---
type: "Bill"
title: "establish protections for a veteran seeking assistance in a veterans' benefit matter."
description: "establish protections for a veteran seeking assistance in a veterans' benefit matter."
jurisdiction: "us/states/sd"
legislature: "South Dakota Legislature"
session: "2025"
identifier: "HB 1238"
citation: "South Dakota HB 1238 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Criminal Background Investigation", "Penalty", "Trade", "Veterans Affairs"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Emery", "Goodwin", "Muckey", "Pourier", "Reisch"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 14
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2025-02-05"
last_action: "2025-03-31"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a3c63c2c-94df-48ba-8e92-b23828a2b71b"
source_url: "https://sdlegislature.gov/Session/Bill/26209"
source_hash: "f76392289ed69522ec3249ac1688ce727883bbf54e139a93c85813033bb5a48a"
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 HB 1238 (2025) — establish protections for a veteran seeking assistance in a veterans' benefit matter.

## 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/26209/280750)
2. **1238B** (committee substitute) — [source](https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/281630.pdf)
3. **House Military and Veterans Affairs Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://sdlegislature.gov/Session/Bill/26209/281649)
4. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://sdlegislature.gov/Session/Bill/26209/284047)

## Votes

- Do Pass — **4–1** (pass) · upper
- Do Pass Amended — **9–2** (pass) · lower
- Do Pass Amended — **44–24** (pass) · lower
- Do Pass Amended — **25–8** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Emery — primary (person)
- Goodwin — primary (person)
- Muckey — primary (person)
- Pourier — primary (person)
- Reisch — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-02-05** First Reading House H.J. 199
- **2025-02-06** Referred to H.J. 213 `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-10** Scheduled for hearing
- **2025-02-10** Military and Veterans Affairs Motion to amend , Passed, H.J. 1 Amendment 1238B `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage`
- **2025-02-10** Military and Veterans Affairs Do Pass Amended , Passed, YEAS 9, NAYS 2 H.J. 2
- **2025-02-13** House of Representatives Do Pass Amended , Passed, YEAS 44, NAYS 24 H.J. 292
- **2025-02-18** First read in Senate and referred to S.J. 279 `introduction, reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2025-03-03** Scheduled for hearing
- **2025-03-03** Military and Veterans Affairs Do Pass , Passed, YEAS 4, NAYS 1 `committee-passage`
- **2025-03-05** Senate Do Pass Amended , Passed, YEAS 25, NAYS 8 S.J. 454
- **2025-03-06** Signed by the Speaker H.J. 488 `passage`
- **2025-03-10** Signed by the President S.J. 503 `passage`
- **2025-03-12** Delivered to the Governor on 2025-03-12 H.J. 528 `executive-receipt`
- **2025-03-31** Signed by the Governor on 2025-03-31 H.J. 554 `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/a3c63c2c-94df-48ba-8e92-b23828a2b71b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official South Dakota legislature records).