---
type: "Bill"
title: "authorize the assumption of certain responsibilities and the waiver of sovereign immunity in connection with certain actions under federal environmental law."
description: "authorize the assumption of certain responsibilities and the waiver of sovereign immunity in connection with certain actions under federal environmental law."
jurisdiction: "us/states/sd"
legislature: "South Dakota Legislature"
session: "2026"
identifier: "SB 71"
citation: "South Dakota SB 71 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Executive/Judiciary Request", "Highways and Bridges", "Liability", "Procurement of Public Improvements", "State Affairs and Government"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: []
version_count: 2
action_count: 17
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2026-01-13"
last_action: "2026-03-04"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2dffafb3-e64a-454a-a525-345acdf58c95"
source_url: "https://sdlegislature.gov/Session/Bill/26780"
source_hash: "db4fa2519ad4e2219108ebb8e66a8ae912124813406f8a606b20cee2a7df3098"
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 71 (2026) — authorize the assumption of certain responsibilities and the waiver of sovereign immunity in connection with certain actions under federal environmental law.

## 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/26780/293254)
2. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://sdlegislature.gov/Session/Bill/26780/304665)

## Votes

- Do Pass — **61–6** (pass) · lower
- Do Pass — **11–0** (pass) · lower
- Do Pass — **32–2** (pass) · upper
- Do Pass — **5–2** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Transportation — primary (organization)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-13** First read in Senate and referred to Senate Transportation S.J. 17 `introduction, reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2026-01-21** Scheduled for hearing S.J. 1
- **2026-01-21** Transportation Do Pass , Passed, YEAS 5, NAYS 2 S.J. 3 `committee-passage`
- **2026-01-22** Senate Deferred to another day , Passed, S.J. 85
- **2026-01-23** Senate Deferred to another day , Passed, S.J. 96
- **2026-01-26** Senate Do Pass , Passed, YEAS 32, NAYS 2 S.J. 114 `passage`
- **2026-01-27** First Reading House H.J. 150
- **2026-01-28** Referred to House Transportation H.J. 166 `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-19** Scheduled for hearing
- **2026-02-19** Transportation Do Pass , Passed, YEAS 11, NAYS 0 H.J. 19 `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-19** Certified uncontested, placed on consent , Passed, H.J. 19
- **2026-02-20** Remove from Consent Calendar H.J. 387
- **2026-02-23** House of Representatives Do Pass , Passed, YEAS 61, NAYS 6 H.J. 415 `passage`
- **2026-02-24** Signed by the President S.J. 388 `passage`
- **2026-02-25** Signed by the Speaker H.J. 449 `passage`
- **2026-02-26** Delivered to the Governor on 2026-02-26 S.J. 410 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-04** Signed by the Governor on 2026-03-04 S.J. 452 `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/2dffafb3-e64a-454a-a525-345acdf58c95`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official South Dakota legislature records).