---
type: "Bill"
title: "establish protections for state employees who report improper governmental conduct and crime."
description: "establish protections for state employees who report improper governmental conduct and crime."
jurisdiction: "us/states/sd"
legislature: "South Dakota Legislature"
session: "2025"
identifier: "SB 63"
citation: "South Dakota SB 63 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Executive/Judiciary Request", "Government Operations and Audit", "Public Officers and Employees", "Reports", "State Employees"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: []
version_count: 4
action_count: 17
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2025-01-14"
last_action: "2025-03-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8318aff9-deb3-48c8-937e-d420cdffcf48"
source_url: "https://sdlegislature.gov/Session/Bill/25670"
source_hash: "65137f7dd259f2c2b3a8849a4eb41014f6c9ec0eb10cb7330fbc241ba7dcb472"
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 63 (2025) — establish protections for state employees who report improper governmental conduct and crime.

## 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/25670/274655)
2. **63A** (committee substitute) — [source](https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/281608.pdf)
3. **Senate Judiciary Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://sdlegislature.gov/Session/Bill/25670/281753)
4. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://sdlegislature.gov/Session/Bill/25670/283401)

## Votes

- Do Pass — **13–0** (pass) · lower
- Do Pass — **35–0** (pass) · upper
- Do Pass Amended — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- Do Pass — **70–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Judiciary — primary (organization)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-01-14** First Reading Senate S.J. 14
- **2025-01-21** Referred to S.J. 63 `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-11** Scheduled for hearing
- **2025-02-11** Judiciary Motion to amend , Passed, Amendment 63A `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage`
- **2025-02-11** Judiciary Do Pass Amended , Passed, YEAS 6, NAYS 0
- **2025-02-11** Certified uncontested, placed on consent , Passed,
- **2025-02-13** Senate Do Pass Amended , Passed, YEAS 35, NAYS 0 S.J. 268
- **2025-02-18** First Reading House H.J. 306
- **2025-02-19** Referred to H.J. 324 `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-26** Scheduled for hearing
- **2025-02-26** State Affairs Do Pass , Passed, YEAS 13, NAYS 0 H.J. 1 `committee-passage`
- **2025-02-26** Certified uncontested, placed on consent , Passed, H.J. 1
- **2025-02-27** House of Representatives Do Pass Amended , Passed, YEAS 70, NAYS 0 H.J. 424
- **2025-03-03** Signed by the President S.J. 425 `passage`
- **2025-03-04** Signed by the Speaker H.J. 455 `passage`
- **2025-03-05** Delivered to the Governor on 2025-03-05 S.J. 450 `executive-receipt`
- **2025-03-13** Signed by the Governor on 2025-03-13 S.J. 529 `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/8318aff9-deb3-48c8-937e-d420cdffcf48`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official South Dakota legislature records).