Title 3, PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES

Except when otherwise expressly provided all civil officers shall qualify substantially in the manner and form prescribed by this chapter and chapter 3-5 . When the incumbent of an office is reelected he shall qualify as required in such chapters. Source: PolC 1877, ch 5, §§ 1, 1…

No person who is required by the Military Selective Service Act, 50 U.S.C. § 453, as amended and in effect on January 1, 2012, to register with the selective service system and who has not done so, may be hired by the state or a county, township, municipality, school district, or…

The terms "office," "officer," "executive," and "administrative," when used in § 3-1-8 or 3-1-9 mean and apply to any executive or administrative officer of the state; to any county, municipality, township, or school district; and to any district, board, bureau, commission, depar…

Except as otherwise expressly provided, all state, district, and county officers shall qualify and enter upon the duties of their office on the first Monday of January succeeding their election or within twenty days thereafter. However, a state officer may qualify and enter upon …

If there is a contest for such office, or if the person elected to such office is prevented or obstructed in any manner from entering upon the duties of such office, the time prescribed in which he shall qualify and enter upon the duties of his office shall not govern, and he sha…

Every person elected or appointed to any civil office shall, before entering upon the duties thereof, qualify by taking an oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the United States and of this state, and faithfully to discharge the duties of his office, naming it; and …

Every person who executes any of the functions of a public office without having taken and duly filed the required oath of office, or without having executed and duly filed the required security, is guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor; and in addition to the punishment prescribed the…

Every person who shall falsely assume or pretend to be any public executive or administrative officer, or who shall knowingly take upon himself to act as such, or to require any person to act as such, or assist him in any matter pertaining to such office, is guilty of a Class 1 m…

Terms used in this chapter mean: (1) "Any member of the individual's immediate family," a spouse or minor children living at home; (2) "Close economic interest," any enterprise that, in the calendar year preceding the filing of any statement of financial interest under this chapt…

Any person who assumes the Office of Governor, lieutenant governor, state treasurer, attorney general, secretary of state, state auditor, commissioner of school and public lands, Public Utilities Commissioner, Supreme Court justice, circuit court judge, or state legislator shall,…

Any gubernatorial appointee for whom Senate confirmation is required shall file with the secretary of state a statement of financial interest before confirmation. Source: SL 1974, ch 121 , § 6; SL 2010, ch 19 , § 3.

Any person who assumes the office of a county commissioner, school board member of a school district with a total enrollment of more than two thousand students, or commissioner, councilman, or mayor in municipalities of the first class, shall, within fifteen days after the person…

The secretary of state shall prescribe and provide forms for the reporting of close economic interest. The value of a close economic interest need not be reported. Each individual filing a statement of financial interest shall subscribe to an oath or affirmation verifying the con…

Any personally identifiable information of a circuit court judge or justice of the Supreme Court contained in a statement of financial interest filed pursuant to this chapter is not open to public inspection. For purposes of this section, the term, personally identifiable informa…

Any person who violates any of the provisions of this chapter commits a petty offense. However, any person who intentionally violates any provision of this chapter is guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor. Source: SL 1974, ch 121 , § 11; SL 1980, ch 24 , § 32; SL 2010, ch 19 , § 4.

The appointment of every deputy must be in writing and shall be revocable in writing at the pleasure of the principal, and all such appointments and revocations shall be filed as and where required for the bond and oath of the principal. Source: SL 1872-3, ch 49 , § 1; SL 1874-5,…

No state officer may appoint as a deputy any other state or district officer. No state treasurer may appoint as a deputy any county treasurer, register of deeds, sheriff, or county commissioner. Source: PolC 1877, ch 6, § 4; CL 1887, § 1400; RPolC 1903, § 1819; RC 1919, § 7047; S…

Each deputy or assistant shall take and subscribe the same oath as his or her principal, naming the deputyship. The oath shall be endorsed upon and filed with the deputy's or assistant's certificate of appointment. Source: PolC 1877, ch 6, § 3; CL 1887, § 1399; RPolC 1903, § 1818…

Unless otherwise expressly provided, each officer required to give bond may require a bond from the officer's deputy or assistant in a penal sum not greater than half the penal sum of the officer's own bond. The officer may retain the deputy's or assistant's bond for the officer'…

In all public departments and subdivisions and upon all public works of this state and of the counties, municipalities, and school districts of this state, any veteran, as defined in § 33A-2-1 , who is a citizen of the United States, shall receive preference for appointment, empl…

If a veteran as defined in § 33A-2-1 applies for appointment for employment under this chapter, the officer, board, or person whose duty it is to appoint or employ some person to fill the position shall investigate the qualifications of the applicant. If the applicant possesses a…

A refusal to allow the preference provided for in this chapter, or a reduction of the salary for the position with intent to bring about the resignation or discharge of the incumbent, entitles the applicant or incumbent to maintain an action of mandamus to right the wrong. Source…

No person holding a public position by appointment or employment, and belonging to any of the classes of persons to whom a preference is granted pursuant to this chapter, may be removed from the position or employment unless replaced by another person of a class to whom such pref…

Any person in the public service who neglects or refuses to comply with the provisions of this chapter is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. Source: SL 1935, ch 188 , § 8; SDC 1939, § 41.9903; SL 1980, ch 24 , § 33; SL 2010, ch 19 , § 12.

