open enrollment application for a child who needs special education services the district cannot provide, even when a sibl…
In a South Dakota county that has adopted a comprehensive plan, can the county commission hear variance requests from the county subdivision ordinance on its own, or does the board of adjustment have to handle them?
The board of adjustment handles them. SDCL 11-2-17.1 carves out a different procedural track only for counties that have NOT adopted a comprehensive plan. Pennington County has one, so SDCL 11-2-49 ap…
When someone asks a South Dakota county coroner for a copy of an autopsy report (where the requester is not law enforcement and not the deceased person's next of kin), is the autopsy report a public record that the coroner has to release?
No. Autopsy reports are exempt from the SD open records law under three independent exemptions: SDCL 1-27-1.5(2) (medical records), SDCL 1-27-1.5(5) (law enforcement / investigatory body records), and…
In a South Dakota county that has combined the offices of County Auditor and Register of Deeds into one office under one elected official, when does that official's term begin, the first Monday in January (the Register of Deeds date) or the first Monday in March (the Auditor date)?
The first Monday in January. SDCL 7-7-1.3 specifies that the term of office for a combined county position begins on the first Monday in January following the election. The Buffalo County official ele…
If a South Dakota city signed a ten-year contract for water tower and tank painting in year one plus annual inspections and maintenance in following years at total cost exceeding $150,000, was the city required to put the contract out to competitive bid as a public improvement, or could it skip bidding under either the professional services exemption or the equipment repair contract exemption?
Bidding was required. The AG concluded that painting and maintaining a city-owned water tower is a public improvement under SDCL 5-18A-1(22), so any contract over $50,000 had to be bid regardless of h…
When voters in a South Dakota civil township want to split their township into two new townships, what role does the county commission play, and can the county commission redraw the boundaries of the new townships?
The county commission's role is limited. The commission holds a hearing, notifies voters, and acts in a supervisory capacity. The voters of the affected township make the final decision on whether to …
How much of a township road right-of-way must an adjoining landowner clear of vegetation under SDCL 31-31-2, and when does farming, fencing, or altering the grade of a section-line highway cross the line into illegal obstruction?
SDCL 31-31-2 requires the landowner to clear vegetation from the entire 66-foot right-of-way, to the extent the remaining vegetation can be cut with a mower (not just the shoulder). Farming, fencing, …
Does the South Dakota State-Tribal Relations Committee (created by the Legislature as a forum for issues of mutual concern between the state and tribes) have authority to issue legislative subpoenas to compel attendance of witnesses or production of documents?
No. The State-Tribal Relations Committee is a statutory committee whose authority comes solely from SDCL 2-6-20 et seq. Those statutes do not grant subpoena power, expressly or by necessary implicatio…
Can a South Dakota city create a second business improvement district that overlaps an existing one, does the new overlay need its own separate board, and can hotels within the new BID pass the special assessment through to their guests as a separate line item on the bill?
Yes, a second BID may overlay an existing one (the BID statute repeatedly speaks of 'districts' in the plural). Whether the existing BID board can also serve the second BID depends on whether its memb…
Can a South Dakota town that has never adopted a comprehensive zoning plan or any zoning ordinances create a business improvement district under SDCL chapter 9-55 to fund downtown improvements?
No. SDCL 9-55-4 says a business improvement district has to lie within an established business area that has been zoned for business, public, or commercial purposes. A municipality with no zoning ordi…
When a county commission has voted no to a sheriff's request for a drug dog, can the sheriff accept a privately donated drug dog as a gift to the sheriff's office, and can the sheriff then go around the commission and amend the county's insurance policy to cover the dog?
Yes on the gift, no on the insurance. A sheriff has implied authority to accept gifts directly related to his statutory law enforcement duties, including a trained drug dog. But only the county commis…
Two persistent worries about SD legislative practice: (1) Can SD legislators trade votes ('I'll vote for your bill if you vote for mine')? (2) Can SD legislators use 'vehicle bills' (introducing a bill on one subject and then gutting and replacing the content with something completely different)? Are either of these practices illegal under the SD Constitution, SD statutes, or legislative rules?
Neither is prohibited. (1) Vote trading that does not involve physical violence, coercion, or the exchange of a thing of value is not prohibited by the SD Constitution, SD statutes, or SD legislative …
Does South Dakota's Marsy's Law (Article VI, § 29) reach civil lawsuits, ordinance violations, minor traffic tickets, and Sexual Assault Response Team meetings, or is it limited to traditional criminal and juvenile cases?
Marsy's Law applies only to criminal cases and juvenile delinquency cases as defined by the SD Legislature, and only when an identifiable primary or ancillary victim has affirmatively invoked the righ…
South Dakota voters added Marsy's Law to the state constitution in November 2016. The law gives crime victims a long list of rights, including a right to prevent disclosure of information that could be used to locate or harass them. Now state and local agencies are not sure what to do. Can the police still release motor vehicle crash reports to the public, with names and addresses, the way they always have? Can a daily 'crime log' still show street addresses where crimes happened? Can officers still announce addresses and names over radio traffic? Beadle County's State's Attorney asked these questions; here are the answers.
Yes to all three, with a critical condition: the victim must first invoke the right of nondisclosure. The 2016 AG read the Marsy's Law amendment to require unambiguous invocation of victim rights, by …
After South Dakota voters passed Marsy's Law (Article VI, Section 29) in 2016 establishing constitutional rights for crime victims including a right to prevent disclosure of information that could be used to locate or harass them, could state and local government entities continue to release motor vehicle crash reports to the public, and could they include street addresses where crimes occurred and victim names in crime report logs and law enforcement radio traffic?
Yes to both, with conditions. The AG concluded that Marsy's Law rights were not automatically applied to every victim by default. Like constitutional rights generally, they had to be invoked by the vi…
When a SD township road runs along the edge of a farm or other private land, who has to control the weeds in the road ditch and right-of-way: the township or the adjoining landowner? And can a township board change the September-1 to October-1 statutory window for when weeds have to be removed?
It depends on the kind of weed. Noxious weeds (the legally-designated ones) are the township's responsibility under SDCL 38-22-22 because the township supervises the road. Everything else (regular gra…
When a Box Elder City Councilperson resigned mid-term and the council appointed a replacement under SDCL 9-13-14.1 'to serve until the next annual municipal election,' did the appointee have to run for retention at the 2016 annual election or at the next regularly scheduled Box Elder election in 2017 (Box Elder's terms were staggered, so no full election was scheduled for 2016)?
The 2016 annual election. The statute said 'next annual municipal election,' not 'next regularly scheduled election.' SDCL 9-13-1 sets an annual election each second Tuesday of April; even if Box Elde…
In 2015, the SD State Board of Education was proposing new Science Standards that drew heavily from the multi-state Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). SD law had just been amended (SDCL 13-3-48.1) to ban adoption of multistate-consortium standards before July 1, 2016. Would adopting these NGSS-influenced standards violate that ban?
Not as a matter of law on the facts presented. The proposed standards were drafted by SD's own Department of Education workgroup, not by an outside multistate consortium, even though the workgroup hea…
When SD's Department of Environment and Natural Resources sends its Geological Survey Program out to drill exploratory bore holes for groundwater and geological investigation, and the chosen location is inside the public right-of-way of a township road, county road, state highway, or federal road, does DENR need to get permission first from the adjacent private landowner or from the road's governing unit of government?
No. SDCL 1-1-10 gives the state geologist authority to enter private property to conduct statutorily-authorized surveys, and SDCL 45-2-4.2 authorizes the geological survey itself. Together those statu…
After SD enacted SDCL 12-19-1.2 in 2013 requiring 46 days of absentee voting, does that 46-day rule apply to municipal (city) elections, or do the smaller 15-day and 7-day periods in SDCL 9-13-21 still control for municipal absentee voting?
The 15-day rule (and 7-day rule for runoff secondary elections) in SDCL 9-13-21 continues to control for SD municipal elections. SDCL 12-1-2 expressly says Title 12 election provisions yield to statut…
If a SD high school student is serving a 60-school-day suspension from extracurricular activities under SDCL 13-32-9 for a drug or alcohol offense, do the days the student attends a special summer school term count toward the 60-day total, or does the suspension pause until the regular fall term starts?
Summer school days count. Under SDCL 13-32-9, a 'school day' is any day during a school term, including a special summer school term established by the local school board, on which instruction is prov…
If a South Dakota high school student is suspended from sports for a drug conviction and reduces the suspension to 60 school days by completing a chemical-dependency assessment, do summer school days count toward those 60 days?
Yes. If the local school board has established a special summer school term and the student is enrolled in it, the days that instruction is provided count as 'school days' for the 60-day extracurricul…
Can a South Dakota qualified charitable organization run a bingo game at multiple locations simultaneously via video simulcast, with one single prize pool funded by card sales at all the locations together? And does the answer change if multiple qualified organizations jointly run the simulcast bingo?
Yes to both. SDCL chapter 22-25 governs charitable bingo through general requirements (qualified-organization status, no individual benefit, no professional operators, compensation limits, $2,000 maxi…
When a county or township highway intersects with a state trunk highway, whose money pays to maintain the connecting roadway surface that sits within the state's right-of-way? Does the prior history of the connecting roadway (private driveway, then county road) change the answer?
The second or intersecting highway's government pays. Under SDCL 31-24-9 (as amended in 2010), the government entity that owns the second-in-time intersecting highway is responsible for constructing a…
When a SD county has a weed and pest control problem and there are private commercial chemical applicators operating in the county, can the county weed and pest board still enter into a joint powers agreement (under SDCL 1-24-8) with another government agency for weed control work? Or does the existence of private applicators in the county block the county from contracting with the other government and force the county to use the private applicators?
Yes, the county can contract with another government agency. SDCL 38-22-23.11 restricts the county weed and pest board from selling and applying chemicals and poisons when those services are available…
When a SD school district receives money from a will or estate that names the school district but doesn't say what the money should be used for, can the school district turn around and give that money to a community foundation or to its city government to set up a college scholarship program for graduating students?
No. SD school districts are creatures of statute and have only the powers expressly granted or necessarily implied by statute (Olson v. Guindon, Tschetter). SDCL 13-14-5 authorizes a school district t…
When a SD city is building a major public improvement like a community wellness center and wants to hire one firm to manage the project as construction manager-at-risk, can that firm do the warranty work and the fix-up of third-party contractor mistakes itself, or must even those small construction tasks be done by separate contractors? And can a single firm serve as both the architect/engineer and the construction manager-at-risk on a project over $100,000?
On the first question, no: under SDCL 5-18A-1(4), 'construction' is defined broadly to include repair, demolition, and alteration. Warranty work and correction/completion of third-party work both fall…
South Dakota's 2009 SB 119 lets townships, counties, and the state transfer highway rights-of-way to Indian tribes or the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In Flandreau Township, a section-line road runs through tribal lands of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe. Can the township use SB 119 to give the right-of-way to the tribe or BIA so they'll pave it? What does the transfer agreement need to say? What happens to speed-limit enforcement, criminal jurisdiction, and the township's liability after the transfer? Is there a smarter alternative?
Yes, SB 119 authorizes the transfer, including section-line rights-of-way, to either a federally recognized tribe or the BIA. But the AG flagged so many open jurisdictional, regulatory, and liability …
If an excavator is going to dig at a railroad crossing in SD and calls One Call to find out where underground utilities are, are the railroad company's underground lines (signal cables, fiber, gas lines) marked? Or are railroad companies exempt from One Call membership and the duty to mark, leaving the excavator to find railroad lines on their own?
It depends on what the railroad owns. If the railroad company holds legal or fee title to the land at the crossing, it qualifies as a 'landowner' under SDCL 49-7A-15 and is exempt from the One Call sy…
When an excavator calls One Call in SD before digging near a house and the dig will affect the water service line or sewer service line running from the public right-of-way to the building, whose responsibility is it under SDCL chapter 49-7A to come out and mark the line: the water/sewer utility (operator) or the homeowner (property owner who arguably owns the service line)? And does the One Call locate obligation extend all the way from the right-of-way to the meter (water) or to the building (sewer), or does the homeowner take over at some point?
The utility operator. The operator (not the property owner) must mark both the lines in the public right-of-way and any service laterals extending onto private property within the proposed excavation …
Those coin-pusher or quarter-pusher machines you sometimes see at bars, fairs, and arcades. The player drops a quarter onto a moving shelf hoping to dislodge other quarters or prizes piled up on the shelf. Are these legal amusement devices in SD (subject to the 4% amusement device tax under SDCL ch. 10-58), or are they illegal slot machines and games of chance prohibited by the SD Constitution and SDCL 22-25-13?
