South Dakota Legislature

Legislative branch of the state government of South Dakota

  Republican (30)
  Democratic (4)
  Vacant (1)

House political groups

Republican (62)
Democratic (7)
Vacant (1)Elections

Last Senate election

November 8, 2022

Last House election

November 8, 2022Meeting place

South Dakota State Capitol, PierreWebsitehttp://sdlegislature.gov/

The South Dakota State Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of South Dakota. It is a bicameral legislative body, consisting of the South Dakota Senate, which has 35 members, and the South Dakota House of Representatives, which has 70 members.^[1] The two houses are similar in most respects; the Senate alone holds the right to confirm gubernatorial appointments to certain offices. In addition, the Senate votes by roll call vote, whereas the larger house uses an electronic voting system.

The legislature meets at the South Dakota State Capitol in Pierre. It begins its annual session of the second Tuesday of January each year. The legislative session lasts 40 working days in odd-numbered years, and 35 days working days in even numbered years. Though, in recent years, the legislature has completed its work in 38 working days in both even numbered years as well as odd numbered years. Generally, the legislature meets for four out of every five business days each week until the session ends, excepting on last day which is delayed to allow for consideration of gubernatorial vetoes. This schedule enables legislators to have one working day each week at home in their districts to meet with constituents as well as to tend to other personal matters. In addition, the legislature occasionally meets on Saturdays to make-up for recesses on holidays such as Presidents' Day and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

The legislature selects, from its membership, an executive board to tend to administrative matters during the time when the legislature is not in session. The administrative support for the legislature is provided by the South Dakota Legislative Research Council.

The Republican Party of South Dakota has held a supermajority in the state senate since the 1996 election, and in the state house since the 1976 election.^[2]

Selection of state legislators

Members of both houses of the state legislature are elected in November of every even-numbered year to serve a two-year term. Since 1993,^[3] legislators have been limited to serving four consecutive 2-year terms in a single house, but there is no limit on the number of non-consecutive terms a legislator may serve. A legislator who serves the limit is eligible for election again after 2 years. Vacancies in the legislature are filled by gubernatorial appointment.

State legislators are elected from 35 legislative districts; each multi-member district elects one senator and two representatives. In 33 districts, representatives are elected at-large from the entire district. District 26 and 28, however, are divided into two house districts, each of which elects one representative. This is intended to ensure that Native Americans can elect representatives of their choice.

Legislative districts are redrawn every ten years, following the United States census. In 2021, South Dakota enacted new state legislative and congressional districts after the legislature approved a compromise between two competing proposals. Both chambers voted to approve the final proposal, known as the Sparrow map, on Nov. 10, 2021. The House approved the new districts in a 37-31 vote and the Senate by a vote of 30-2. Gov. Kristi Noem (R) later signed the proposal into law.^[4]

References

^ Schoenfeld 2012, p. 13.
^ "South Dakota Legislator Reference Book" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
^ Schoenfeld (2012), p. 14.
^ Rice, Ethan (November 15, 2021). "South Dakota enacts new state legislative district maps". Ballotpedia.

Schoenfeld, Fred (Legislative Research Council), (2012). [1] "South Dakota Legislator Reference Book"

External links

Official website
Map of legislative districts

Legislative districts of South Dakota

List of South Dakota legislative districts
Each district elects one Senator and two members of the House. 33 districts elect their House members at-large, and districts 26 and 28 are split into 2 sub-districts.