Nothing in this chapter applies to department heads, to policy-forming officials, to the position of private secretary of any official or department, or to any person holding a strictly confidential relation to the appointing officer. Source: SL 1935, ch 188 , § 7; SDC 1939, § 41…

The unmarried spouse of a veteran who died while in service, or later died from a service connected cause, is entitled to the preferences given to the veteran in § 3-3-1 if the spouse possesses the qualifications and business capacity necessary to discharge the duties of the posi…

If a veteran disabled due to a service connected cause is unable to exercise the right to a veteran employment preference due to the disability, the veteran's spouse is entitled to the preferences given in § 3-3-1 if the spouse possesses the qualifications and business capacity n…

Beginning on July 1, 2016, the Department of Veterans Affairs shall create informative materials about current state laws pertaining to veterans' preference in employment to be both posted on the Department of Veterans Affairs website for public access and for distribution by the…

An office becomes vacant if one of the following events applies to a member of a governing body or elected officer before the expiration of the term of the office; the person: (1) Dies; (2) Resigns; (3) Is removed from office; (4) Fails to qualify as provided by law; (5) Ceases t…

If any position on a board or commission whose members are appointed by the Governor without the consent of the Senate becomes vacant pursuant to § 3-4-1 , the Governor must appoint a person to fill the vacancy within one hundred twenty days of the occurrence of the vacancy. If t…

If any position on a board or commission whose members are appointed by the Governor with the consent of the Senate becomes vacant pursuant to § 3-4-1 , the Governor may make an interim appointment to fill the vacancy, but any interim appointment expires when the Senate acts upon…

Resignations may be made as follows: (1) Of all state and district officers, either elective or appointive, to the Governor; (2) Of all members of the Legislature to the presiding officer of its branches respectively when in session, and when not in session to the Governor; and w…

All vacancies, except in the office of a member of the Legislature, representative in Congress, and United States Senator, shall be filled by appointment, as follows: (1) The attorney general, secretary of state, state auditor, state treasurer, and commissioner of school and publ…

When a vacancy occurs in the board of county commissioners, the remaining board members must appoint a suitable person to fill the vacancy from the district where the vacancy occurs. The board has thirty-five days to fill the vacancy or until the conclusion of the second regular …

If a vacancy occurs within thirty days preceding an election day at which it may be filled, no appointment shall be made unless it be necessary to carry out such election and the canvass of the same according to law; in that case an appointment may be made at any time previous to…

Appointments to state offices shall be made in writing and shall continue for the remainder of the unexpired term of office. Unless otherwise provided by law, all other appointments shall be made in writing and shall continue until the next general election and until a successor …

Persons appointed to offices as herein provided shall qualify in the same manner as is required of those elected, the time of which shall be prescribed in their appointment. Source: SL 1864-5, ch 12 , § 6; PolC 1877, ch 22, § 12; CL 1887, § 1396; RPolC 1903, § 1815; RC 1919, § 70…

If any member of a governing body of a county, municipality, school district, township, or special purpose district, who is also a member of the South Dakota National Guard or another reserve component of the armed forces of the United States, is called into active duty which cau…

If any member of a governing body or any other elected officer of a county, municipality, school district, township, or special purpose district, who is incapacitated by illness or an accident which causes the member or officer to be unable to attend meetings of the governing bod…

The bonds of all state officers, appointees of the Governor or employees of the state, required to give bonds, shall be given to the State of South Dakota, and shall be approved by the Governor as to sufficiency and by the attorney general as to form, except that the form of the …

The bonds and oaths of all civil officers shall be construed to cover duties required by law subsequent to giving them. No official bond shall be void for want of compliance with the statute, but it shall be valid in law for the matter contained therein. Source: PolC 1877, ch 5, …

When any official bond running to the state or any county becomes insufficient for the purpose thereof, the approving authority shall require a new bond or additional surety or sureties, as shall be necessary to restore the bond to the full amount of liability required by law. So…

In case the board of county commissioners should decide that a bond presented to it is insufficient, a reasonable time, not to exceed five days, shall be allowed the officer to supply a sufficient bond, and such board may take three days to consider the approval of any bond. If s…

The governing board of any political subdivision of this state, may purchase a blanket bond, blanket crime coverage, an insurance policy, or an individual bond, issued to the political subdivision as the insured, covering the faithful performance of each officer, member, and empl…

The bonds of all county officers shall be approved by the board of county commissioners, except bonds of the county commissioners, which shall be approved by the auditor, and shall, together with the oaths of office be filed in the office of the county auditor. Source: CL 1887, §…

The bond of the state auditor shall be in the penal sum of ten thousand dollars, of the state treasurer in the penal sum of five hundred thousand dollars, of the secretary of state in the penal sum of five thousand dollars, of the commissioner of school and public lands in the pe…

Every official bond shall be given with at least two sureties, and the bond of the state treasurer shall have at least four sureties, and that of the county treasurer at least three sureties. In lieu of a bond with personal sureties a bond executed by a surety company legally aut…

Whenever an officer, deputy, or employee of the State of South Dakota, or its subdivisions including counties, school districts, townships, municipal corporations, and all other governmental subdivisions and departments, in furnishing a bond required by law or rules or regulation…

The Bureau of Human Resources and Administration, with the approval and advice of the attorney general and director of the division of insurance, shall purchase a blanket bond or individual bonds, issued to the state as the insured, covering the honesty and faithful performance o…

Any surety on any official bond running to the state or any county, may limit his liability by inserting after his name the words "not to exceed" naming the amount to which he desires to limit his liability. Any surety may also limit its or his liability as to time by inserting i…