Illegal slot machines. Under SD law, an unconstitutional game of chance is one 'wherein chance predominates over skill' (Bayer v. Johnson). Quarter-pusher machines meet that definition. The player dep…
Can the SD Department of Game, Fish and Parks enter into a Walk-In Area Program hunting-access contract with a state legislator who owns hunting land? Specifically, does SD Constitution Article III, § 12 (which bars legislators from being interested in state contracts authorized by laws passed during their term) block the contract when the underlying funding statute was enacted in 1998 and last substantively amended in 2004, and the legislator was in office during the 2004 amendment?
On the facts presented, no. The AG read Article III, § 12's phrase 'authorized by any law passed during the term for which he shall have been elected' to mean the specific term when the authorizing le…
Can the South Dakota Commissioner of School and Public Lands sell a tract of state-owned school or endowment land to a city or a local economic development corporation, knowing the city or EDC plans to lease the land to a private company for a business project? And does 'economic development' count as a 'public purpose' under the statutes that govern these sales?
Yes to both. The 2008 AG read SDCL 5-9-34 and 5-9-35 as allowing sales of up to 160 acres of common school or endowment land to civil, state, religious, or public organizations for 'public purposes,' …
Can a SD city use tax increment financing (TIF) to fund the public infrastructure (streets, curb, gutter, water/sewer mains) in a new residential subdivision, where the city's contribution stops at the infrastructure and individual lot owners pay for their own homes?
Yes. SDCL 11-9-42 says 'No tax increments shall be used for the construction of residential structures.' Reading the words plainly, that statute prohibits using TIF money to actually construct residen…
When a county wants to upgrade a gravel road in an unorganized township by paving it with asphalt, can the county use SDCL 31-13-51 (the up-to-80-cents-per-front-foot special assessment for maintaining or repairing township roads) to pay for the work? And if it could, could the county set up multi-year installment payments using the municipal-financing chapter (SDCL ch. 9-43)?
No on both. SDCL 31-13-51 authorizes an annual front-foot assessment only for 'maintaining or repairing' roads. Asphalt surfacing of a gravel road is an 'improvement' under SDCL 31-13-33 (which specif…
McCook County wanted to require that all land subdivisions inside the county be platted before any deed could be recorded, even though state law (SDCL 43-21-1) only requires platting when a property is divided into parcels that cannot be described except by metes and bounds. The county wanted to direct the Register of Deeds to refuse to record any deed for unplatted land. Could McCook County enact that ordinance?
No. AG Larry Long concluded the proposed ordinance was both ultra vires (beyond the county's statutory authority) and preempted by state law. Counties in South Dakota have only the powers the Legislat…
South Dakota water project districts (special-purpose political subdivisions formed under SDCL ch. 46A-18) are funded by tax levy or special assessment, and bond elections need 60% approval. The TLC Water Project District wanted to know who actually gets to vote in those bond elections. Do 'registered voters' have to also be landowners? Do landowners voting on special assessments have to be registered voters, or residents of the district? After 1998 statutory reorganization muddied the rules, district presidents needed a clear answer.
The 2006 AG separated the two voter groups. For bond elections funded by tax levy: registered voters of the district were eligible to vote, and they had to be residents of the district, but they did N…
When a South Dakota water project district holds an election to approve multi-year bonds, who can vote? Must registered voters also own land in the district, or can registered voters in a nearby town vote? Can nonresident landowners vote when special assessments fund the bonds?
Depends on how the bond is secured. If by general tax levy, registered voters who reside in the district vote (no landowner requirement). If by special assessment, only the landowners subject to the a…
When does a South Dakota felon get the right to vote back: at release from prison, at the end of the original court sentence, or at parole completion? Does a suspended imposition of sentence count as a conviction that takes away voting rights? What does a former inmate actually have to do to register again?
Voting rights come back when the full sentence is discharged, not when the inmate walks out the prison gate. A suspended imposition of sentence does not count as a conviction at all (because the court…
By 2004 the City of Watertown was seeing more and more electric scooters: kick-style two-wheeled platforms, electric mopeds, motorized-bicycle-looking devices, some capable of 38 mph. Riders of all ages were using them on public and private property. Watertown's city attorney wanted to know whether these things could legally be driven on the public highways of South Dakota.
Mostly no. AG Lawrence Long classified all electric motor scooters with two or three wheels as 'motorcycles' under SDCL 32-20-1(3), which expressly includes scooters with platforms in addition to scoo…
South Dakota sold the state cement plant in 2001. The voters that year added Article XIII §§ 20 and 21 to the state constitution to protect the proceeds: $238 million was placed in a trust fund, $12 million transfers annually to the general fund, and if the trust's market value grew enough above the original principal, additional money could be appropriated for the support of education. By 2004 the trust had grown, but no one had ever made the additional 'support of education' distribution before. The Bureau of Finance and Management wanted to know: what's the right valuation date, how does the Legislature actually appropriate the money, and what happens if the trust value drops between when we measure it and when the Legislature acts?
AG Lawrence Long approved the Bureau's proposed framework. The June 30 market valuation date was right because Section 21 limits distribution to amounts that maintain the original principal 'in that f…
South Dakota conservation officers (the GF&P uniformed wildlife law enforcement officers) routinely walk onto private farms and ranches to check licenses and look for game violations, without first getting a warrant and without the landowner's permission. Is that constitutional? Is it criminal trespass? The GF&P Secretary wanted a definitive answer.
Constitutional, and not trespass. The 2004 AG ruled that conservation officers may enter privately owned open fields without probable cause, reasonable suspicion, consent, or a search warrant in the p…
If the Lead/Deadwood School District received Deadwood gaming proceeds in January 2003 for the 2002 calendar year, but did not qualify for state school aid during 2002 and only qualified for partial aid in January-June 2003, could the Department of Education and Cultural Affairs offset the entire gaming payment against the partial 2003 aid? How far across fiscal or calendar years could that offset reach?
Yes to the offset, and the offset was not capped by the year boundary. The AG read SDCL 42-7B-48.2 literally: gaming receipts reduce 'any general state aid otherwise payable' dollar-for-dollar, with n…
When the South Dakota Parole Board counts how many felony convictions an inmate has for purposes of computing parole eligibility, does it look at the date of conviction, the date of offense, or the date of sentence? And how should it count a suspended imposition of sentence that was later revoked because of a new felony?
Date of conviction, in most cases. The AG concluded that SDCL 24-15-5 and 24-15A-32 turned on whether the trial court entered separate judgments under SDCL 23A-27-4 or specifically used 'separate tran…
Were South Dakota pardons issued by the Governor between 1995 and 2002 automatically sealed from public view, or could the Secretary of State release them under the open records law?
It depended on which kind of pardon. The AG concluded that SDCL 24-14-11 only sealed pardons that went through the chapter 24-14 Board of Pardons and Paroles process. A pardon issued under the Governo…
Could the South Dakota State Auditor set a cutoff time after which late-arriving wage garnishment summonses would not attach to an already-printed state employee paycheck, so the payroll system could be fully automated?
Not under existing statutes, but the Legislature could add one. The AG concluded that SDCL 21-18-12 and 21-18-40 fixed garnishee liability at the moment a summons was served, so neither the Auditor no…
If sponsors filed the text of a South Dakota constitutional amendment with the Secretary of State after one gubernatorial election but gathered signatures and submitted the petition after a later gubernatorial election, which election's vote count sets the signature threshold?
The later election. The AG read Article XXIII, Section 1 to require 10 percent of 'the total votes cast for Governor in the last gubernatorial election,' measured at the time the petition was submitte…
If a person moves to South Dakota for a 12-month contract job but keeps voting and paying taxes in their home state, can they get a South Dakota concealed pistol permit after 30 days?
No. The AG concluded that the 30-day county-or-municipal residency requirement in SDCL 23-7-7.1 required actual residency, not just temporary physical presence. A contract worker who kept voting regis…
After two South Dakota school districts merged under a reorganization plan that locked in residency requirements for school board members, could the new board dissolve those representation areas on its own? Could voters force the change by petition? And could the board pick a single polling place for the new district?
The board could not act unilaterally, but voters could force a change. The AG concluded that no statute authorized the new board to dissolve residency requirements or representation areas on its own, …
Two South Dakota school districts have reorganized into one. The reorganization plan required board members to live in specific representation areas. Can the new combined school board dissolve those residency requirements on its own? If not, can the board put it to a vote, can voters petition for a vote, and may the district hold elections at a single polling place rather than one per representation area?
The board cannot dissolve residency requirements on its own and cannot put the question to vote on its own. But voters can. Ten percent of the registered voters can sign a petition under amended SDCL …
If a South Dakota homeowner lives in one unit of a duplex or triplex and rents out the others, can the property still qualify for the 20 percent owner-occupied property tax credit? What about a single-family home with a rentable basement apartment?
No to both. The AG read SDCL 10-13-39 as covering only houses, condominium apartments, townhouses, townhomes, and manufactured or mobile homes assessed as a single unit. Duplexes and triplexes are by …
Are the annual unclaimed-property reports that South Dakota businesses file with the State Treasurer open to public inspection, and can the Treasurer charge the public for copies?
Mostly yes. The AG concluded that the reports were public records under SDCL 1-27-1 because the Uniform Unclaimed Property Act required the Treasurer to keep them, but Social Security numbers, federal…
Can a South Dakota school board member-elect also serve as Assistant Director of a cooperative educational service unit (the Black Hills Special Services Cooperative) where the school district is a member of the cooperative, contracts for services from the cooperative, and pays the cooperative for those services?
No. The positions are incompatible under both SDCL 13-43-1 (if the Member-Elect is a certified teacher she is 'drawing public money as a teacher' from a public-financed multi-district education progra…
If a South Dakota county has spent public money grading and plowing a private driveway for 20+ years, does that turn the driveway into a public road? Can a county post a road as 'minimum maintenance' to skip plowing or graveling? And what duty does a county owe section-line roads it never officially adopted?
No to the first question. The AG concluded that even decades of public spending could not convert a private driveway into a public highway under SDCL 31-3-1, because the statutory definition of 'highw…
Does the South Dakota Family Farm Act's ban on corporate hog confinement facilities (SDCL 47-9A-13.1) prohibit a cooperative corporation, whether foreign or domestic, from owning or operating a hog confinement facility or a swine farrowing facility?
No. The Family Farm Act's definition of 'corporation' in SDCL 47-9A-2(2) is limited to entities under the South Dakota Business Corporation Act (SDCL chapters 47-2 to 47-9) and limited liability compa…
If a SD landowner did not return a county classification questionnaire in 1992, had his land reclassified from agricultural to non-agricultural for the 1993 tax year, paid the higher 1993 taxes in 1994 without protest, and later asks for an abatement and refund under SDCL chapter 10-18, can he get it?
No. The SDCL chapter 10-18 abatement procedure is available only for the six narrow categories listed in SDCL 10-18-1 (entry error, valuation-included improvements that did not exist, exempt status, n…
Can the Shannon County Board of Commissioners conduct business if fewer than three of its five members attend a meeting, given the long travel distances to meetings in Hot Springs, and what options exist when assembling a quorum is impractical?
No business can be conducted without a quorum. A three-member quorum is required for the five-member board, and three affirmative votes are needed to take any official action. The board's option for h…
After the 1994 Legislature passed HB 1255 pushing back the deadline for the Secretary of Revenue to withhold personal property tax replacement funds for nonagricultural assessment violations, can a South Dakota county commission pass a resolution rolling back agricultural land assessments to 1993 levels?
No. HB 1255 only delayed the withholding start date for nonagricultural property to 1995. It did not change the agricultural date, did not authorize any rollback, and did not modify the true-and-full-…
When the 1994 South Dakota Legislature passed SL 1994 ch. 19 directing removal of the Edwin Blashfield mural 'The Spirit of the West' from the Governor's Reception Room, did that statute override the Capitol Complex Restoration Commission's general preservation duties for historic areas, and can the painting be left in place covered by draperies if physical removal would damage it?
SL 1994 ch. 19 controls over the general preservation statutes in SDCL chapter 5-15 because it is both more specific (about this mural) and more recent (1994). The statute requires the painting be tak…
When South Dakota police take a minor into custody, can they share information about the minor with a Department of Social Services caseworker or with school officials involved with the minor, given that SDCL 26-7A-27 bars disclosure of juvenile law enforcement records to 'the public'?
Yes, with limits. The term 'public' in SDCL 26-7A-27 means the general undifferentiated community, not government agency personnel who have a particularized interest in the child. DSS caseworkers and …
If a sitting South Dakota county commissioner is appointed to a vacant seat in the State Legislature, can the person hold both offices at the same time until the county commissioner term ends?
No. The offices of state representative and county commissioner are incompatible. The Legislature has plenary constitutional authority over counties under S.D. Const. art. IX, § 1, including the power…
When the SD Legislature created the Office of Administrative Hearings under SDCL chapter 1-26C in 1994, did that new chapter override or abrogate the existing hearing procedures the Division of Insurance had been following under SDCL title 58 and chapter 1-26?
