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Could a Washington third-class city grant a railroad an irrevocable franchise to cross its streets?
No. The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that the then-current franchise statutes did not authorize a third-class city to grant a perpetual, irrevocable railroad franchise. He left the validity of…
Could Washington replenish its tort-claims account to pay judgments beyond the 1967 appropriation?
No. The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that agency reimbursements could not be spent again without a new appropriation and that the $400,000 emergency allocation was the ceiling for that…
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 AG said Scott District would be subject to SDC 1960 Supp. 15.3302. Under that provision, qualifying secondary students living more than ten miles from the nearest district high school could…
Did a Washington county auditor need to find an emergency for a school excess-levy election?
The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that no emergency finding was required to hold a school district’s excess-levy election on the date in its resolution, if the auditor received the resolution…
Could local air pollution boards enforce their emission rules after Washington’s state board took over a class of sources?
The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that local rules remained enforceable until the state board’s replacement rules took effect. Once effective state rules governed a class of sources, local…
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…
Did Washington freight-carrier violations require the uniform traffic ticket used for driving offenses?
No. The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that chapter 81.80 freight-carrier violations were economic-regulation offenses outside the traffic-ticket rules. The commission could still use an…
Could a Washington optometrist pass on another optometrist’s name to a third practitioner?
No. The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that the statute allowed a licensed optometrist to transfer the right to use that optometrist’s own name, but did not let the recipient pass that name to a…
Did processing goods in a Washington warehouse defeat the in-transit property tax exemption?
The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that goods brought into Washington for out-of-state shipment lost the “free port” exemption if processing in storage changed their form or nature. He said…
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 1960 Supp.…
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…
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…
When did a Washington farm tractor or trailer need a license or farm-vehicle decal on a public road?
The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that a tractor hauling produce between farms needed its own vehicle license or farm-vehicle decal; a trailer’s decal did not cover the tractor. A trip to a…
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…
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…
Was a Washington school district liable when a child was injured during a parent-arranged trip to school?
The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that a district and its employees had not assumed control of a student’s trip when a parent, or someone the parent directed, drove the child to or from school…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Was Washington’s municipal conditional-sale debt limit based on actual or assessed property value?
The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that the one-and-one-half-percent limit for the specified municipal conditional sales contracts used the actual value of taxable property, not its assessed…
Did Washington need congressional consent for the Multistate Tax Compact to take effect?
The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that Washington’s adoption of the Multistate Tax Compact took effect without congressional consent. He cautioned that a congressional consent bill would remove…
Did Washington’s 1968 extra divorce filing fee apply to older cases or get refunded if no decree issued?
The 1968 AG said the extra $1 filing fee applied to covered divorce, annulment, and separate maintenance cases filed after the new law took effect. It was mandatory in those cases and could not be…
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…
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,…
Could a Washington employer deduct prior employee loans from wages under a written agreement in 1968?
The 1968 AG said a written agreement to deduct employer-advanced credit from wages did not violate the wage rebate law and did not need county-auditor filing. Under the then-existing statute, a…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Could a Washington school district put two annual excess levies on the November 1968 ballot?
No. The 1968 AG said the existing excess-levy election statute allowed only the single-year proposition, and a proposed constitutional amendment would not itself change that statute.
Could a Washington owner recover lawyer fees spent evaluating a condemnation offer in 1968?
Yes. The 1968 AG said reasonable lawyer fees incurred to evaluate a condemnor’s offer could count toward the statute’s total $200 per-parcel reimbursement limit. A later trial fee award had to…
Could a Washington county bill probation services as justice court expenses in 1968?
No. The 1968 AG said county probation and parole services for justice court defendants were county services, not justice court expenditures, so the county could not finance them through the…
When parents moved to Mitchell in fall 1966 while their children attended special-education schools elsewhere, where and when did the children acquire school residence under South Dakota law?
The AG said the parents had a prima facie case that they and their two children had school residence in Mitchell. It said that residence was acquired when they arrived there. The opinion did not…
Could a Washington fire district with volunteers give paid firefighters civil service protection?
Yes. The 1968 AG said a district with paid and volunteer firefighters could adopt civil service for its full-time paid firefighters. Once adopted, the city-style civil service rules applied, and…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Were Social Security payments deducted from every Washington police widow’s pension under the 1968 law?
The 1968 AG said the offset applied only to the special $150 monthly pension for a limited class of police widows, not the general widow pension. For that special pension, it included the widow’s…
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…
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…
Did Washington’s industrial-insurance catastrophe relief apply when injured coworkers had different job classes?
Yes. The 1968 AG said the catastrophe-cost rule applied when three or more workers of one employer suffered the specified severe injuries in one accident, even if no three belonged to the same…
Could one person be both president and treasurer of a Washington corporation under the 1968 law?
The 1968 AG said a corporation president could also hold another office, including treasurer, unless the articles or bylaws said otherwise. The same person could not be both president and secretary…
Could a registered land contract buyer sign a petition to dissolve a bonded Washington irrigation district?
The 1968 AG said a signer had to be registered under general election law and be a freeholder of the district. It treated a buyer under a forfeitable executory land contract as a freeholder for this…
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…
Could Washington judges appoint one court commissioner for a multicounty district instead of one per county?
Yes. The 1968 AG said superior court judges in a multicounty judicial district could choose either one commissioner to serve the whole district or separate commissioners for its counties.
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…
Did Washington counties include voter approved excess levies when distributing state forest land revenue?
Yes. The AG said counties had to apportion state forest land revenues using the same proportions as current real property taxes, including excess levies, among the funds that would have taxed the…
Could a Washington sheriff hire a private tow company for an abandoned stolen car, and could it claim a lien?
Yes, under the law addressed in 1968. If public equipment and storage were unavailable, the sheriff could use a private operator to take custody of the car; the 1967 towing law let that operator…
Could a Washington city get a permit for nonconsumptive use of a fully appropriated stream?
Possibly. The AG said a fully appropriated stream might still have water available for a beneficial nonconsumptive use, but a permit depended on actual water availability, protection of existing…
Did a Washington school nurse's nursing certificate give her teacher bargaining and tenure rights in 1968?
No, for a nurse who lacked a regular teaching certificate and was employed neither as a teacher nor a supervisor. The AG said the nursing certificate alone did not meet the professional negotiations…
Did Washington's retail installment sales law cover purchases made with bank credit cards in 1968?
Yes. The AG said merchandise and service purchases through a participating seller fell under the retail charge agreement rules, including limits on service charges. A cash advance from the bank was…
Could a Washington business estimate its in transit inventory tax exemption with a sales percentage?
No. Under the 1968 free port statutes, the AG said the business had to identify the particular goods claimed as exempt and establish their later shipment out of state. Multiplying purchase and sales…
Were oysters growing in their beds taxable as real estate or personal property in Washington?
The AG concluded in 1968 that oysters in their beds were personal property for property tax purposes. Their presence on the bed did not make the animals part of the land.
Could one Washington landholder cast extra votes in an irrigation district election for owning several parcels?
Ordinarily, no. The AG said one person did not gain extra votes by holding several parcels or several legal interests; the statute separately allowed an acreage based extra vote for qualifying land…
Who decided eligibility for a Washington occupational driver's license after a mandatory suspension in 1968?
The judge who received the petition made the initial eligibility decision. The motor vehicle director could then compare the order with department records, while proof of financial responsibility…
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…
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