---
type: "Bill"
title: "revise certain provisions related to competency hearings."
description: "revise certain provisions related to competency hearings."
jurisdiction: "us/states/sd"
legislature: "South Dakota Legislature"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 173"
citation: "South Dakota SB 173 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Criminal Procedure", "Mentally Ill Persons"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Stevens", "Wheeler"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 13
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2021-02-02"
last_action: "2021-03-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4721946e-d25c-45ec-8d1e-94f68456ea54"
source_url: "https://sdlegislature.gov/Session/Bill/22018"
source_hash: "c97261579886c23d86cdc6a1f85e8d9c579e47be52dba0275693f06816e864c8"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-sd"]
---

# South Dakota SB 173 (2021) — revise certain provisions related to competency hearings.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://sdlegislature.gov/Session/Bill/22018/215659)
2. **173A** (committee substitute) — [source](https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/217876.pdf)
3. **Senate Judiciary Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://sdlegislature.gov/Session/Bill/22018/218192)
4. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://sdlegislature.gov/Session/Bill/22018/219776)

## Votes

- Do Pass Amended — **32–1** (pass) · upper
- Do Pass Amended — **64–4** (pass) · lower
- Do Pass — **11–2** (pass) · lower
- Do Pass Amended — **6–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Stevens — primary (person)
- Wheeler — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2021-02-02** First read in Senate and referred to S.J. 157 `introduction, reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2021-02-23** Scheduled for hearing S.J. 1
- **2021-02-23** Judiciary Motion to amend , Passed, S.J. 2 Amendment 173A `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage`
- **2021-02-23** Judiciary Do Pass Amended , Passed, YEAS 6, NAYS 1 S.J. 3
- **2021-02-25** Senate Do Pass Amended , Passed, YEAS 32, NAYS 1 S.J. 352
- **2021-03-01** First read in House and referred to H.J. 439 `introduction, reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-03** Scheduled for hearing
- **2021-03-03** Judiciary Do Pass , Passed, YEAS 11, NAYS 2 H.J. 1 `committee-passage`
- **2021-03-04** House of Representatives Do Pass Amended , Passed, YEAS 64, NAYS 4 H.J. 501
- **2021-03-08** Signed by the President S.J. 445 `passage`
- **2021-03-09** Signed by the Speaker H.J. 541 `passage`
- **2021-03-10** Delivered to the Governor on 2021-03-10 S.J. 468 `executive-receipt`
- **2021-03-29** Signed by the Governor on 2021-03-29 S.J. 494 `executive-signature, executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/4721946e-d25c-45ec-8d1e-94f68456ea54`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official South Dakota legislature records).