No. SDCL 1-26C creates a new structure (the Office of Administrative Hearings and statewide Administrative Law Judges) but does not abrogate existing procedures unless they specifically conflict. Insu…
When a cable company, the Welcome Wagon, a church, or anyone else asks a South Dakota city for the names and addresses of its water and sewer customers, does the city have to release the list, and can the city charge for it?
Yes, the city must allow inspection of subscriber name-and-address lists. Names and addresses alone do not invade privacy here, similar to electric and telephone subscriber lists. The city has no auth…
When a SD local government wants to piggyback on another local government's competitive bid under SDCL 5-18-18, can it change the specifications, buy a newer model, ignore a trade-in that was part of the original bid, or convert a trade-in bid into a cash-only purchase?
Limited. Any variance from the original bid must be non-material (substantial compliance with the original specs). A newer model is fine if its specs do not materially vary from the original. A trade-…
South Dakota's state auditor wants to automate payroll, but garnishment summonses arriving after warrants are printed currently force manual processing. Can the State Auditor set an administrative deadline so a garnishment summons served after a payroll cutoff does not apply to the warrant about to be printed? If not by rule, can the Legislature do it by statute?
By rule, no. Garnishment is purely statutory, and SDCL 21-18-12 makes the time the summons is served the moment garnishee liability attaches. The auditor's rulemaking power cannot contradict that stat…
Can an agent for an out-of-state bail bondsman walk into a South Dakota county jail, demand custody of an inmate (held on a local DWI warrant) who jumped bond in the other state, and take that inmate back across state lines without ever going through a SD judge?
No. SD has priority of jurisdiction while the inmate faces local SD charges, so the bondsman cannot demand release. Even after SD releases the inmate, SDCL 23A-43-29 requires the bondsman to deliver t…
What kinds of long-term commercial leases can the South Dakota Commissioner of School and Public Lands enter into for the Human Services Center campus at Yankton, including leases to governments, nonprofits, and private developers, and how long can the leases run?
Under SDCL 5-1-7.2, the Commissioner may grant 'subsidiary' commercial or forestry leases on school and public lands beyond traditional agricultural, grazing, and mineral leases, but only after promul…
May a Crooks city alderman simultaneously serve on the city common council and on the municipal planning and zoning commission? The common council hears appeals from planning and zoning decisions, so the alderman would in effect be voting on appeals from his own commission decisions.
No. SDCL 9-14-16 prohibits an alderman from holding any other office under the municipality. Membership on the planning and zoning commission is a 'public office' under the *Griggs v. Harding County* …
When a South Dakota school district reorganizes and some of its property moves to a new district, does that property still owe its share of capital outlay certificates the old district issued before the reorganization?
Yes. Capital outlay certificates issued under SDCL 13-16-6.2 are 'bonded indebtedness' for purposes of SDCL 13-6-82, so the lands originally taxed for them stay liable after reorganization. The county…
In a joint school and city election in South Dakota, can a school board candidate withdraw from the ballot after the filing deadline has passed?
Generally no, with one narrow exception. When the school district and the municipality jointly hold an election under SDCL 13-7-10.1, the municipal election rules in SDCL Chapter 9-13 control, not the…
If a customer presents a valid South Dakota concealed pistol permit to a federally licensed firearms dealer, does that exempt the sale from the federal Brady Bill's five-day handgun waiting period?
Yes. South Dakota's concealed pistol permit, issued only after a background check under SDCL 23-7-7.1, meets the Brady Bill's § 102(a)(1)(C) exemption criteria. A buyer presenting a SD permit issued w…
If the county commissioners in South Dakota want a light bar and county decals put on the sheriff's county-owned car for safety and identification, and the sheriff doesn't want them, can the commissioners buy the equipment and force the sheriff to use it?
Commissioners can buy and install the equipment under SDCL 7-12-12, but they cannot force the sheriff to use it. South Dakota law gives county commissioners no general authority over the sheriff's ope…
If a sitting city commissioner pleads no contest to embezzlement and the judge finds her guilty but suspends the imposition of sentence (no formal judgment of guilt entered), is she automatically disqualified from holding city office?
No. A suspended imposition of sentence under SDCL 23A-27-13 is not a 'conviction' for voter-disqualification purposes because the court never entered a judgment of guilt. The commissioner remains a qu…
When South Dakota launches motor voter registration in 1993, can the Social Security number that the DMV already has on file from the driver's license application automatically be reused on the voter registration card without asking the applicant separately, or does the applicant need to consent?
The applicant needs to consent. The 1993 SD AG concluded that nothing in the National Voter Registration Act or federal Privacy Act authorized the involuntary use of a SSN for voter registration; the …
If a South Dakota city council passes something labeled a 'resolution' to join a regional solid waste district, and the mayor vetoes it, can the council override the veto with a two-thirds vote, the way it can override the veto of an 'ordinance'?
Yes when the action is legislative in substance. The 1993 SD AG concluded that South Dakota's veto-override statutes (SDCL 9-19-10 and 9-19-11) apply only to ordinances, but the courts look to substan…
When a South Dakota city is closing its old sanitary landfill and building a new solid waste transfer station, can it pay for the transfer station by issuing utility revenue bonds under SDCL 9-40-1, or are those bonds limited to traditional sewage systems?
Yes. The 1993 SD AG read SDCL 9-40-1's phrase 'sewage and other domestic, commercial and industrial wastes' broadly to cover solid waste, not just sewage that flows through sewer pipes. Limiting the l…
If a buyer and seller record a 'notice of contract for deed' (not the full contract) with the South Dakota register of deeds to keep the purchase price private, does the register still have to certify the transfer to the secretary of revenue, and does the recording have to include a certificate of value form?
Yes to both. The 1993 SD AG read SDCL 7-9-10 as requiring the register of deeds to certify a notice-of-contract recording to the secretary of revenue, county auditor, and director of equalization just…
Does the student member of the South Dakota Board of Regents have to satisfy the rule that no two regents may reside in the same county, where student regents typically register to vote in the college town like other students?
No. The student regent's qualifications are set by SDCL 13-49-6.1, not by the general regents statute SDCL 13-49-2. The specific student-regent statute controls, and it does not impose a one-regent-pe…
Can a South Dakota legislator (or anyone from the public) see how many jobs a REDI Fund loan recipient created, what hourly wages those jobs pay, and what benefits are included?
The number of jobs created is public. Company-specific wage and benefit data is confidential under SDCL 1-16G-11 because it qualifies as financial information about a business operation. The Board of …
If South Dakota law requires one of the trustees of a county hospital to be a 'legally-qualified physician or nurse,' does that person have to hold an active medical license, or does an inactive license satisfy the rule?
An inactive license is sufficient. The 1993 SD AG read the statutory phrase 'legally qualified' as different from 'licensed.' A physician or nurse who has met the licensure requirements of SDCL ch. 36…
A South Dakota taxpayer lives in Township B but owns property in Township A (both in the same county and school district). He did not appeal his Township A property assessment to the Township A local board of equalization when it was sitting. Can he now appeal directly to the county board of equalization, or has he lost his appeal rights?
He can appeal directly to the county board. SDCL 10-11-27 requires complaints to be made to the local board first, except that a 'nonresident of the taxing district' may be heard without a prior local…
Can a South Dakota school district let children attending a preschool operated by a local church ride the public school buses to and from preschool, if the buses are not rerouted and the public-school students are also riding?
No, on two independent grounds. The 1992 SD AG concluded that simultaneous public and private use of a school bus was not authorized by the statutory scheme (SDCL 13-24-20, 13-29-1, and 49-28-2(1) rea…
When the South Dakota Department of Transportation sells state-owned railroad property, the law gives the lessees and abutting landowners 60 days' notice and a right to purchase at appraised value, except for sales 'for railroad purposes.' What does 'railroad purposes' mean, and when does a buyer get to skip the notice-and-purchase-right requirement?
A sale is 'for railroad purposes' only when the buyer will continue to run a railroad on the right-of-way being sold. If the line has been abandoned and the buyer plans any other use (recreational tra…
If a South Dakota drainage district was formed in the 1910s or 1920s under the old drainage laws and is still functioning, does it have to file its vested drainage rights with the register of deeds before the 1992 deadline, or are the pre-1985 districts exempt?
No filing required. The 1991 SD AG concluded that a drainage district that was functioning or making assessments in the three years before July 1, 1985, and is therefore preserved under SDCL 46A-10A-4…
If a campground owner in South Dakota already holds a state campground license from the Department of Health, does the operator also need a separate county temporary campground permit during events like the Black Hills Motorcycle Classic?
Yes. Under SDCL 7-18-21, enacted in 1991, a county may require its own temporary campground permit for fairs, carnivals, or similar gatherings even when the operator already holds a state campground l…
South Dakota voters added a state-lottery clause to the state constitution in 1986. The clause permitted the Legislature to authorize a state lottery, provided the lottery was 'regulated, controlled, owned and operated' by the state. The Legislature then passed video lottery in 1989. Here was the puzzle: the actual video lottery machines were owned by private licensed operators (bars, lounges, convenience stores), not by the state. The state owned only the central control computer system to which all machines had to connect. Was that enough 'state ownership' to satisfy the constitutional clause? Governor Mickelson wanted a written AG opinion before video lottery rolled out fully.
Yes. AG Mark Barnett (in an unusual AG-issues-constitutional-opinion exception) concluded that the video lottery scheme was constitutional under Article III, § 25. The state did not need a proprietary…
Can a South Dakota city charge people outside the city limits more for water and sewer than it charges in-town customers? Does the city have to set those rates by ordinance, or can it just sign a separate contract with each outside customer? And can the city charge commercial users a higher rate than residential users?
Yes to charging non-residents more, yes to commercial vs. residential differentials, and rates had to be set by ordinance (not by individual contracts). The AG concluded that South Dakota cities could…
After the 1990 Legislature added SDCL 43-4-22(18), which exempts transfers 'for which no consideration was given' from the real estate transfer fee, is an exchange of one parcel of land for another parcel of land still subject to the transfer fee, or is it now exempt?
Still subject to the fee. AG Tellinghuisen ruled that exchanging one parcel of land for another parcel is a transaction with consideration (each parcel is the consideration for the other), so SDCL 43-…
If a city has a platted street showing a 60-foot right-of-way but the actual paved street is narrower, can the city widen the street to the full 60 feet without doing a new survey and plat?
Yes, no new survey needed. If the original plat showing the 60-foot right-of-way was duly dedicated to and accepted by the city, the public is considered to have accepted the entire dedicated width. E…
Can the Pennington County treasurer accept monthly installments on delinquent real-estate property taxes (in exchange for not starting tax-deed proceedings), and can the Pennington County sheriff accept installments on delinquent mobile-home taxes after the treasurer has issued a distress warrant?
Treasurer: yes, but only when the county commissioners have first authorized partial payments under SDCL 10-21-7. Sheriff: no, never. Once the treasurer hands the sheriff a valid distress warrant, the…
A state employee who flies on a state-purchased ticket accumulates frequent flier miles in the employee's personal account. The 1982 AG had said this was illegal under then-SDCL 4-3-4. SDCL 4-3-4 has been repealed and replaced by SDCL 4-3-4.2, and the airlines no longer require the original ticket to claim award travel. Can a state employee now use the frequent flier credits for personal travel?
Yes. AG Tellinghuisen overruled the 1982 opinion. Frequent flier miles are not 'emoluments or perquisites' of state employment because (1) the state pays nothing extra for them, (2) the airline (a thi…
When an emergency mental illness commitment is started in one county for a person who actually resides in another county, can the state's attorney in the county where the proceedings began send a bill for his or her legal services to the patient's home county?
No. SDCL 27A-10-2 reimburses 'apprehension and transportation' costs back to the county of residence, but does not list the state's attorney's services among reimbursable costs. SDCL 27A-9-15 reimburs…
South Dakota's 1988 Legislature repealed SDCL 10-10A, removing the separate assessment for severed mineral interests, so surface owners are now assessed on the full value. The 1989 tax freeze (Senate Bill 121) capped 1989-payable taxes at the 1988 levy. Does assessing surface owners on full value violate the freeze, or does it qualify as the Section 4 'change of use' exception?
Neither. The full-value assessment of surface owners does not violate the freeze because the freeze caps dollars of tax, not assessed value; the surface owner cannot be taxed at more than the 1988 dol…
Does SDCL 23A-40-7 allow the Davison County Board of Commissioners to issue a bid for a professional services contract under which a single attorney or law firm would handle the bulk of indigent defense representation in the county, rather than (a) creating a public defender's office or (b) using case-by-case court appointments at hourly rates?
Yes, with caveats. AG Tellinghuisen ruled that SDCL 23A-40-7's three statutory methods (public defender office, court-appointment plan, or combination) accommodate a bid-based professional services co…
If a South Dakota county runs a petition drive to change the number of county commissioners but misses the next primary election deadline, can the signatures carry over to the next primary? Can circulators be paid? Must they sign an affidavit? Can a signer withdraw their name?