v t e Members of the South Dakota Senate
South Dakota Legislature (2023–present) President of the Senate Larry Rhoden (R) President pro tempore Lee Schoenbeck (R) Majority Leader Casey Crabtree (R) Minority Leader Reynold Nesiba (D)
▌Michael Rohl (R) ▌Steve Kolbeck (R) ▌Al Novstrup (R) ▌John Wiik (R) ▌Lee Schoenbeck (R) ▌Herman Otten (R) ▌Tim Reed (R) ▌Casey Crabtree (R) ▌Brent "B.R." Hoffman (R) ▌Liz Larson (D) ▌Jim Stalzer (R) ▌Arch Beal (R) ▌Jack Kolbeck (R) ▌Larry Zikmund (R) ▌Reynold Nesiba (D) ▌Jim Bolin (R) ▌Sydney Davis (R) ▌Jean Hunhoff (R) ▌Kyle Schoenfish (R) ▌Joshua Klumb (R) ▌Erin Tobin (R) ▌David Wheeler (R) ▌Bryan Breitling (R) ▌Jim Mehlhaff (R) ▌Tom Pischke (R) ▌Shawn Bordeaux (D) ▌Red Dawn Foster (D) ▌Ryan Maher (R) ▌Dean Wink (R) ▌Julie Frye-Mueller (R) ▌Randy Deibert (R) ▌Helene Duhamel (R) ▌David Johnson (R) ▌Michael Diedrich (R) ▌Mike Walsh (R)
▌Republican (31) ▌Democratic (4) South Dakota Legislature South Dakota House of Representatives South Dakota Senate

v t e Members of the South Dakota House of Representatives
South Dakota Legislature (2023–present) Speaker of the House Hugh Bartels (R-5) Speaker pro tempore Mike Stevens (R-18) Majority Leader Will Mortenson (R-24) Minority Leader Oren Lesmeister (D-28)
1. ▌Joe Donnell (R) ⎣ ▌Tamara St. John (R) 2. ▌David Kull (R) ⎣ ▌John Sjaarda (R) 3. ▌Brandei Schaefbauer (R) ⎣ ▌Carl E. Perry (R) 4. ▌Stephanie Sauder (R) ⎣ ▌Fred Deutsch (R) 5. ▌Hugh Bartels (R) ⎣ ▌Byron Callies (R) 6. ▌Aaron Aylward (R) ⎣ ▌Ernie Otten (R) 7. ▌Mellissa Heermann (R) ⎣ ▌Roger DeGroot (R) 8. ▌John Mills (R) ⎣ ▌Tim Reisch (R) 9. ▌Bethany Soye (R) ⎣ ▌Kenneth Teunissen (R) 10. ▌Erin Healy (D) ⎣ ▌Kameron Nelson (D) 11. ▌Brian Mulder (R) ⎣ ▌Chris Karr (R) 12. ▌Amber Arlint (R) ⎣ ▌Greg Jamison (R) 13. ▌Sue Peterson (R) ⎣ ▌Tony Venhuizen (R) 14. ▌Taylor Rehfeldt (R) ⎣ ▌Tyler Tordsen (R) 15. ▌Kadyn Wittman (D) ⎣ ▌Linda Duba (D) 16. ▌Karla Lems (R) ⎣ ▌Kevin D. Jensen (R) 17. ▌William Shorma (R) ⎣ ▌Chris Kassin (R) 18. ▌Mike Stevens (R) ⎣ ▌Julie Auch (R) 19. ▌Drew Peterson (R) ⎣ ▌Jessica Bahmuller (R) 20. ▌Lance Koth (R) ⎣ ▌Ben Krohmer (R) 21. ▌Rocky Blare (R) ⎣ ▌Marty Overweg (R) 22. ▌Roger D. Chase (R) ⎣ ▌Lynn Schneider (R) 23. ▌James D. Wangsness (R) ⎣ ▌Scott Moore (R) 24. ▌Will Mortenson (R) ⎣ ▌Mike Weisgram (R) 25. ▌Randy Gross (R) ⎣ ▌Jon Hansen (R) 26A. ▌Eric Emery (D) 26B. ▌Rebecca Reimer (R) 27. ▌Liz Marty May (R) ⎣ ▌Peri Pourier (D) 28A. ▌Oren Lesmeister (D) 28B. ▌Neil Pinnow (R) 29. ▌Gary Cammack (R) ⎣ ▌Kirk Chaffee (R) 30. ▌Trish Ladner (R) ⎣ ▌Dennis Krull (R) 31. ▌Mary Fitzgerald (R) ⎣ ▌Scott Odenbach (R) 32. ▌Steve Duffy (R) ⎣ ▌Kristin Conzet (R) 33. ▌Curt Massie (R) ⎣ ▌Phil Jensen (R) 34. ▌Mike Derby (R) ⎣ ▌Becky Drury (R) 35. ▌Tina Mulally (R) ⎣ ▌Tony Randolph (R)
▌Republican (63) ▌Democratic (7) South Dakota Legislature South Dakota House of Representatives South Dakota Senate

