Title 2, LEGISLATURE AND STATUTES

The official code of laws of the State of South Dakota, which may be referred to as the code, consists of all the statutes of a general and permanent nature contained in: (1) The 2018 revision of volume 1; (2) The 2021 revision of volume 2; (3) The 2021 revision of volume 2A; (4)…

The code does not include: (1) Material set off by overstrikes to show the effect of legislative deletions; (2) Prefatory subject matter, analyses, catchlines, notes, annotations, appendices, references, tables, and indices; (3) The list of forms appearing as an appendix to chapt…

The provisions of this code, so far as they are the same as those of existing laws, shall be construed as a continuation of those laws and not as new enactments. Source: SL 1970, ch 17 , § 3.

No provision of the code enacted by § 2-16-13 , as to which any action or proceeding, civil or criminal, has been commenced prior to July 1, 2026, to determine whether or not the provision was constitutionally enacted, is validated by the enactment of the code. The enactment of t…

All statutes enacted at the 2026 session of the Legislature, other than the code enacted by § 2-16-13 , are deemed to have been enacted subsequent to the enactment of the code. If any statute repeals, amends, contravenes, or is inconsistent with the provisions of the code, the pr…

A copy of the code of laws enacted by § 2-16-13 shall be kept in the Office of the Secretary of State, to which copy that officer shall affix a certificate, under her hand and the seal of the state, that the laws therein contained are the statute laws of the State of South Dakota…

The code enacted into law by § 2-16-13 , and as hereafter amended and supplemented and printed and published pursuant to law, shall be known as the South Dakota Codified Laws and may be cited as "SDCL" followed by the number of the title, chapter, or section, as appropriate. Sour…

The Code Commission may publish and sell, or contract with the publisher of the printed code, or others, exclusively or not exclusively, for the publication and sale of, with or without compensation, the South Dakota Codified Laws on media which can be read by data processing equ…

The South Dakota Code Commission shall consist of one member of the South Dakota Senate appointed by the president pro tempore, one member of the South Dakota House of Representatives appointed by the speaker of the house, and two members of the State Bar of South Dakota to be ap…

The Code Commission shall organize by electing a chairman, vice - chairman, and such other officers from its membership as it may deem necessary, and shall hold meetings and hearings at such times and places as it may designate to accomplish the purposes of this chapter. Source: …

The code counsel shall receive no compensation other than his salary provided by law. The Code Commission may employ such personnel and incur such expense as may be required to perform its duties and may lease or purchase equipment and services to provide for a supervised statuto…

In addition to state appropriated funds, the Code Commission is authorized to accept and expend any funds which it might obtain from any gift or contribution or any other source, public or private, for said purposes. Source: SL 1970, ch 18 , § 4.

The director of the Legislative Research Council and the code counsel shall assist the Code Commission within the limitations as it may prescribe and to provide space for its supplies and to make available the facilities of the council for its meetings. The director shall also su…

The Code Commission shall: (1) Provide for supplements to, and reprinted volumes of, the code of laws enacted by § 2-16-13 ; (2) Determine the contents of the code supplements and reprinted volumes which shall include but not be limited to: (a) The United States Constitution; (b)…

Notwithstanding chapters 5-18A and 5-18D , the South Dakota Code Commission may draft specifications for material authorized for publication by § 2-16-6 and advertise for and accept bids from editorial, printing, and publishing companies for production of all material authorized …

The Code Commission may continue the contract for the publication of the South Dakota Codified Laws with West, a Thomson Reuters Business and its successors in interest. The Code Commission may contract with that publisher or other publishers, editorial services and printers for …

The Code Commission may advertise for bids for the production of material authorized for publication by the Legislature including, but not limited to, bulk or other revisions, compilations and supplementations to the South Dakota code. Source: SL 1970, ch 18 , § 7.

The South Dakota Code Commission shall provide that the material authorized for publication by § 2-16-6 will be copyrighted by the State of South Dakota, in the name of the State of South Dakota, to the extent permitted by federal copyright law. The commission may contract with p…

Except as authorized by federal copyright law, no person may print or distribute copyrighted material from the South Dakota Codified Laws without the express authorization of the Code Commission. A violation of this section is a Class 2 misdemeanor. Source: SL 1984, ch 10 , § 2; …

The South Dakota Code Commission is hereby authorized to make such changes as may be necessary to correct apparent errors, to correlate and integrate all the laws to harmonize, to assign new title and other designations, to eliminate or clarify obviously obsolete or ambiguous sec…

The Code Commission shall have continuing authority to act as provided in § 2-16-9 to assimilate laws of a permanent nature enacted in 1968 and subsequent sessions into the arrangement adopted in the South Dakota Compiled Laws of 1967. Source: SL 1969, ch 219 , § 4.