Signatures that failed to qualify for one primary cannot be re-used for the next one; new ones must be gathered against the new voter count. Circulators can be paid (Meyer v. Grant struck down the sta…
Clay County petitioners ran short of valid signatures to put a county commissioner size change on the ballot before the deadline. Could later signatures carry over to the next primary? Could circulators be paid? Did unsigned-by-circulator petitions count? And when could a signer take their name off the petition?
Mostly yes, with one no. The AG concluded that original signatures expired when the petition missed its primary election window and the underlying petition became a nullity, but signatures gathered af…
A nonprofit hospital's administrator lived in a home the hospital had owned since 1967. The county discovered the residence had never been on the tax rolls and tried to add it. The hospital says the home is exempt as charitable property; the Director of Equalization says SDCL 10-4-9.3 only exempts property used for health-care services. Who is right?
The home was still exempt. AG Tellinghuisen concluded that the 1986 amendment to SDCL 10-4-9 did not strip charitable hospitals of the parsonage-style exemption recognized in the 1934 Scottish Rite Te…
Can South Dakota county officials use county funds to cover their travel, food, and lodging while lobbying the Legislature on county issues?
Yes, with conditions. County officials traveling to Pierre to provide legislative testimony or information on bills affecting county government are discharging official duties under SDCL 7-7-3 and 7-7…
Can the South Dakota State Board of Medical and Osteopathic Examiners discipline a physician for sexually harassing prospective employees and having sex with a patient, even though SDCL 36-4-30 does not specifically list those behaviors? And can the Board's investigators access patient medical records under SDCL 36-4-22.1, which only specifically mentions drug records?
Yes to both. SDCL 36-4-29's general grant of authority over 'unprofessional or dishonorable conduct' is not limited by the specific list in SDCL 36-4-30; the listed examples are illustrative, not exha…
When a South Dakota auditor catches the Department of Revenue applying tax laws inconsistently or retroactively, what can the auditor do? Who actually has the legal authority to adjust or write off taxes, and is the Secretary of Revenue required to write down the reasons for changing a tax assessment? Can tax laws even be applied retroactively?
The Secretary of Revenue and the Director of the Audit Division of the Department of Revenue had broad statutory authority to adjust tax audit amounts based on their interpretation of the law, subject…
In South Dakota, can the public hunt on a section line where the farmer has planted crops? Can they drive on unimproved section lines? When does a section line count as 'improved' enough to allow hunting? And if a landowner fences off a section line, what can a frustrated hunter or traveler actually do about it?
The public can drive on any section line that has not been formally vacated, even if the farmer has crops on it. The public can hunt on a section line if it has been 'improved' (anything done to facil…
The 1987 Legislature created the Department of Labor Employees Retirement Board to administer a retirement program established under SDCL 61-2-15. What is the scope of the Board's authority? Does it merely oversee the Department of Labor's administration of the plan, or does it actually administer the plan itself, including investment decisions, eligibility determinations, contribution and benefit amounts?
The Board administers the plan, fully. AG Tellinghuisen ruled that the 1987 Chapter 386 transferred the entire administrative authority from the Secretary of Labor (under SDCL 61-2-16) to the new Boar…
A Grant County resident died in a car crash in Codington County. The Codington County coroner ordered an autopsy. Which county had to pay the pathologist's $610 bill: the county where the person lived, or the county where they died and the autopsy was ordered?
The county whose coroner ordered the autopsy paid the bill. Under SDCL 23-14-9.2, autopsy fees were paid from the general fund of the county whose state's attorney or coroner had ordered the procedure…
Can a small South Dakota tourism town like Keystone use the proceeds from an additional 1% municipal sales tax adopted under SDCL 10-52-8 to buy, build, and maintain city parking lots to support local businesses and tourism?
Yes. The Town of Keystone could use SDCL 10-52-8 sales-tax funds for a municipal parking lot because that infrastructure clearly promoted the town and its tourist attractions. AG opinions had previous…
I bought a car in South Dakota in 1984 when there was no excise tax on used cars between SD residents, moved to Alaska for two years, and now I'm back trying to re-register. Can SD make me pay the excise tax now even though I never owed it before?
Yes, SD can charge the tax. The motor vehicle excise tax under SDCL Chapter 32-5B is paid 'on any registration which follows a sale' of the vehicle. The tax law in effect at the time of registration c…
When a South Dakota school district, county, or city wants to invest extra cash, can it just buy shares of a mutual fund that holds U.S. Treasury bonds? Or does it have to actually own the Treasury bonds itself?
It had to own the bonds itself. The AG concluded that SDCL 4-5-6 authorized political subdivisions to invest in U.S. government securities and securities guaranteed by the federal government, but only…
Can a small-town mayor in South Dakota write traffic tickets and patrol the streets if the city no longer has a police officer? Does the statute giving the mayor 'all powers conferred by law upon sheriffs to suppress disorder and keep the peace' make the mayor a law enforcement officer?
No. The AG concluded that SDCL 9-29-16 gave the mayor only the sheriff's specific power to call others to aid in keeping the peace, not the full status of a law enforcement officer. To issue a traffic…
If a company sells South Dakota consumers a contract that, in exchange for an upfront premium, promises to pay or reimburse their legal fees if they later need an attorney, is that company in the insurance business? Does it have to comply with South Dakota's insurance regulations, even though it isn't a traditional insurer?
Yes. The AG concluded that a company selling contracts that promised to pay or indemnify against legal expenses was 'doing an insurance business' under SDCL Title 58. SDCL 58-1-2(1) defined insurance …
A nonprofit hospital in Viborg, South Dakota, built a clinic attached to the hospital and then leased it to a for-profit medical clinic that operated as a private business. The hospital also built an apartment complex for semi-independent living and rented those units out. The hospital argued all of this was part of providing health care and should be property-tax exempt. Was it?
No. The AG concluded that property owned by a tax-exempt nonprofit hospital but leased out for private profit was not exempt under SDCL 10-4-12. The for-profit clinic and the rental apartment complex …
Can a South Dakota city like Spearfish use its lodging-tax revenue to help fund a private nonprofit heritage museum? Does SDCL 10-52-8, which lets cities use that tax for 'civic center' and 'promotion of the city,' cover supporting a 501(c)(3) historical organization?
Yes. The AG concluded that SDCL 10-52-8 gave cities broad discretion to use lodging-tax money for civic center facilities and city promotion, and a heritage museum operated by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit wa…
If the treasurer of a South Dakota irrigation district is also (a) the insurance agent who sells the district's insurance and (b) an officer of the bank holding the district's deposits, are either of those arrangements legal? And does SDCL 6-1-1's escape valve for small or competitively-bid contracts help save the deal?
The insurance contract was void. SDCL 46A-4-49 made any direct or indirect officer interest in an irrigation district contract a Class 5 felony, and under SDCL 53-9-1 and Norbeck & Nicholson v. State,…
When a South Dakota county or town buys heavy equipment using 'total cost' bidding (purchase price plus guaranteed maximum repairs minus guaranteed buyback), can it just add and subtract the face value of those dollars? Or does it have to discount the future numbers to present value? And does the contract need a real performance bond, or is a corporate guarantee enough?
Total cost bidding was legal, but only if it was done right. The AG concluded that adding present-day dollars to future repair costs and then subtracting a future repurchase price at face value violat…
In rural South Dakota, can a neighboring landowner just plow up and farm an unimproved section line that's never been formally closed by the township? If they do, can the township make them restore it to grass? And what counts as 'obstructing' a section line, anyway, if you're growing crops on it?
No, the farmer cannot just take a section line. Under SDCL 31-18-1, every section line in South Dakota is a public highway by operation of law unless formally vacated, and the public retains an absolu…
Can the same South Dakota county official serve as County Director of Equalization and as a school board member at the same time?
No. The County Director of Equalization is the official responsible for determining property valuations for tax purposes. A school board is a governing body that depends on property tax revenue to ope…
When a South Dakota state employee asked the state to deduct money from her paycheck to buy a retirement annuity, did SDCL 3-10-5 mean she could only use an insurance company? Or could she use her bank or her investment broker instead?
She could use any licensed provider, not just insurance companies. The AG concluded that SDCL 3-10-5 authorized state employees to direct payroll-withheld funds to 'a company or organization licensed …
Predator Control Districts have been formed in several West River counties under SDCL chapter 40-37, but stockgrowers are not paying the special tax because counties are not collecting it. Can the counties be forced to do their statutory duty, and how?
Yes. The county treasurer is the 'proper tax collecting official' required to collect predator control district taxes 'in the same manner as the general taxes' (SDCL 40-37-17). If the treasurer fails,…
Can a South Dakota state's attorney bring criminal theft charges against a library patron who borrows a book and, after repeated written requests, refuses to return it?
Yes. AG Meierhenry concluded that a borrower who refuses to return a library book after repeated requests can be prosecuted for theft of public property under SDCL 22-30A-1 (the intent to deprive can …
Under SDCL 23A-27-18.1, a court can require a probationer to serve up to 60 days in the state penitentiary as a condition of probation. Does a probationer serving that 60 days earn the good time credits that SDCL 24-5-1 gives to convicts serving a regular prison sentence?
No. SDCL 24-5-1's good time credits apply to convicts who have been 'sentenced.' Probationers under SDCL 23A-27-18.1 are serving jail or penitentiary time as a condition of probation, not as a sentenc…
If a South Dakota conservation district leases equipment to farmers, or sends its own employees to operate that equipment on private land, should it buy liability insurance? Does the district itself have sovereign immunity? What about its employees personally?
The conservation district itself was probably immune from tort liability as a quasi-municipal corporation, similar to a school district or township. But the AG warned that the district's employees wer…
South Dakota statutes require bid bonds for 'public improvements' and certified checks for county building construction. They do not address materials, supplies, and equipment purchases. Can counties still require bid bonds or certified/cashier's checks for those general purchases, and if so, in what amounts and what forms?
Yes, counties have implied authority to require bid bonds, certified checks, or cashier's checks for purchases of materials, supplies, and equipment even though no statute expressly requires it. The a…
In 1983 South Dakota, when a school district crossed county lines and property in one county had been pushed to a higher adjusted taxable value than adjacent property in the lead county, could the county commission of the higher-valued side lower the taxable percentage to bring the values back together?
Yes, when the gap was more than 5%. Chapter 73 of the 1983 Laws let the county commission of the overlapped county reduce the taxable percentage applied to property in the joint district so that the a…
South Dakota counties collect several revenue streams (bank franchise tax, rural electric tax, telephone tax, transient farmer tax, etc.) and pass them through to school districts. Some counties split the money across the school's General Fund, Capital Outlay Fund, Bond Redemption Fund, and Special Education Fund based on the current year's tax levy ratios. Other counties just credit everything to the General Fund. Which approach is correct?
General Fund only. None of the statutes governing these pass-through revenues directs the county to apportion the money across a school district's multiple funds. The county's only job is to deliver t…
South Dakota's state investment officer invests state retirement funds. SDCL 4-5-14 prohibits members of the State Investment Council from benefitting directly or indirectly from any transaction made by the state investment officer. Does that conflict-of-interest rule disqualify a state employee from serving on the council, since strong investment returns improve the retirement fund the employee is also a member of?
No. The conflict rule in SDCL 4-5-14 was not intended to bar council members from the kind of diffuse, generalized benefit that a state employee gets when the retirement system performs well. The rest…
On a South Dakota Indian reservation, an electrical inspector found two people doing their own home wiring under SDCL 36-16-15's homeowner exemption: one was non-Indian, the other was Indian. The state requires a wiring certificate under ARSD 20:44:04:01(2). Both refused, saying the state had no jurisdiction on the reservation. Does the State Electrical Commission have jurisdiction over either?
Yes for the non-Indian, no for the Indian. State jurisdiction generally extends to non-Indians on reservation fee land for matters like electrical permits, so the state can require the non-Indian to o…
If a South Dakota school district advertises for bids on fuel oil and no supplier will offer a firm fixed price for the school year, may the district sign a continuing contract with one supplier under which the price is adjusted up or down each delivery to track the supplier's documented costs?
No. The school district cannot enter a continuing contract with renegotiable pricing. Under SDCL 5-18-9.2 the district may instead reject all bids and make sale-by-sale purchases via competitive quota…
Should land in Day County owned by South Dakota and managed by the Department of Game, Fish and Parks as a game production area be classified as 'agricultural' for property tax mill-levy purposes?
Yes. The state's game production land in Day County met all three criteria of the SDCL 10-6-31.3 agricultural-land test: it was actively grazed, hayed, and cultivated on roughly 30% of acreage; the co…
When South Dakota acquired the Milwaukee Road line from Rapid City to Mitchell in 1982 and took over the line's licensing agreements, can the state Division of Railroads charge a rural electric cooperative annual rent for utility line crossings, even though state law gives the co-op a right to cross publicly owned land?
