SD Legislative Session Ends with Property Tax Cap

South Dakota lawmakers focused heavily on property tax reform this session, ultimately passing Governor Larry Rhoden’s bill to cap growth at 3 percent for counties and schools starting in 2027. “All legislators started the session saying that we had to do something on property taxes,” said South Dakota Farmers Union lobbyist Mitch Richter. “They were focused on the owner-occupied individual homeowner and they worked pretty much all session.” Another high-profile issue was a bill preventing the use of eminent domain for carbon pipeline projects, a topic that helped elect many new legislators.  While Richter supports the eminent domain bill, he voiced concerns about South Dakota’s economic future. “Where is the growth going to come from in South Dakota?” he asked, pointing to legislative rejections of data center proposals and county moratoriums on wind and solar farms. “Rural South Dakota is going to be hurting for development projects if the legislature and county commissions are going to continue to turn these down.”