South Dakota Legislature

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South Dakota State Legislature
President Pro Tem of the Senate
Lee Schoenbeck (R)
since January 8, 2021
Hugh Bartles (R)
since January 9, 2023
Structure
Seats105 voting members:
35 Senators
70 Representatives
Senate political groups
  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, 2022
Meeting place
South Dakota State Capitol
Pierre
Website
http://sdlegislature.gov/

The South Dakota State Legislature is the legislative branch of the

roll call vote, whereas the larger house uses an electronic voting
system.

The legislature meets at the

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]

See also

References

  1. ^ Schoenfeld 2012, p. 13.
  2. ^ "South Dakota Legislator Reference Book" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
  3. ^ Schoenfeld (2012), p. 14.
  4. ^ 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