Yes. SDCL 47-21-66 protects a co-op's right to construct and maintain lines across publicly owned land, but it does not require crossings to be free. SDCL 1-44-28 gives the Division of Railroads autho…
An out-of-state corporation wants to build a pilot mining plant in South Dakota that mines about 5,000 tons of ore and affects one acre, just to test whether a full-scale operation makes economic sense. Should the pilot be permitted under SDCL 45-6B (the Mined Land Reclamation Act) or SDCL 45-6C (exploration)? And does the answer change if the pilot is larger?
Under SDCL 45-6B (mining), not 45-6C (exploration). The exploration definition expressly excludes development; the mining definition expressly includes development, and development expressly includes …
In South Dakota, can the same person serve as both a county commissioner and a state legislator at the same time? And can a state legislator also sit on the South Dakota Veterans Commission?
No to both, but for different reasons. The AG concluded that simultaneous county commissioner and state legislator service created a conflict of interest, because the legislator would have authority t…
Some South Dakota rural water associations are private nonprofit tax-exempt organizations. Can they qualify as 'public or quasi-public agencies' eligible to receive federal surplus property under federal regulations?
No. Under federal regulations (41 CFR § 101-44.207), only state agencies, political subdivisions, instrumentalities created by interstate compact, multijurisdictional substate districts established by…
SDCL 46-5-6.4 lets the Department of Agriculture take water samples from wells to validate water analyses submitted with irrigation permit applications. Some samples submitted by applicants turn out to be invalid (improper sampling, fraud). Does the Department's validation power continue after the irrigation permit has been conditionally or unconditionally approved, or after a water right based on the permit has been acquired? And who pays for the validation sampling?
The validation power is ongoing. The Department can validate water samples both during the application process and afterward, including after a permit has been granted and even after a water right has…
A meat truck operator brings fresh meat to Mitchell one day a week, every week, for six months. He has paid the transient merchant license fee throughout. Now he wants to claim his business is permanent (and therefore not subject to the transient merchant statute). Does one day a week, repeated, qualify as 'permanent' under SDCL ch. 37-12?
Yes, if he followed the right paperwork. SDCL 37-12-1 says a business operated more than six months in one place by the same person is deemed permanent. SDCL 37-12-3 sets up the filing procedure for t…
When a South Dakota city specially assesses state-owned property for a local improvement, three things are unclear: is the state property assessable at all, does the state owe interest and penalty when it pays the assessment in installments, and does SDCL 5-14-20 give the Bureau of Administration authority to approve interest payments?
State property is subject to special assessments, but the state is not subject to interest or penalty on installment payments because the legislature has not consented to it. The Bureau of Administrat…
Can a South Dakota township borrow money from a bank to buy a road maintainer (grader), spread payments over 10 years, and issue warrants to the bank for each annual payment?
No. A South Dakota township has no statutory power to enter into a 10-year financing contract for equipment. The only authorized methods to fund a road-maintainer purchase are (1) issuing bonds under …
Sioux Falls has grown across the Minnehaha-Lincoln county line, and those two counties are in different judicial circuits. For traffic and criminal offenses committed in the Lincoln County portion of Sioux Falls, can preliminary proceedings (like a guilty plea) be heard in Sioux Falls, Minnehaha County, without a change of venue? And could the legislature pass a statute letting offenses be tried wherever the city is, regardless of which county the offense actually occurred in?
Yes to the first, no to the second. SDCL 23A-17-1 lets a defendant in writing waive trial in the county where the charge is pending and consent to disposition in the arresting county, with the prosecu…
When a mineral exploration company drills a well, then signs an agreement turning over the well to the landowner so it can be used as a water well, is the company off the hook for the well? And does the state require a bond from the landowner before the conversion is complete?
Yes, the company is off the hook. SDCL 45-6A-6.14 statutorily allows the conversion and shifts the well's care to the water user (landowner or lessee). No bond may be required from the landowner: SDCL…
Can a South Dakota city operating under a city manager form of government hire a full-time fire chief for its volunteer fire department, and can the fire department's members elect the chief themselves?
Yes to hiring a full-time fire chief, but no to having the firefighters elect that person. Under SDCL 9-10-13, only the city manager appoints administrative officers in a city-manager city. The volunt…
In the late 1970s, could a South Dakota National Guard member taking a Board of Regents extension course off-campus get the reduced-tuition benefit, and did the 'C average' requirement mean the average for the most recent semester or the cumulative average across all college work?
Yes on the extension course. The reduced tuition benefit under SDCL 33-6-5 reached any undergraduate course in a state institution, not just on-campus courses. And the 'C average' requirement was cumu…
When South Dakota's psychology licensing law sunsets on July 1, 1979 and the Board of Examiners of Psychologists ceases to exist, can the Board's leftover funds be used to hold continuing education workshops for licensed psychologists, or must the money revert to the state general fund?
Must revert to general fund. SDCL chapter 36-27 authorized the Board to set continuing-education requirements (SDCL 36-27-33) but not to provide free CE or sponsor workshops. Implied powers don't reac…
If a nonprofit historical or educational corporation in South Dakota incorporates itself as a 'historical municipality' under SDCL 9-3-22 to 9-3-27, can the county still levy ad valorem property tax on the land and buildings the corporation owns?
No. Article XI, section 5 of the South Dakota Constitution makes municipal corporation property exempt from taxation, and that exemption is self-executing per Appeal of Black Hills Industrial Freeport…
Can a South Dakota county build an addition to the county 4-H building if the sole purpose of the addition is to rent space to federal agencies (ASCS, Soil Conservation Service, Farmers Home Administration)?
No. A county can rent existing space to federal agencies (that is cooperation within an existing facility), but it cannot construct an entire new structure for the sole purpose of leasing to other gov…
If a binding-arbitration ruling under South Dakota's public-employee grievance statute says a school board violated its own evaluation policy by under-evaluating a probationary teacher, can the arbitrator order the board to hire that teacher for another year? And when exactly does a probationary teacher gain continuing-contract protection?
No on the arbitration question: only the school board, not the labor commissioner, can decide whether to hire or rehire. And under the SD Supreme Court's reading of the continuing-contract statute, wr…
After the U.S. Supreme Court's April 1978 *Bellotti* decision struck down Massachusetts's ban on corporate spending in ballot-question campaigns, is South Dakota's parallel statute (SDCL 12-25-2) still enforceable? Should the South Dakota AG wait for a state court to invalidate it, or should the AG declare it unenforceable now?
Not enforceable, and the AG must say so now. *Bellotti* held that the First Amendment protects corporate speech on ballot questions; SDCL 12-25-2 banned that same speech and so cannot be enforced. The…
South Dakota law gives every person the right to have prescriptions filled at the pharmacy of their choice (SDCL 34-12B-1). It also bars exclusive supply contracts between nursing homes and pharmacies, except for hospitals, nursing homes with their own pharmacy, and nursing homes using a 'unit dose' system. Does a patient in a unit-dose nursing home retain any right to use an outside pharmacy?
No. Once a patient enters a nursing home that meets one of the SDCL 34-12B-2 exceptions (including unit-dose nursing homes), the general right to choose a pharmacy under SDCL 34-12B-1 does not continu…
Can South Dakota's Bureau of Administration save money by publishing two years' worth of state agency annual reports in a single bound volume, and can it consolidate two years of one agency's reports into a single combined 1977-78 report?
Mostly yes. SDCL 1-28-10 lets the Bureau bundle and condense reports as it sees fit. But SDCL 1-28-11 still requires each agency's report to be printed or reproduced each year in numbers sufficient to…
A South Dakota school district borders North Dakota and most residents read the *Adams County Record*, a legal newspaper published in Hettinger, North Dakota. There is no newspaper at all within the district's South Dakota boundaries. Can the school board designate the North Dakota paper as its legal newspaper under SDCL 13-8-10?
Not in this case. SDCL 17-2-11 does not bar using an out-of-state newspaper as a legal newspaper when no in-county legal newspaper exists. But the statute requires the school district to use an in-cou…
South Dakota's vocational rehabilitation confidentiality law makes it a misdemeanor to disclose information about a person who has applied for or received VR services. Does that statute prevent a VR counselor from testifying under subpoena in a worker's compensation hearing about whether the injured worker could be rehabilitated?
No. SDCL 28-9-37 forbids voluntary disclosure of VR client information, but it does not prevent disclosure compelled by a valid subpoena issued in a legal proceeding where the information is pertinent…
Can a South Dakota County Planning Commission, on its own, approve a change or amendment to the County Comprehensive Plan, or does the change require approval from the Board of County Commissioners?
The Board of County Commissioners must approve. A County Planning Commission acts in an advisory and recommending role; it does not have authority to unilaterally amend the County Comprehensive Plan. …
Can the South Dakota Board of Nursing refuse to license a nursing-school graduate who previously committed a felony, served a suspended sentence or prison term, and now wants to sit for the licensing examination?
Yes, but only under specific conditions. The Board may deny a license if (1) the felony conviction occurred within the past five years under SDCL 36-9-49(2), and (2) the conviction was not dismissed u…
When a city council approves a 3.2 low-point beer license application, can the city's residents petition to refer that action to a public vote, or is the council's decision final and not subject to referendum?
Yes, the decision can be referred. The South Dakota Constitution (Article III, § 1) reserves to the people the right to refer municipal actions, and SDCL 9-19-13 specifically subjects ordinances and r…
When a South Dakota sheriff conducts a foreclosure-by-advertisement sale of real estate and the only bid comes from the mortgagee bank itself (bidding in the property to clear its lien), what fee can the sheriff charge? The percentage commission for sales over $1,000 would be a meaningful amount.
Twenty dollars and no more. SDCL 7-12-18(30) is the specific statute for cases where the judgment creditor (here, the mortgagee bank) bids in the property. It overrides the percentage-commission statu…
Can a South Dakota county pay its highway department employees the same monthly amount year-round, even though they actually work 50 hours per week in summer and 40 hours in winter? And can the county pay them every two weeks instead of monthly?
No to the equal-monthly-paycheck idea (when based on per-hour wages). SDCL 7-22-1 requires county claims to be for services actually rendered, so an hourly employee cannot be paid an averaged amount t…
South Dakota's 1976 special motor vehicle statute let hot rods, customs, and restored cars run with modified suspensions, but an older statute (SDCL 32-15-24) flatly prohibited suspension modifications on vehicles under 6,000 pounds. Which one controls? And how much rulemaking authority does the Department of Public Safety actually have for these specialty vehicles?
The 1976 special motor vehicle statute prevailed by implied amendment. The AG concluded that SDCL 32-21-1.2 and 32-21-1.3, by specifically authorizing changed and modified suspensions on special motor…
A South Dakota rancher hauls his own cattle to a town locker plant for slaughter, brings the processed beef back to his ranch, sells it retail to customers around the state, and delivers it to them. Does he have to obtain a motor carrier compensation certificate, or do the SDCL 32-9-3 exemptions cover each leg of this operation?
The exemptions cover almost every leg. Farm-to-locker-plant and locker-plant-to-ranch are exempt under SDCL 32-9-3(9) (farmer's farm-to-community transport) and also 32-9-3(12) (raw materials between …
When a South Dakota city retains an attorney on a $30-per-hour basis to act as city attorney, can the city contract with that same attorney for a separate, percentage-of-project fee to handle the legal and fiscal work on a municipal bond issuance?
Yes. SDCL 9-14-23 expressly authorizes additional compensation for the city attorney's services in connection with the issuance of municipal bonds, as an exception to the general duties scheme in SDCL…
House Bill 847 in the 1976 South Dakota Legislature amended SDCL 58-30-23 to give the Director of the Division of Insurance discretion to waive the felony-conviction bar for general lines insurance agents (after 5 years post-conviction). SDCL 58-31-11 has identical felony-bar language for life and health insurance agents but was not amended. Did HB 847 implicitly extend the waiver authority to life and health agents too?
No. Amendment by implication is disfavored under South Dakota law and requires either explicit legislative intent or such repugnancy between provisions that they cannot stand together. SDCL 58-30-23 a…
South Dakota Retirement System rules let a current member pay for prior service credit (years of past public service that were not previously covered) by lump sum or in level installments over up to 10 years. SDCL 3-12-83 says contributions can be made by the employee 'or have made on his behalf' by the employer. Does that 'on his behalf' authorization let employers make their prior-service-credit payments in installments too?
Yes. SDCL 3-12-83 lets employers make these contributions on behalf of employees. SDCL 3-12-87 lets members pay in installments. Read together with the employer's general authority to make installment…
Can the City of Sioux Falls use its federal Community Development Block Grant funds from Public Law 93-383 to establish a direct loan or grant program for private property rehabilitation, or do state municipal-finance laws block that use?
