Technology

SB 214 requires South Dakota's Secretary of State to post weekly updates to the statewide voter registration file every Monday by 11:59 p.m. Central Time. It also establishes a rolling five-year historical archive of this data on the Secretary's website, making it freely available. The bill prohibits public access to sensitive personal information like Social Security numbers, driver license numbers, and birth dates within these files. Additionally, it bans selling or using voter data for commercial purposes (with exceptions for political polling), while allowing fees for paper copies of voter lists.

SB 44 allows South Dakota's Attorney General to obtain business records from internet and telecom providers during criminal investigations of internet crimes against children or human trafficking. It requires judicial approval based on "reasonable cause" before issuing subpoenas for specific records like IP addresses, account details, and device information. Hughes County judges have statewide authority to approve these subpoenas, which cannot notify account holders, and obtained records must be used solely for law enforcement with privacy safeguards. The bill directly affects providers (including internet and telecom companies) by mandating compliance with court-ordered requests for targeted data.

SB 205 revises drone registration fees in South Dakota, charging 1.5% of purchase price for agricultural drones and 2% for all other drones. The collected fees fund a new "drone aviation fund" administered by the Board of Technical Education to support drone training grants at state technical colleges. This bill directly affects drone owners (especially agricultural users) by changing their registration tax rates and creating a dedicated funding source for drone industry workforce development. The fund will receive all drone registration fees and interest, with expenditures requiring annual budget approval. The bill does not apply to small unmanned aircraft systems covered under federal regulations.

HB 1246 prohibits state agencies and local governments from signing agreements with private entities that require secrecy about data center projects. It mandates that any agreement for building, developing, or locating a data center must be treated as a public record, making its terms accessible to the public. The bill defines a data center as a facility storing, processing, or managing electronic data. This ensures transparency by preventing confidential clauses in such agreements, allowing public access to project details without secrecy restrictions.