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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…
Which interest rate applied to overdue Washington property taxes paid after May 8, 1969?
The 1969 AG said the amended 10% annual interest rate applied when delinquent real or personal property taxes were tendered on or after May 8, 1969, even if the tax had become overdue before the amendment.
Did a Washington school board seat become vacant when its director moved to another director district?
No. The AG said a director who moved between director districts within the same school district could serve the remainder of the elected term. The director represented the entire school district,…
Could a Washington charity or city license the gambling devices and games addressed in the 1969 AG opinion?
The AG said the specified pinball, punchboard, and pull tab devices were unlawful under then state law; paid card games and prize bingo also violated the statutes it discussed. Charitable purpose…
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…
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…
Could Washington contract to hold county jail prisoners in an existing state felony prison in 1969?
No. The AG found no authority for the state institutions department to make that arrangement. The interlocal cooperation law allowed agencies to combine existing powers but did not create a new…
Could a Washington county prosecutor also serve as juvenile probation officer after the 1969 court rules?
No. The AG said the new juvenile rules made the prosecutor and juvenile probation officer roles incompatible. It also found that mandatory costs of complying with those rules could qualify for the…
How did Washington’s 1969 property tax opinion treat stored beer, alumina, and barley malt?
The AG excluded unpaid federal beer excise tax from the value of beer still in warehouse storage; treated alumina as exempt ore during the statutory processing period; and found stored barley malt…
In 1969, did probation dismissal or final parole discharge lift Washington’s pistol ban after a covered conviction?
The AG distinguished two dispositions: dismissal after completed probation released a person from the pistol disability, but a parole discharge restoring civil rights did not remove the pistol ban…
Could Washington regulate water quality and industrial waste discharges in irrigation canals and drains?
Yes. The AG said water in irrigation and drainage canals, drains, wasteways, and reservoirs was within the state water quality law. The pollution commission could set standards, and commercial or…
Was Washington real estate excise tax due when an owner put property in a revocable trust for their own benefit?
The AG said no for the transaction described: an owner transferred title to themselves as trustee, kept the right to revoke, and remained the beneficiary. Without valuable consideration, the…
Which Washington district commissioners could receive a pay increase during their terms after the 1968 amendment?
The AG said public utility and fire district commissioners still could not receive midterm increases because they fixed their own pay. Port commissioners could receive voter approved increases;…
Which fatality claims counted when Washington set workers’ compensation employer premiums in 1969?
The AG said the department could use a five year period to average pension claim costs. Deaths of unmarried workers with no surviving beneficiaries or dependents did not count in that pension claim…
Did a registered Washington civil-defense worker qualify for injury benefits while working under Red Cross control?
The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that registration alone did not qualify the worker. The injury had to arise from civil-defense service under the general or specific direction and control of…
When was driving a large vehicle “for compensation” under Washington’s 1967 license-endorsement rule?
The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that the special endorsement applied when driving a covered vehicle was a distinct paid job duty. Driving only incidentally or occasionally as part of another…
Could Washington city officers and mayors receive a midterm raise after the 1968 pay amendment?
The Attorney General concluded that the amendment let municipal officers who did not fix their own compensation receive lawful midterm increases despite a contrary city charter. A mayor who voted as…
Could a Washington coroner send a traffic-fatality blood sample to the state toxicologist?
The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that a coroner could send the sample for testing without violating the statute protecting autopsy reports and records. The state toxicologist could ask for…
Could a Washington county include courtroom and office costs when allocating justice-court receipts?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that a county covered by the 1961 justice court act included the cost of courtrooms and offices in justice-court expenditures when computing quarterly…
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…
When did Washington’s 1968 officer-pay amendment take effect, and did sitting judges get raises?
The Attorney General concluded that the amendment took effect upon the official canvass and governor’s proclamation, with a 30-day outside limit if those steps were delayed. Once effective, it…
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…
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