Yes. SDCL 9-22-1 requires all municipal money to be paid into the municipal treasury and assigned to a fund by annual appropriation ordinance. SDCL 9-21-9.1 implies the municipality has authority to a…
If a South Dakota sheriff and deputies use their own vehicles for patrol but the county's mileage rate isn't enough to cover insurance, fuel, and maintenance, can the county commissioners pay for those expenses on top of the mileage rate?
No. SDCL 7-12-18(9) authorizes mileage and only mileage when private vehicles are used. SDCL 7-12-12 gives the county a different option: furnish the vehicles and equipment, in which case no mileage i…
When a child is placed in a private nonprofit group home or child care institution, is the home's administrator the child's 'person in loco parentis' for school residence purposes, and does the local school district get paid by the state for educating that child?
Yes to both. The group home administrator stands in loco parentis to the child for purposes of SDCL 13-28-9, so the child's school residence is the district where the home sits. And because the child …
South Dakota's compulsory attendance statutes (SDCL 13-27-1 through 13-27-6) require children of compulsory school age to attend school. SDCL 13-32-4 lets a school board suspend or expel insubordinate students. Can the board actually use that suspension power against a compulsory-age student, or do the compulsory attendance statutes block it?
Yes, the board can suspend. SDCL 13-32-4 expressly authorizes school boards to suspend or expel insubordinate students, and that authority operates even when the student is of compulsory attendance ag…
South Dakota passed a law that bars renewing a liquor license held by someone who has not used it for two years. Does that two-year clock run backward from the law's effective date, or does it only start counting forward from when the law took effect?
Forward only. The two-year unused-license rule applies prospectively, not retrospectively. The clock began running on July 1, 1975, the law's effective date. A licensee who had let a license sit idle …
A South Dakota law professor on the Board of Pardons and Paroles by Supreme Court appointment is moving to a full-time law-school faculty role with full salary. Can he also accept the Board's $1,800 statutory compensation and reimbursement for board-meeting expenses?
There is no statutory compensation to accept. SDCL 23-58-2 (which would have provided the $1,800 board salary) was repealed by SDCL 4-7-10.5 in 1971. The Code Commission's adopted schedule allowed Boa…
An association of three South Dakota counties (Walworth, Edmunds, Brown) and some municipalities was trying to appropriate water from a state water source for its members' anticipated future water needs. Two questions: (1) Could the association use the future-needs water appropriation provision in SDCL 46-5-38, which was limited to 'state institution, facility or property, municipality or conservancy subdistrict'? (2) Did a new statute requiring legislative approval for appropriations over 10,000 acre-feet apply to an application filed before the new statute's effective date?
On the first question, no: counties were not 'state institutions, municipalities, or conservancy subdistricts' and could not appropriate water for future use. An association that mixed counties (no fu…
South Dakota passed two bills in 1975 that both addressed state-employee sick leave: HB 625 removed the accumulation cap, and SB 102 added a five-day personal-emergency provision but did not touch the accumulation cap. They reach the governor's desk a few days apart. Which one is the law on July 1?
Senate Bill 102 prevails, even though it appears more limited. Under *Nord v. General Life Insurance Company* (S.D. 1945), when the legislature passes inconsistent acts on the same subject at the same…
If a senior citizens group sets up volunteer drivers who get reimbursed for mileage by a third-party sponsor (not by the elderly riders), are the drivers regulated as motor carriers, and are the riders considered 'guests' shielding the driver from negligence lawsuits?
Probably not motor carriers. The PUC and Department of Public Safety could classify a volunteer-driver senior transport service as 'occasional accommodative transportation' that is excluded from motor…
Minnehaha and Turner Counties may be asked to endorse and participate in a private nonprofit community action corporation. Can a county create or participate in such a corporation, contribute money to it, appoint county commissioners as board members, and was the counties' inclusion in the state community action agency through the Governor's 1974 executive order valid?
A county cannot itself create or be a corporate officer/incorporator of a private nonprofit, but county officials can serve as incorporators or directors as individuals. Counties can support a properl…
When a county union is certified as the exclusive bargaining representative for highway department employees, is the county commission's mandatory duty to negotiate salaries with the union an unconstitutional delegation of the commission's legislative authority over county compensation?
No. Janklow concluded SDCL chapter 3-18 is constitutional. The county commission's duty to negotiate does not transfer its decision-making authority. Under SDCL 3-18-7 and 3-18-8 the county commission…
Must the South Dakota Department of Health accept a tribal court order of adoption as the basis for issuing a new birth certificate under SDCL 34-25-16.1?
No. AG Janklow concluded the state had no duty to accept a tribal court order of adoption for purposes of issuing an amended birth certificate. The Full Faith and Credit Clause covers state judgments …
When state employees who live in Pierre have to fly somewhere on official state business, can they be reimbursed for the mileage from their home to the Pierre airport?
Only for the portion that is outside the Pierre city limits, and even then only with Travel Commission approval. Rule 51:01:02:01 of the State Board of Finance prohibits mileage reimbursement for trav…
When the Sioux Falls Bicentennial Commission held celebrations and sold tickets to bicentennial events in 1975-76, did the proceeds from ticket sales have to bear South Dakota sales tax?
No. SDCL 10-45-13 exempted gross receipts from sales of tickets or admission to community-operated celebrations sponsored by certain municipal nonprofit corporations or associations. The Sioux Falls B…
If a person elected to the board of trustees of a South Dakota sanitary district moves outside the district during her term, must she give up her seat? Does state law require board members to live inside the district?
No. SDCL chapter 34-17 contains no express requirement that a sanitary-district trustee reside within the district. SDCL 37-14-18 requires the nominating petition to be signed by qualified electors of…
When the South Dakota Legislature adopted the Multistate Tax Compact but stripped out the line that said Article VIII (interstate audits) would be in force, did the state still get the interstate audit authority, or was that piece left out?
South Dakota got the interstate audit authority. Janklow concluded that Article VIII's section 1 (saying it would be in force only as specifically provided) was prefatory surplusage that did not survi…
Can Campbell County use its snow removal equipment on the streets of Mound City and Artas at county expense, or does it need a formal agreement first?
It needs an agreement. South Dakota's intergovernmental cooperation statute SDCL 1-24-3 allows political subdivisions to enter agreements for joint or cooperative action, and SDCL 31-12-41 specificall…
Lawrence County's Board of County Commissioners had statutory zoning authority under SDCL Chapter 11-2. The organized township of St. Onge within Lawrence County wanted to take over full zoning powers (not just fact-finding) for its territory. The St. Onge township board had been making zoning recommendations to the county zoning commission. Could the county commissioners delegate full zoning authority to the township board?
No. SDCL 8-2-9 specified the limited circumstances when a township could pass zoning ordinances (only townships near a city of 50,000+ people, which St. Onge was not). SDCL 8-2-10 expressly limited or…
The 1973 Personnel Policy Board, created by Senate Bill 71, has authority to make 'non-conflicting rules' on sick leave, vacation leave, and other fringe benefits. May the Board pass rules letting state employees use sick leave for maternity, funeral leave, or to care for ill children or spouses?
Maternity yes; funeral and family care no. Sickness has long been interpreted to include confinement caused by child birth, so maternity sick leave is permissible. But sick leave is statutorily limite…
South Dakota Highway 50 ran through Vermillion. In 1951, the state acquired an extra 35 feet of right-of-way by warranty deed in anticipation of highway widening, but the widening did not use all the new right-of-way. Vermillion now wanted to build sidewalks along Highway 50, and the sidewalks would fall entirely within the state's right-of-way, with a narrow strip of state land between the sidewalk and the private properties. Who paid for the sidewalk construction and repair: the state (which technically owned the land where the sidewalk would sit) or the abutting private property owners?
The abutting property owners. Even though the state had taken the right-of-way by warranty deed (which sounds like fee simple), Article VI, Section 13 of the South Dakota Constitution provided that 't…
The 1972 South Dakota Constitution amendment allowed the Governor to reorganize state agencies, boards, and commissions by executive order. But the same amendment carved out an exception for elected constitutional officers (Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer, Commissioner of School and Public Lands). Could the Governor use his executive-order reorganization power to strip the Office of the Commissioner of Consumer Affairs out of the Attorney General's office and move it to a different department?
No. Article IV, Section 8 of the Constitution expressly excepted elected constitutional officers (including the Attorney General) from the Governor's reorganization authority. Once the Legislature had…
Several South Dakota school teachers are also serving in the Legislature. Can a school district continue to pay a teacher's regular salary during the legislative session, and can individual school board members be held personally liable if it does?
Yes, the district may continue paying. SDCL 3-8-4's dual compensation ban applies only to people paid from the state treasury, and teacher salaries come from the school district, not the state. Board …
The 1972 Legislature passed three acts (Chapters 38, 39, 44) raising salaries for elected county officials including treasurers, auditors, clerks of courts, registers of deeds, states attorneys, and sheriffs. The acts did not specify an effective date. The state Constitution said compensation of public officers could not be 'increased or decreased during his term.' Did the new salary acts take effect July 1, 1972 (the default date for legislation without a specified date), or did they have to wait until each official's next term started in 1973?
July 1, 1972. The constitutional ban on mid-term salary changes (Article XII, Section 3) had been effectively superseded by a 1946 amendment to Article XXI, Section 2, which allowed the Legislature by…
Are privately or federally sponsored low-rent or elderly multi-family housing units in South Dakota classified as hotels under the state Fire Safety in Hotels law, subject to state Fire Marshal inspection?
No. SDCL 34-34-1 defines hotel by reference to transient occupancy. Low-rent housing and housing for the elderly are designed for permanent residents who qualify under continuing housing-authority cri…
A Lawrence County assessor accidentally added an extra zero to a property's valuation sometime before 1962, making the value appear as $27,900 instead of $2,790. The error went undetected through 1969 tax years. When the taxpayer applied for an abatement and refund in August 1971, the county commissioners approved refunds for 1964-1969 but refused to refund earlier years because of the six-year statute of limitations. Was the statute of limitations a valid bar?
No. The statute of limitations did not bar abatement and refund of taxes that were illegally levied to begin with. The state Constitution prohibited assessing property at more than its actual value, a…
Could South Dakota's Educational Television stations legally produce and broadcast programs giving time to candidates running for local, state, and federal offices, as long as they followed FCC Fairness Doctrine equal-time rules?
For federal candidates: yes, and they had to. The 1971 Federal Election Campaign Act required all broadcasting stations (commercial and noncommercial educational alike) to give legally qualified feder…
The 1972 Legislature appropriated $50,000 to the Legislative Research Council for a tax study. Governor Kneip signed the appropriations bill but then ordered the State Budget Officer to 'encumber' the $50,000 until he received a written justification from LRC about how the money would be used. Did the Governor have authority to block release of an appropriation pending his approval of the spending plan?
No. Appropriating money is a legislative function the Governor may not perform. The Governor's only constitutional power over appropriations is the line-item veto, which Governor Kneip had not used on…
South Dakota's compulsory school attendance statutes (SDCL 13-27-1 through 13-27-7) list reasons a child can be excused from attending school. Do those statutory grounds also limit a school district when it lets a student miss a few days for an educational trip, or can the school board write its own policy on field-trip absences?
The statutory excuse grounds apply only to releasing a student from membership in the school, not to day-to-day field-trip excuses. School boards have broad implied authority to adopt their own rules …
A county auditor wanted to send deputies into the community (workplaces, shopping centers, nursing homes) to register voters, rather than requiring all registrations at the auditor's office. Was that legal? Could the auditor use existing deputies or appoint special outside-the-office deputies? Could auditors register voters from other counties who happened to be in their county temporarily? And how flexibly could 'physically unable to appear' in the absentee-registration statute be interpreted?
1) The auditor could not appoint special outside-the-office deputies, but could use existing deputies (authorized by county commissioners) to register voters outside the office, prescribing the hours …
When a South Dakota highway construction project pushes a utility's power lines off private property and onto a new highway right-of-way (with federal aid paying for the move), can the State Highway Commission sign a subordination agreement promising that the utility will not have to bear future relocation costs if subsequent highway construction makes another move necessary?
No. South Dakota law treats utility facilities on highway right-of-way as subordinate to the state's dominant easement. If a future highway change requires relocation, the utility company pays. A subo…
Can a South Dakota board of county commissioners agree to settle a real-estate tax delinquency by accepting the full amount of back taxes from the former owner, without interest or penalty, when the property has since been taken over by a town?
Yes if the commissioners reasonably conclude the deal is in the county's best interest. SDC 57.0802(2) authorizes compromises on platted real property when the full tax amount cannot be realized by ta…
Can the South Dakota Board of Finance lawfully say that a state employee stops earning new annual leave once they put in notice that this vacation is the last thing before they quit?
No. Board of Finance Regulations 40.00800 and 40.00801 conflict with SDCL 3-6-6. As long as a person remains a state employee, including during a vacation that ends with termination, the employee cont…
How few students can a South Dakota one-teacher rural school have on its rolls before the district running it gets cut off from state foundation funding?
