South Dakota lawmakers grapple with new financial conflict standards

With Supreme Court overturning prior rulings, legislators likely to consider new protections

(Austin Goss/The Dakota Scout)

PIERRE — South Dakota lawmakers no longer live under a stringent ban on financially interacting with state government.

That’s the result of last week’s landmark decision by the South Dakota Supreme Court striking down nearly four decades of precedent that had prohibited legislators from directly or indirectly benefiting from contracts with the state.

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But with the new standard issued in the court’s ruling, new proposals to ensure lawmakers aren’t able to game their positions in government to pad their wallets are anticipated in the future.

“There’s no doubt that as a result of this opinion, new laws will be needed in the future to protect taxpayers against conflicts of interest,” Rep. Jon Hansen said after the court put to bed months of lingering questions about what types of financial interactions between lawmakers and the state rose to constitutional violations.

The ruling was a result of Gov. Kristi Noem requesting the court answer the question after former Sen. Jessica Castleberry was forced to resign last summer due to her acceptance of stimulus funds authorized for daycares by the Legislature. That sparked more scrutiny about financial conflicts among legislators, with speculation that dozens could have potentially been in violation of the state Constitution.

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