South Dakota Attorney General Jackley, SD News Media Association Release Updated Open Meeting Laws Guide
PIERRE, S.D. – An updated Open Meetings Law Guide, which includes revisions made by the 2025 South Dakota Legislature, has been released by South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley and the South Dakota NewsMedia Association (SDNA).
The guide is designed to explain the state’s meeting laws and is intended to fulfill the Attorney General’s obligation to annually provide an explanation of the state’s open meeting laws.
“Open meeting laws create transparent government,” said Attorney General Jackley. “This brochure provides guidelines to the media,government agencies, and the public.”
This year’s State Legislature approved two major changes to the State’s Open Meeting Laws.
Senate Bill 74 created the obligation for public bodies to annually review the state open meetings laws by reviewing an explanation prepared by the Attorney General. House Bill 1059 changed the definition of an official meeting to make clear that electronic communications between a quorum of a public body constitute an official meeting. Both laws took effect July 1.
“We appreciate the support these bills received from legislators, the Attorney General, and Gov. Rhoden,” said SDNA Executive Director David Bordewyk. “Citizens have the right to know what is happening within their local governments.”
Attorney General Jackley Announces Clark Man Indicted For First Degree Murder In Death of His Mother
PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley announces a Clark man has been indicted on First-Degree Murder in the death of his mother.
Bowen Fladland, 34, was indicted by a Clark County Grand Jury on Wednesday. The next hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. July 21.
The defendant is accused in the July 5 murder of his mother, 70-year-old Marlene Fladland, at a Clark residence.
South Dakota’s Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) is leading the investigation with the assistance of the Clark Police Department. The case will be prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office and the Clark County State’s Attorney’s Office.
The defendant is being held on a $500,000 cash bond in the Codington County Jail. He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole if found guilty. He is presumed innocent under the U.S. Constitution.
Johnson, Peters Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Digitize the Permitting Process
The ePermit Act would digitize the permitting process across the federal government
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representatives Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) and Scott Peters (D-CA) introduced the bipartisan ePermit Act to digitize the United States permitting process, reducing processing time for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews.
In April, President Trump published a memorandum to emphasize the importance of modernizing permitting technology. In May, President Trump launched a Permitting Technology Action Plan directing federal agencies to make maximum use of technology in the environmental review and permitting process. The ePermit Act builds on the recommendations from the Administration and provides legislative clarity and direction on how agencies should implement such an electronic permitting system.
“The government, industries, and citizens all agree that it takes too long to build in America,” said Johnson. “Completing the permitting process by paper is an archaic waste of time. Digitizing the system will speed up the process, save federal dollars, and cut down delays. Making this commonsense change will unleash investment in American communities and workers.”
“Our permitting system is old, complicated, and slow—if we want to build the roads, bridges, broadband, and clean energy of the future, we need to modernize and streamline the permit process,” said Peters. “Our bipartisan ePermit Act builds on the efforts of the last two Administrations and brings our permitting process into the 21st century. I look forward to working with Representative Johnson to pass this commonsense bill into law.”
Background:
The current permitting process has failed to ensure project permitting is on-time and on-task. Oftentimes, the root causes of delays in the environmental review process have little to do with questions about environmental protection and a lot to do with failure to embrace modern technology and move on from legacy bureaucratic approaches, like paper forms.
Congress must address the root causes for delays, which include compiling and reviewing lengthy paper documents, a lack of accessibility and transparency – leading to misunderstanding, conflicts, and all too often, protracted litigation – and continued reliance on outdated technologies and processes for interagency review and comment.
The ePermit Act would address these root causes by establishing a framework for agencies to implement a digital permitting system and unified portal.
Attorney General Jackley Praises Presidential Signing of HALT Fentanyl Act
PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley praises President Trump’s signing of the national HALT Fentanyl Act which the Attorney General says is a necessary step in dealing with the nation’s Fentanyl Crisis.
Attorney General Jackley was a guest Wednesday at the White House for the signing of the legislation which Congress passed last month. Attorney General Jackley had been one of 25 Attorneys General that urged passage of the legislation.
“Too many South Dakota families continue to suffer from the impacts of Fentanyl,” said Attorney General Jackley. “We need to aggressively address this crisis to save lives and better protect South Dakota communities.”
The HALT Fentanyl Act closes a loophole for copycat fentanyl which are lab-created drugs that are made to work around U.S. law. The copycats are often more harmful than prescription Fentanyl. The HALT Fentanyl Act permanently classifies illicit Fentanyl knockoffs, known as Fentanyl-related substances, as Schedule I substances.
So far this year, from January to June, there has been 140 Fentanyl arrests made in South Dakota and 2.221 pounds of Fentanyl seized. In all of 2024, there were 330 arrests made and 18.2 pounds seized.
Attorney General Jackley has been a strong advocate in the effort to fight Fentanyl at the state and local levels. He has increased strengthening the state penalties for Fentanyl possession.
The Attorney General also partnered with Emily’s Hope, along with the South Dakota Departments of Social Services and Health, to distribute 20,000 naloxone kits to prevent overdose deaths. The distribution of these kits is funded by the South Dakota Attorney General’s South Dakota Opioid Settlement and supplied by TEVA Pharmaceuticals.