Six. Foundation funds were lost if the one-teacher rural school (within five miles of another elementary by public road) had an average daily membership of five or fewer. Five students could only reac…
The federal Mineral Leasing Act sent 37.5% of mineral revenues from public lands to the state where the land sat, to be used for public roads, schools, or other educational institutions as the state legislature directed. South Dakota had been crediting these funds to the school principal and interest fund. SDCL 4-3-17 and 4-3-18 said the state treasurer should receive federal payments and remit them to county treasurers for distribution to taxing subdivisions in tax-distribution proportions, but those sections were not explicitly written for Mineral Leasing Act monies. Did those statutes govern Mineral Leasing Act distribution, or should the existing school-fund crediting practice continue?
Yes, SDCL 4-3-17 and 4-3-18 governed. Mineral Leasing Act monies should be remitted to the county where the federal land was located, then distributed among the county's taxing subdivisions in the sam…
South Dakota's school funding law made an independent school district ineligible for general support foundation funds if it operated a one-teacher rural school with an average daily membership (ADM) of five or fewer pupils, when there was another elementary school within five miles. What is the minimum enrollment a one-teacher rural school could have without putting the district's foundation funding at risk?
Six students. ADM is calculated by aggregating each day's actual membership and dividing by total school days. If a school had only five students enrolled, every student would have to be present every…
In a South Dakota public-school collective bargaining negotiation, what topics is the school board required to negotiate with the teachers, and what topics can it keep off the table as management rights?
The Public Employees' Unions Law (SDCL chapter 3-18) requires negotiation over wages, hours, and 'other conditions of employment,' but Mydland read the federal NLRB cases (Westinghouse, McCall, Seattl…
1970 Senate Bill 219 added a new section to SDCL chapter 3-5 letting the Director of Purchasing and Printing buy a blanket bond covering many state officials, with the approval of the Attorney General and the Insurance Commissioner. Does this mean blanket bonds are now mandatory, can only one bond be issued, and what role do the AG and Insurance Commissioner actually play?
Blanket bonds are permissive, not mandatory. The Director of Purchasing and Printing has discretion to purchase or not. If he chooses to purchase, the AG and Insurance Commissioner must each independe…
Can a South Dakota school board buy group insurance that pays its employees a wage substitute when they are out with a disability or sickness, or is that off-limits because the board's enabling statute only mentions 'health' insurance?
Yes. Mydland concluded that wage-protection insurance for disability or sickness fits inside the statutory definition of 'health insurance' in SDCL 58-9-3, so SDCL 13-10-3 authorizes school boards to …
The Small Business Administration proposed that South Dakota's permanent school fund invest in the guaranteed portion (90%) of SBA-guaranteed bank loans to small businesses. The state Constitution allowed the fund to be invested only in 'securities guaranteed by the United States.' Could the fund buy a 90% SBA guarantee on a bank's small-business loan?
No. Article VIII, Section 11 of the South Dakota Constitution restricted the permanent school fund to United States bonds and securities 'guaranteed by the United States.' The implementing statute SDC…
When a common school district was carved up and merged into two different independent districts in 1969, who got to decide whether the elementary school in one of the new pieces stayed open or closed: the people in the closing-vote area only, the people in the original common district, or the school board?
Only the people who lived in the area that originally operated the elementary school (the 'A-1' area in the example) got to vote on closing it. Once the reorganization carved away the 'A-2' area into …
South Dakota's 1969 Minimum Wage Law set a one-dollar-per-hour minimum for workers 'over the age of seventeen' in listed industries including restaurants. Does coverage start when the worker turns seventeen, or when the worker turns eighteen? And does the law apply to car hops working at a drive-in?
Coverage started at seventeen, not eighteen. 'Over the age of seventeen' meant the worker had reached his seventeenth birthday, so a seventeen-year-old car hop was covered. And yes, a drive-in qualifi…
A candidate for Aberdeen mayor had lived in Aberdeen for 25 years total, but had spent about two years living and registered to vote in Sioux Falls before moving back. The statute said a city commissioner must have been 'a resident of the city for at least two years prior to his election.' Did the two-year residency have to come immediately before the election, or could it have been at any earlier time in the candidate's life?
It had to be immediately before the election. The AG ruled that reading the statute to allow any two-year residency from any point in the candidate's past would lead to absurd results (a person who li…
If a small South Dakota independent school district contracts with an Iowa school to send some of its students there for high school, can that same district also send students to a South Dakota '12-year' district under the same kind of contract arrangement? Or does choosing one path lock out the other?
The district could do both. SDC 1960 Supp. 15.3302 authorized an independent school board to assign secondary students and pay their tuition at any public school in South Dakota or in another state. S…
Yankton and Clay Counties have a new District County Court that also absorbs the municipal courts of Yankton and Vermillion. How is the court's annual budget split between the two counties and the two cities, and who actually does the math?
Only the District County Judge's $16,500 salary is split among the counties and the two cities; the rest of the budget falls on the counties alone. The split uses the latest federal census, counting e…
Could Brookings County use its mill levy or historical-display budget to help the privately owned Brookings County Historical Association build, equip, or maintain a historical museum building, and could the answer change if the association leased the museum to the county?
Substantially no. The AG concluded the county could not contribute to constructing or maintaining a privately owned museum, although the existing 5-cent-per-inhabitant budget under SDC 12.2310 could b…
We are a South Dakota public school district. The two Hutterite Colonies inside our boundaries want us to set up a public school on each colony. The colonies would furnish the building, maintain it, pay operating costs, and possibly contribute to the teacher's salary. We would employ and supervise the teacher. Is this legal under the South Dakota Constitution and statutes?
Yes, if (and only if) the on-colony school is truly a public school: open to all children of school age regardless of religion, free of any religious instruction or religious control during school hou…
If a city is going to build something like a water main extension and pay for it with special assessment bonds, does the city council have to pass a separate appropriation ordinance to spend the bond proceeds? Or can the bond authorization itself be the spending authority?
The bond authorization itself was enough. Once a city issued special assessment bonds under SDC 45.2114 to fund a public improvement, the municipality could spend the bond proceeds on the improvement …
Can South Dakota's permanent school fund be invested in SBA-guaranteed loans (where SBA guarantees 90% of the loan) by purchasing the guaranteed 90% portion? The Constitution restricts investments to 'securities guaranteed by the United States,' and the statute restricts to 'securities fully guaranteed by the United States.'
Not under the current Constitution and statute. The Constitution and SDCL 1967 5-10-18 both require full federal guarantee. Buying only the guaranteed portion of an SBA-backed loan would arguably be 1…
If a retail merchant gets Class 4 compensation plates for his truck and then uses the same truck on separate trips to haul previously sold merchandise to customers (an exempt use), does he violate the law, and can a police officer rely on the displayed plates as proof the load is lawful?
No violation, but a police officer cannot rely on the displayed plates as proof. The 1961 amendment to SDC 44.0422(6) made the exemption turn on how a vehicle was used, not whether the vehicle had pla…
Does a South Dakota township have the legal authority to buy workmen's compensation insurance for its township employees, including township officers and the board of supervisors?
Yes. Although no statute expressly granted townships authority to buy workmen's compensation insurance, SDC 64.0106(5) of the Workmen's Compensation Law expressly allowed political subdivisions (inclu…
A serviceman stationed in South Dakota wants to register his car here. He bought it in his home state and paid sales tax there, but later moved to a state without sales tax and re-registered it there before being assigned to South Dakota. Does South Dakota's additional registration tax apply to him, or does the federal Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act exempt him?
South Dakota's additional registration tax was essential to registration (a registration fee, not an ad valorem tax), so it could be charged to non-resident servicemen who chose to register their vehi…
Can a South Dakota city sign a 30-year lease to operate a privately built home for the aged next to its municipal hospital, and can the existing hospital board manage it, without a public vote?
Yes, with no public vote required. Under SDC 45.0201(13) and 45.0202(2), a city had express authority to lease and operate a home for the aged as part of its hospital function, no electorate approval …
If a new Natural Resources Conservation District is electing its five supervisors at the general election, what kind of legal notice does it have to publish? Newspaper notice? Posting in public places? The statute doesn't say.
South Dakota law did not require any specific public notice of the openings for Conservation District supervisor positions. The district could publish notice if it chose (whether by newspaper publicat…
When a South Dakota official saw that an Iowa municipality had financed a library building through a lease-purchase agreement, could a South Dakota municipality also enter into a lease-purchase agreement to build a library building?
No. The AG concluded that South Dakota municipalities have only the powers expressly granted by statute or fairly implied from those powers. The legislature had granted lease-purchase authority for sp…
Our private ambulance company is shutting down. The city and county want to step in and either run ambulance service themselves or pay a private operator to keep it going. We did not budget for this in our 1968 budget. Can we pay the bill out of the County Poor Relief Fund? Can we set up a special levy to raise the money? Do we have to take competitive bids if we contract with a private operator?
No, no, and no. The County Poor Relief Fund could not subsidize ambulance service for the general public (it was restricted to aid for the poor). Neither the city nor the county could establish a spec…
If a State Hospital inmate at Yankton is hurt while taking a Vocational Rehabilitation training course using dangerous equipment, can the State, the State Department of Public Instruction, the individual official who approved the course, or the teacher running it be held liable?
Not the State, not the Department of Public Instruction, and not the official who approved the course or funding. All three were protected by governmental immunity because the Vocational Rehabilitatio…
If a state construction contract was advertised to be opened at one place (Springfield, SD), but the bidder instructions told contractors to mail bids to a different place (Pierre), and a contractor submitted his bid at Pierre instead of Springfield, can the State still accept his low bid?
Yes. The advertisement and the bidder instructions contained conflicting addresses, which created the confusion. The State Engineer's workaround (open the Pierre-delivered bid in Pierre, telephone the…
When an heir refused to accept his share of a probate estate in the 1930s, the share was placed in a bank trustee administered by the circuit court, and the trustee bank thereafter sent annual interest cashier's checks made out to the refusing heir which the clerk of courts could not deposit or process, how should the clerk and county treasurer handle the accumulated checks?
Petition the circuit court administering the trust. The AG concluded that because the trust was being administered by the circuit court under SDC ch. 33.26, the court had inherent equitable authority …
When parents who had moved from out of state to Mitchell, South Dakota in fall 1966 had two intellectually disabled children attending out-of-state and later in-state private special-education schools, did the children acquire South Dakota school residence (and thus tuition liability for the Davison County School District) when the family arrived in Mitchell, or only when the Department of Public Instruction tried to assign them to the Hope School in Sioux Falls in 1968?
The children acquired school residence in Mitchell when the family arrived in 1966. The AG concluded school residence under SDC 1960 Supp. 15.3003 was the place where the student actually lived with p…
Can a South Dakota municipality issue revenue bonds to build a multi-use auditorium that includes a city liquor store, a youth hall, and a permanent space exclusively for the local American Legion post?
The municipality can build the auditorium and include the liquor store and a public youth hall, but not the dedicated American Legion space. Giving exclusive use of part of a public building to a priv…
Clark County had to split a municipal ward across two county commissioner districts to satisfy one-person-one-vote. Does that violate the South Dakota statute requiring each municipal ward to be a separate election precinct? If not, how should the election precincts be set up for the primary and general elections?
The split is valid. One-person-one-vote, anchored by Bailey v. Jones, overrides any state statutory provision that would create an artificial barrier to reapportionment. The split ward should be divid…
Can a South Dakota county invest its courthouse building fund and other accumulated county funds in Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) insured loans?
Yes, within the limits of SDC 48.0507. That statute let public funds (including county building funds) be invested in 'securities of the United States,' which the AG read to include any fully governme…
I am a sitting state legislator and I have been offered the job of director of my county's welfare department. Can I hold both positions at the same time, or does one of South Dakota's constitutional provisions prohibit it?
Yes, the positions are compatible. A county welfare director is an employee of the county (not a state officer), so Article III, Section 3 of the South Dakota Constitution (which restricts state legis…
Our common school district contracts with a neighboring district to bus our high school students there. But some students decided to attend a different high school instead, and never used our contracted bus. Now their parents want us to pay three years of mileage to the other school. Do we have to pay?
No. SDC 15.3309 entitled students to transportation or board-and-room allowance only when they did not have access to bus service furnished by their school district. Students who had access to the dis…
Who legally makes up the County Central Committee in South Dakota, who else may participate in the county party organization, and who fills nomination vacancies for county and joint legislative offices?
The County Central Committee was the precinct committeemen and committeewomen elected at the primary, period. Delegates to the state convention and sitting County Commissioners (whose terms were not u…
If a teenager has gone by his stepfather's surname his whole life, even though no court ever changed his name and his stepfather never adopted him, should South Dakota issue his driver's license in his birth-certificate name or his everyday name?