v t e State of South Dakota
Pierre (capital)
Topics	Outline Cities Climate change Famous South Dakotans Geography Government Delegations Elections History Bibliography Timeline State Parks Symbols Tourist attractions Towns and villages Townships Transportation
Society	Abortion Cannabis Culture Crime Demographics Economy Education Colleges and universities Gun laws LGBT rights Politics
Regions	Badlands Black Hills Coteau des Prairies Missouri Coteau Dissected Till Plains Drift Prairie East River Pine Ridge Siouxland West River
Larger incorporated places pop. over 5,000	Aberdeen Belle Fourche Box Elder Brandon Brookings Harrisburg Huron Madison Mitchell Pierre Rapid City Sioux Falls Spearfish Sturgis Tea Vermillion Watertown Yankton
Smaller incorporated places pop. 1,000 - 5,000	Aurora Baltic Beresford Britton Canton Chamberlain Clark Clear Lake Crooks Custer De Smet Deadwood Dell Rapids Eagle Butte Elk Point Flandreau Fort Pierre Freeman Garretson Gettysburg Gregory Groton Hartford Hot Springs Lead Lemmon Lennox Milbank Miller Mission Mobridge North Sioux City Parker Parkston Piedmont Platte Redfield Salem Sisseton Springfield Summerset Tyndall Volga Wagner Webster Winner
Largest CDPs pop. over 1,000	Blackhawk Colonial Pine Hills Dakota Dunes Fort Thompson Green Valley North Eagle Butte North Spearfish Oglala Pine Ridge Rapid Valley Rosebud
Counties	Aurora Beadle Bennett Bon Homme Brookings Brown Brule Buffalo Butte Campbell Charles Mix Clark Clay Codington Corson Custer Davison Day Deuel Dewey Douglas Edmunds Fall River Faulk Grant Gregory Haakon Hamlin Hand Hanson Harding Hughes Hutchinson Hyde Jackson Jerauld Jones Kingsbury Lake Lawrence Lincoln Lyman Marshall McCook McPherson Meade Mellette Miner Minnehaha Moody Oglala Lakota Pennington Perkins Potter Roberts Sanborn Spink Stanley Sully Todd Tripp Turner Union Walworth Yankton Ziebach
South Dakota portal

v t e Statewide political officials of South Dakota
U.S. senators	John Thune Mike Rounds
U.S. representative	Dusty Johnson, At-large representative
State government	Kristi Noem, Governor Larry Rhoden, Lieutenant Governor Monae Johnson, Secretary of State Marty Jackley, Attorney General Josh Haeder, Treasurer Rich Sattgast, Auditor Brock Greenfield, School and Public Lands Commissioner Kristie Fiegen, Gary W. Hanson, Chris Nelson, Public Utilities Commissioners
Senate	Larry Rhoden, President Lee Schoenbeck, President pro tempore Casey Crabtree, Majority Leader Reynold Nesiba, Minority Leader
House	Hugh Bartels, Speaker Mike Stevens, Speaker pro tempore Will Mortenson, Majority Leader Oren Lesmeister, Minority Leader
Supreme Court (appointed)	Steven R. Jensen, Chief Justice Janine M. Kern Mark Salter Patricia DeVaney Scott P. Myren, Associate Justices

v t e Legislatures of the United States
United States Congress	United States House of Representatives United States Senate
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List of U.S. state legislators