The 100th South Dakota Legislature convened in Pierre on January 14, 2025, with a Republican supermajority holding 32 of 35 Senate seats and 62 of 70 House seats — one of the most commanding legislative margins in state history. With this strength came an ambitious agenda: property tax relief, education savings accounts, energy infrastructure reform, and a reassertion of state sovereignty on federal overreach issues.
This guide is designed for Republican voters who want to understand what their legislators accomplished, what fell short, and what battles carry forward into 2026. Every claim in this analysis is tied to a specific bill number, vote tally, or publicly available state document.
The Fiscal Picture: A $6.9 Billion Budget
The session's central task was the General Appropriations Act (HB 1001), the annual state budget. Governor Kristi Noem's executive budget proposal called for approximately $6.9 billion in total appropriations for Fiscal Year 2026 — a 4.2% increase over FY2025, driven largely by federal pass-through funds and increased K-12 enrollment.
Conservative legislators focused on three fiscal priorities within the appropriations debate:
- Limiting the growth of state government employment — The final budget held full-time equivalent state employee growth to under 1%, resisting pressure from several agency heads who requested staffing expansions.
- Directing surplus to one-time expenditures — Rather than building new recurring programs with one-time surplus revenue, the Legislature directed excess funds into infrastructure maintenance and the state's Budget Reserve Fund.
- Property tax relief appropriation — A dedicated appropriation of $104 million supports the property tax reduction mechanism established in companion legislation (see below).
Property Tax Relief: The Session's Signature Achievement
For years, South Dakota homeowners — particularly in rapidly growing counties like Lincoln, Minnehaha, and Pennington — have faced surging property tax bills driven by rising assessed valuations. The 2025 Legislature made property tax relief its marquee conservative achievement.
House Bill 1012 reduces the assessment ratio for owner-occupied primary residences. Under the bill, the owner-occupied ratio drops from 85% to 75% of market value for tax assessment purposes. For a Rapid City homeowner with a $350,000 home, this translates to an assessed value reduction of $35,000, potentially saving $350–$500 annually depending on local mill levies.
The measure passed the House 65-3 and cleared the Senate 33-2, reflecting broad bipartisan recognition that property tax relief is essential for working families and fixed-income retirees across the state.
"This is not a political calculation. This is what South Dakota families asked us to do. Property taxes have been the hidden tax increase that nobody voted for." — Republican House floor debate, February 2025
Education: School Choice Takes Root
The 2025 session continued South Dakota's incremental march toward robust school choice. House Bill 1089 expands the Education Savings Account program, which allows state per-pupil funds to follow students to non-public schools, to families earning up to 300% of the federal poverty level — approximately $90,000 for a family of four.
The education appropriation itself increased per-pupil state aid by $310 per student, reaching an estimated $5,214 in state funding per enrolled student. Supporters argue this investment strengthens the underlying per-pupil allocation that ESA recipients draw from, ensuring that expanding choice does not hollow out the public school funding base.
Senate Bill 22, prohibiting certain ideological instruction in K-12 schools, passed the Senate 25-10 and moved to the House for consideration. The bill's language specifically prohibits teaching that individuals bear personal responsibility for historical injustices by reason of their race or national origin — language designed to address concerns about curriculum content without infringing on standard historical education.
Second Amendment & State Sovereignty
South Dakota's Republican majority has consistently used the Legislature to push back against federal encroachments on constitutional rights. The 2025 session continued this tradition.
House Bill 1075, the Second Amendment Preservation Act Update, strengthens state-level protections against federal firearms regulations that the Legislature deems unconstitutional. The bill passed 53-14 in the House — a clear signal that South Dakota's Republican majority views the Second Amendment as a bright line that Pierre, not Washington, will defend.
House Bill 1102, a border security resolution, passed both chambers and affirmed South Dakota's solidarity with Texas's Operation Lone Star border security program while formally requesting federal action to secure the southern border. Non-binding but symbolically significant, the resolution passed with overwhelming Republican support.
Energy: Carbon Pipelines and State Oversight
The 2025 session grappled seriously with the contentious question of carbon capture pipeline development — a debate that cuts across traditional political lines in agricultural South Dakota.
Senate Bill 44, the Carbon Capture Pipeline Moratorium, reflects a growing consensus among South Dakota landowners — traditionally Republican constituents — that the state's eminent domain protections for pipeline development are inadequate. The bill imposes a two-year moratorium on new permits while the Legislature works on a landowner protection framework. This is not an anti-energy position; it is a pro-property-rights position from a Legislature that takes the Fifth Amendment seriously.
House Bill 1118, the Energy Infrastructure Siting Reform bill, simultaneously works to streamline the Public Utilities Commission review process for natural gas and electrical transmission projects — infrastructure conservatives view as essential for energy reliability.
What Didn't Pass — And Why It Matters
Not every conservative priority crossed the finish line. Understanding what failed illuminates the fault lines within the Republican caucus and previews the agenda for 2026.
House Bill 1134, the Tribal Gaming Compact Extension, failed 32-35 — a surprisingly close vote that revealed lingering tensions between legislators representing reservation-border districts and those from the state's interior. The bill would have extended existing gaming compacts by 25 years; its failure means compacts will require renegotiation sooner, creating uncertainty for tribal governments and gaming operators alike.
Looking Ahead to 2026
The 2025 session laid groundwork that will shape South Dakota policy for years. Property tax relief is now law. School choice is expanding. The Second Amendment framework is stronger. But a number of significant issues — carbon pipeline policy, Medicaid supplemental payments, broadband rural deployment — remain works in progress.
For Republican voters, the most important preparation for 2026 is knowing your legislators' records. The Legislative Tracker on this site provides bill-by-bill status. The County Directory gives you direct access to your local GOP organization. And the Voter's Guide ensures you are registered and ready to participate in the 2026 Republican Primary.