In his everyday assumed name. The 1968 SD AG concluded that, under the common law, a person may use any name they choose so long as it is not for fraud or to harm others. The purpose of license regist…
Can the manager of a livestock auction barn fire the state veterinary inspector who is stationed at his auction, if the manager is unhappy with the inspector?
No. Under SDC 40.2007, veterinary inspectors at livestock auction agencies were hired by the State Livestock Sanitary Board (with USDA Animal Disease Eradication Branch approval) and worked under Boar…
If a South Dakota town's new municipal sewer system makes the old outhouse on an indigent person's home a public nuisance, can the county pay to install indoor plumbing for that person and pick up the quarterly sewer bill, using county poor-relief money?
Yes. The 1968 SD AG concluded that county commissioners' duty under SDC 50.0101 to provide 'maintenance or allowance for necessaries' for the county poor was broad enough to cover both installing indo…
Do the people who work the polls at a city election (the 'judges' and 'clerks' of the election) get paid for their time? If so, who actually pays them, the city or the county?
Yes, they are paid, and the city pays. South Dakota's specific municipal election statutes did not fix a compensation rate, but the general election laws (which the municipal statutes incorporated by …
A Huron business association offered to donate a heating system for the State Fair Hippodrome, paying for installation and getting nothing in return except the chance to rent the building later like anyone else. Can the State accept the gift, and what's the proper process?
Yes, the State may accept the gift. The five donor-imposed conditions (state-engineer-approved installation, irrevocable transfer to state, no consideration to donor, no rental priority, all at donor'…
Could a South Dakota county judge who was statutorily authorized to engage in the private practice of law personally keep the statutory compensation paid by the county for representing an indigent criminal defendant, or did he have to turn the fees over to the county treasurer under SDC 48.0608?
The county judge could keep the fees. The AG concluded that compensation paid for serving as appointed counsel was for duties outside the official duties of the county judge office, not by virtue of t…
Can the State of South Dakota accept a donated piece of equipment, like a heating system for a state fair building, from a private group, and if so what is the formal acceptance procedure?
Yes. South Dakota can accept an unconditional gift of property under SDC 55.1102. The Governor receives the gift, the State Board of Finance formally accepts (or rejects) it, and title passes to the s…
A teenage girl was arrested for a city ordinance violation and a delinquency petition was filed in county court. Because the county jail had no facilities for females, the county judge ordered her held in the city jail with a police matron for the week before her hearing. After the hearing, the matron's bill bounced between the county sheriff (who refused to approve it) and the city council (who refused to pay it). Who pays the bill?
The county. Even though the underlying offense was a violation of a city ordinance and the girl was held in city jail facilities with a city matron, the matron was acting at the direction of the count…
In South Dakota, who actually sits on a county political party's central committee, and who decides who fills a vacancy if a county nominee or a joint legislative district nominee drops out?
The county central committee is just the precinct committeemen and committeewomen elected at the primary. They are the only people who can vote to fill a nomination vacancy in a county office (or, wor…
Could a candidate for the South Dakota House of Representatives appear on the primary ballot if he would turn 25 (the constitutional minimum age) only between the primary and the general election, but would meet all qualifications by the time of the general election?
Yes. The AG concluded that the South Dakota primary election was merely a party nomination mechanism, not the actual election for state representative. The constitutional age qualification had to be s…
We have two statutes that seem to conflict. A 1959 act exempts construction and highway-maintenance equipment from license plates when it's running on a state oversize permit. A 1963 act requires the same kinds of equipment to get a special $10 distinctive plate when used infrequently on highways. If a contractor has an oversize permit, does he still have to get the special $10 plate?
Yes. The 1963 act (Chapter 275 of the Session Laws of 1963) is a specific statute that requires a distinctive plate for specified heavy equipment used infrequently on highways. The 1959 act (SDC 44.03…
When a husband and wife held twenty acres or more of South Dakota land as joint tenants, were they both considered 'landowners' under Chapter 303 of the 1965 Session Laws and therefore both entitled to vote on watershed district issues affecting the land?
Yes. Both spouses voted. The statute defined a 'landowner' as a South Dakota resident owner of not less than ten acres of land, evidenced by register-of-deeds records. Joint tenancy is an estate in la…
The state Department of Public Welfare runs a federal Title V Economic Opportunity Act program out of its offices. The administrative staff (supervisors, social workers, foremen, clerks) draw paychecks through the state. The trainees in the work-experience projects receive maintenance-needs payments rather than wages. Do we have to cover both groups under the state Workmen's Compensation Plan?
Administrative staff (group 1) yes; work trainees (group 2) no. The administrative staff were state employees in form and function: hired under state qualification rules, paid through the state payrol…
If an official court reporter lived in one South Dakota city but had to travel to a different city where the presiding judge held court, did the reporter qualify for mileage and meal reimbursement under the 1965 court reporter expense statute, or did 'residence' in the statute mean the residence of the court rather than the reporter?
Yes, the reporter qualified for reimbursement. The AG read 'residence' as the reporter's personal residence, following the South Dakota Supreme Court's definition of residence as 'personal presence in…
Could a warranty deed signed by the original purchaser of a South Dakota school lands contract of sale be accepted by the Commissioner of School and Public Lands as a valid assignment of the contract, especially after the purchaser had died and his widow submitted the deed and an affidavit of lost contract?
Yes. The AG concluded that both warranty deeds and quit claim deeds could be approved as assignments of an unpaid school lands contract, and that the Commissioner had authority to approve a previously…
If one county's board of education votes to release a school district to a neighboring county, when does that release actually take effect? Is the unilateral resolution enough, or does the receiving county's board also have to vote on it?
The release is not effective until both county boards act on it jointly. A unilateral resolution by the releasing county does not move the school district. The receiving county's master plan that mere…
Does a sanitary sewer and water district have to record its survey map (plat) with the Register of Deeds, what certificates does the Register need to accept it, and does the surrounding township board have to certify the plat's accuracy?
Yes, plats had to be recorded under SDC 45.2804's certification and acknowledgment rules, including the county director of equalization's certificate (under SDC 45.2806-2). The platting-outside-munici…
In 1966 South Dakota, if a family lived 5.5 miles from the nearest grade school in their common school district but their elementary child instead attended an independent district 17 miles away (where their high school siblings went), did the common school district have to pay transportation or tuition for the elementary child?
It depended on whether the elementary child was officially assigned to a school. High school transportation was wholly discretionary. For the elementary child, the home district's obligation turned on…
If a small incorporated town sits inside a larger township, can the county commissioners combine the town and the surrounding township into a single election precinct with one polling place, and does that require a 75% voter petition?
Yes, and no petition is needed. SDC 16.0801 made it the County Commission's mandatory duty to establish and adjust election precincts each year (with limited statutory exceptions). The 75% petition in…
If a municipal election needed a runoff (a 'secondary' election between the top two candidates) because no candidate won a majority, could a voter who would not be in town on Election Day cast an absentee ballot in the runoff?
Yes. Secondary municipal elections in South Dakota were conducted in the same manner as the regular municipal election, and the general election laws (which already permitted absentee voting in regula…
When a juvenile delinquency or dependency hearing is held in one South Dakota county but the parents had been long-time welfare recipients of another county, which county pays the prosecution expenses, and can the welfare county reimburse the hearing county for those costs?
The county where the hearing was held bears the prosecution expenses, no matter where the parents had received welfare. And a county has no statutory authority to reimburse another county for those ex…
When South Dakota's 1966 Dairy Industry Marketing Act exempted nonprofit, charitable, religious, or educational institutions, did the exemption cover purchases by those institutions, sales by those institutions, and dealings with federal military bases?
Yes to all three. The exemption applied to processors and distributors selling to nonprofit institutions, to nonprofit institutions selling dairy products themselves, and to dealings with federal mili…
If a 1960s South Dakota city built a nursing home with revenue bonds and the home could not cover operating costs from its revenues, could the city use general-fund money, special tax levies, or transfers from city-owned liquor store profits to keep it running?
Yes. The AG concluded a city could levy a special tax under the hospital/nursing-home statute or appropriate general-fund money for operations, even though the home was built with revenue bonds, becau…
Two questions on how the county auditor figures the 'average assessed valuation per acre' of agricultural land for the 12-mill school general fund cap. First: do we count the value of the buildings and other structures on the land, or just the raw acres? Second: do we use the full value of the land, or just the 60% that ends up taxable?
Structures count, and the 60% taxable value controls. SDC 57.0312 defined 'real property' for tax purposes to include 'the land itself... and all buildings, structures and improvements,' and Chapter 2…
If the South Dakota voters approve a constitutional amendment letting the legislature treat 'agricultural property' as a separate class for school tax purposes, does that mean a farmer's household goods (furniture, appliances, personal items) also get classified as agricultural property and taxed at the lower agricultural rate?
Yes, with a qualification. The constitutional amendment (House Joint Resolution 6, Chapter 275 of the 1965 Session Laws) was designed to let the legislature treat 'all agricultural property, personal …
In 1960s South Dakota, when a school district operated a kindergarten, was a kindergarten student treated as an elementary student for purposes of school bus transportation reimbursement?
Yes. The AG concluded that when a school district chose to operate a kindergarten, kindergarten students were treated as elementary students and were entitled to the same transportation privileges as …
Can Hyde County levy a 1.5 mill 'courthouse, office, or jail building' tax to buy an existing privately owned building to use as a library, and if not, can the county commissioners buy the building anyway?
The 1.5 mill levy was off limits because libraries are not 'courthouses, offices, or jail buildings' within SDC 12.2303. But the commissioners could still buy the building using regular county funds u…
Can a free shopper publication that contains only advertising and printed legal notices (no general news content and no paid subscribers) qualify as a 'newspaper' or a 'legal newspaper' under South Dakota law for purposes of publishing legal notices?
No. To be a 'legal newspaper' under SDC 65.0508, a weekly publication had to have bona fide paid circulation of at least 200 copies per week. A free shopper has no paid circulation. And to qualify as …
The McCook County Sheriff drives his personal car for sheriff work. The police radio, antenna, and red warning lights are owned by the county and have to be drilled into the car. When he buys a new car, can the county pay to take the equipment off the old car, install it on the new one, and also pay to repair the holes in the old car?
Yes to both. Because the sheriff's car qualifies as an emergency vehicle and must legally carry the county's police radio and warning lights, the county may pay to install and remove the equipment whe…
Can the South Dakota State Brand Board hire and pay the salary of a third livestock inspector to work alongside the SD Stock Grower's Association's existing inspectors, with the Association paying for the inspector's car and other expenses?
Yes. The Brand Board's authorizing statute, SDC 1960 Supp. 40.1201-2, lets the Board hire a chief inspector and up to two additional inspectors, contract with a nonprofit cooperative association of li…
When South Dakota voters were going to vote on whether to incorporate a new sanitary district in the 1960s, who could vote, how was the voter list built, and could ballots be cast absentee?
Only qualified electors who actually resided inside the proposed district could vote (landowners alone could not). The 'voter list' was the census taken under SDC 1960 Supp. 45.3803, not the regular v…
Does the South Dakota cooperative-association exemption from the wholesale dealer bond requirement also exempt out-of-state cooperatives doing business in South Dakota, and when does that exemption become available to a foreign cooperative that was already operating in SD before the 1965 Cooperative Act took effect?
Qualified no. A foreign cooperative that had been admitted to do business in SD before July 1, 1965 does not get the SDC 4.2402(3) cooperative exemption from the wholesale dealer bond until after June…
A nonresident had property in Clay County that was assessed and taxed, but the tax was never paid. He moved out of South Dakota. Can the county treasurer sue him under the long-arm statute, and can service be made by publication and certified mail instead of personal service?
Yes to both. Chapter 163 of the 1965 Session Laws (the long-arm statute) gave South Dakota courts jurisdiction over anyone who had owned property in the state, and SDC 57.1026 expressly authorized the…
South Dakota's 1963 law paid a state quarters allowance to National Guard enlisted members with dependents during the 'annual active duty training period' if they weren't getting the federal allowance. Could a guardsman get multiple payments in a year? Did the payment cover service schools, basic training, or advance/rear detachment service? Or only summer camp?
Only one quarters payment per annual training period, and only for the formal annual training (commonly called Summer Camp, Summer Field Training, or ANACDUTRA). Service schools, basic training, and t…
When a candidate's nominating petition is built from multiple circulating sheets, does the candidate's formal declaration have to be attached to each sheet before it is circulated, or is one declaration attached at filing enough?
One declaration at filing was enough. The 'petition' under SDC 16.0210 is the completed instrument the candidate offers for filing, not each sheet a circulator carries around. A candidate could attach…
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Attorney general opinions in South Dakota are written by the South Dakota Attorney General's office in response to questions from state agencies, legislators, and prosecutors. They are not binding like court decisions, but courts and agencies treat them as persuasive guidance on how state law applies. Every opinion above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the full original text.