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.
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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…
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.