We've rounded up South Dakota Legislature bills you ought to know about ahead of Veto Day

PIERRE — Out of over 500 bills, 83 have made it to the governor’s desk for her approval or veto. While Veto Day isn’t until March 25, here are a selection of bills the Argus Leader has had their eye on.

Indigent Defense Office and Commission

The new $4.4 million office will consist of statewide public defenders taking on appeals, abuse and neglect cases, and habeas corpus cases. It’s meant to help counties offset the costs of paying for criminal defense, something South Dakota’s 66 counties are constitutionally required to do.

The new office will be overseen by a nine-member commission made up of various appointments from the Legislature, the governor, the Supreme Court chief justice and the county commissioner association. Each member will be term limited at 12 years and have some kind of experience in the realm of criminal justice.

More: House to vote on funding change to South Dakota's proposed public defenders office

The hope is, once the office is established and has a steady funding source, it can expand its work to more trial-level work, similar to the work the Attorney General’s office does.

Removing one's signature from a ballot question petition

Ahead of this year’s ballot petition deadline, people may have the option to send written notification to the secretary of state’s office that they want their signature removed from the petition.

The bill ensures that the signature withdrawals cannot be used unless there’s a challenge in court to the ballot petition.

The bill contains an emergency clause, which usually means the legislation would immediately take effect if Gov. Noem signs the bill.

However, because the bill has to go through the secretary of state's office for enrollment, and because people could start requesting their signature be withdrawn ahead of the May deadline to turn in petitions, it will instead go into effect 30 days after signing.

Requiring GOED to report future fund grants

The funds to promote economic development running through the Governor’s Office of Economic Development would have to be reported biannually to the Legislature if Noem signs the new bill. Included in the report would be the name and amount of grants from the funds, the recipient's location, the purpose of what’s being funded, the economic impact and the number of jobs created.

The proposed oversight comes after a series of stories by South Dakota Searchlight about the use of the future fund since Noem took office, including a $2.5 million fund for the Governor’s Cup Rodeo and the controversial $5 million Freedom Works Here workforce recruitment effort.

Abortion trigger law educational video

While petition gatherers continue to collect signatures to get an abortion rights ballot measure placed on the 2024 general election ballot, the Department of Health will be working with healthcare professionals and the Attorney General’s office to craft a video explaining the state’s abortion trigger law.

More: First of its kind video explaining South Dakota's abortion trigger law passes Senate 31-3

Described as the first of its kind in the nation by anti-abortion groups, the video will lay out when a healthcare provider can and cannot provide an abortion when the mother’s life is at risk, the medical standards of treatment and criteria that the medical provider might use.

The video is to serve as a clarification to the 2005 trigger law that went into effect after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022.

People experiencing homelessness may be able to get birth certificate, state ID at no cost

The package of bills would ensure people experiencing homelessness would be able to waive the $15 birth certificate fee and the $27 non-driver’s license state ID fee. Each person applying for the waiver would have to sign an affidavit along with a community service provider to attest that the person is experiencing homelessness.

The bills had bipartisan support and were the brain children of Sioux Falls Republican Rep. Tyler Tordsen and Sioux Falls Democratic Rep. Kadyn Wittman.

Indian Child Advisory Council

The proposed council would gather stakeholders from across South Dakota’s child welfare community, state government and nine tribes once a year to discuss problems and solutions as to why Native American children continue to overpopulate the state’s foster care system.

More: The Lost Children: An Argus Leader/South Dakota Searchlight investigation into ICWA in SD

DUI restitution for children

For children left behind when their parent is killed by a drunk driver, their guardians or remaining parent may be able to get restitution from the guilty party. The restitution will be able to pay for the child’s education, child care expenses and more until that child reaches 18.

The legislation takes inspiration from other laws in the U.S. that have been created to serve as a deterrent to drunk driving.

Delbridge museum donations

After the city of Sioux Falls announced last summer that it would be removing the Brockhouse Collection, a set of over 150 taxidermied animals housed at the Delbridge Museum because of dangerous arsenic levels, city officials quickly found themselves in a bind of state law making.

Despite calls to donate the collection to another entity out of state, according to state law, the city would only be able to donate it to a nonprofit that will agree to display or store them in South Dakota, will not dispose of the collection except to return it to the original owner, and to return the collection if the organization dissolves. The bill that now sits on Noem’s desk creates a carve-out in statute.

If signed, the Brockhouse Collection will be able to be donated to an out-of-state entity, and Sioux Falls will have an option out of a mess made from poor communication.

More: Lawmakers pass legislative package of pipeline bills, easing Summit Carbon's CO2 project into SD

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Bills in SD Legislature waiting for Gov. Kristi Noem's signature