Senator Mike Rounds WEEKLY ROUND[S] UP: July 7-13, 2025
It was a busy week in DC, particularly for those of us who serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC). We passed our committee version of the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA. This is our annual defense bill that authorizes funding for military programs, as well as military members and their families. This year, I’m particularly pleased to have authorized additional funding for Ellsworth Air Force Base as well as the B-21 program. This legislation will now head to the full Senate for consideration. Read more about the NDAA and the rest of my week in my Weekly Round[s] Up:
South Dakota groups I met with: South Dakota United Way; Stuart Rice, Vice President of the Dakotas Chapter of Sons of the American Revolution; South Dakota members of the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association; and South Dakota members of the National Association for the Deaf.
South Dakota towns represented: Eagle Butte, Lower Brule, Pierre, Pine Ridge, Rapid City, Sioux Falls and Yankton.
Other meetings: John Doyle, CEO of Cape; and Binalf Andualem, Ethiopia’s Ambassador to the United States.
I spoke at an event with Punchbowl News to discuss financial services policy. I also attended our Senate Prayer Breakfast, where Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina was our speaker.
NDAA: As I mentioned, we were glad to secure many wins for South Dakota in this year’s NDAA, including authorizing $378 million for construction projects at Ellsworth Air Force Base to prepare for bed down of the B-21 Raider stealth bomber, $28 million for the Watertown Army National Guard vehicle maintenance facility and $3.4 billion for procurement of B-21 aircraft. The NDAA also authorizes funding to support a 3.8 percent raise for military members. Read more about this year’s NDAA and a full list of my provisions here.
Appropriations Markup: I also attended a markup in the Appropriations Committee to discuss and debate three of our twelve spending bills that we’re working to get passed before the end of the Fiscal Year. A markup is an important part of the legislative process and the first step in passing our appropriations bills.
This is my first year serving on the Appropriations committee and as such, my first time working directly on Appropriations legislation before it hits the full Senate. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues on the committee to get these bills passed before October 1.
Hearings and briefings: I attended one closed hearing and one closed briefing as part of my work on the Select Committee on Intelligence.
Legislation introduced: This past week, I introduced the Reducing Homelessness Through Program Reform Act, legislation to cut red tape and create local solutions for addressing homelessness. Despite record levels of federal funding, homelessness continues to rise. It’s clear that a one-size-fits-all approach isn’t working. The challenges we face in South Dakota are not the same as those in California or New York. This legislation takes a conservative approach by shifting power back to the states and communities closest to the problem. This commonsense bill cuts red tape and enables local leaders to deliver faster, more effective and more appropriate solutions for the people they serve. Read more here.
Votes taken: 11 – all of these are on nominees to executive branch positions at the Departments of Energy and Transportation, as well as the Small Business Administration and the Office of Personnel Management. We also took a procedural vote to advance the nomination of a federal judge in Tennessee.
My staff in South Dakota visited: Aberdeen, Beresford, Brookings, De Smet, Faulkton, Garretson, Hartford, Huron and Watertown.
Steps taken: 44,083 steps or 20.12 miles.
Video of the week: KOTA TV in Rapid City did a story this past week on bringing a tribal law enforcement training center to the Dakotas, which I have long advocated for:
The only reason to note this is for anecdotal purposes, as there are rumors that McNeal may enter a contest from the hard right.
And I’m sure that will go as well as his 2 – count them TWO – non-starter congressional races. First as an Indy-turned Republican, and then going back to Indy, screwing up those petitions too.
Not much to see here. Of the 50k he loaned his race, he spent $3408.12 in the last quarter, mainly going to GOP Lincoln Day dinners like he’s running for something.
And is he? If you look at the expenditures..
Maybe he’s trying to tell everyone something without saying it out loud?
This is interesting. Independent Senate Candidate Brian Bengs almost raised $80 grand in his first quarter of fundraising. Of course, it only cost him $59k to do it, but you have to start somewhere.
Even more interesting is the fact there is a Democrat in the race, Julian Beaudion, yet Bengs is raising money using Democrat fundraising platform ActBlue according to the report. I can’t imagine state dems would be happy about that with Bengs sniping cash out from under him. It also looks like he’s using Dem software firm NGP VAN Inc, who bills itself as the “leading technology provider to democratic and progressive political campaigns and organizations.” Who will Beaudion be using, because I would venture that’s who he would hire as well.
So… Bengs is supposed to be running as an Independent? Yet uses Democrat candidate infrastructure and organizations to rase money and organize?
And the actual Democrat candidate Julian Beaudion does not appear to have raised anything yet?
South Dakota’s junior Senator Mike Rounds snuck up on us and had a good quarter fundraising for his 2026 election race, brining in over half-a-million in the second quarter of fundraising this year.
Against $196,560.13 in total disbursements, Rounds for Senate raised a total of $517,658.40 providing him $2,503,177.56 in seed money for the 2026 election, making it that much tougher for any challengers to gain purchase in South Dakota.
Not that they’re going to against a popular Senator and former Governor.
This doesn’t count any money Rounds has raised through his Peter Norbeck PAC, which will report later, but had around $350k after the 2024 election.
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representatives Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) and Scott Peters (D-CA) introduced the bipartisan ePermit Act to digitize the United States permitting process, reducing processing time for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews.
