State legislators seeking a solution for the meandered lakes issue are making noise that a special session of the State Legislature may be convened as soon as next month to revisit the issue, and to attempt to come up with a solution of what to do about formerly public waters that are no longer public, because they reside over someone’s land:
Greenfield is vice chairman of the task force. “I’m hopeful that special session can be very soon,” he said. “I’m talking days, really, when it comes down to it.”
and..
Hawley listed three issues the special session could be built around:
- Authorizing the game commission to decide regulations for specific bodies of water;
- Limiting landowner liability; and
- Authorizing GFP staff to negotiate with individual landowners.
Qualm said public testimony wouldn’t be part of the May 24 meeting. Conversations would continue “off-line” between legislators in the meantime, he said.
Can they get 105 people to agree to an issue that has had a tendency to be contentious in the past? That may be the challenge.
I am having a hard time understanding the other side of this. My instincts tell me that if a landowner owns some land that is suddenly under water because for whatever reason a lake has extended its edge, why would someone believe they have the right to run a boat on it? I see it as trespassing. Can someone help me on this?
I’m having a hard time why this has to be dealt with in a special session? Can’t they study it as they are doing and come to town with a bill during the regular session? What is the reason for the hurry?
SDCL 46-1-3 states that the waters are the property of the people of the state.
There are still a few things missing, like what can the people do with or on the water?
Of course there is liability issue as well. Like if a boater goes over private land and gets hung up on a sumbmerged barbwire fence and the boat is damaged who is at fault? The landowner, the boater, the state?
I like limited liability if were going to allow the public to run boats and things. That’ll likely require some new designation from appropriate authority that both triggers public access and landowner protections. May even be necessary to trigger some adjustment in property tax.
As for why a special session, frankly it deals with money.
With Ag being as down as it is, and not expected to recover until at least 2019, We are looking at other sources of income. This ruling from the Supreme Court kind of puts everyone in a tight spot.
The sooner we can get this taken care of the better
Game Fish and Parks simply needs to have a program similar to the walk-in program. It appears the state is again trying to freeload on the property owners.
I listened to most of the testimony this past Wednesday in Aberdeen at the Johnson Fine Arts Center. The Day Co. tax accessor, Mike Held and David Ganje gave absolute answers and terrific introspect. Put everything they spoke on into statute next January but right now a simple fix and answer to the SD Supreme Courts decision are needed.
Business related to the Glacial Lakes tourism area is starving and Government not doing its job is why. Time to stomp on that can.
Why the rush? Because lot’s of small business people are losing a great deal of money, that is why. If this was an Ag issue the legislature would have dealt with it years ago. Because it is a hunting/fishing issue, the legislature hasn’t given a damn about it. Now we have a problem that is cutting deeply into the main streets of lots of small towns. Towns that are already suffering without adding this to the mix. Hunters and fishermen spend millions of dollars in this state – all taxed at 4.5 to 6.5%. Have you seen sales tax reciepts in this state lately? Well, this ain’t helping.
Thousands of people hunt and fish in this state. They work their asses off all week so they can spend a little time with family and friends in the great outdoors of this state. Our beloved Supreme Court and our Legislatiure have kicked this can down the road for years and years. Now it is the hunters and fishers (and the businesses that cater to them) who are paying the price.
Trespassing? The water belongs to the people. It always has. Do landowners own the air above their land or the wildlife that lives on it. No. Never have. Sadly, a few wealthy out of state people have injected their agenda into our state and now we must all pay the price.
There are a lot of pissed off people in this state who have paid there taxes, delt with low wages, supported the farmers, supported the teachers, etc. etc. All they want to do is go out and catch a fish, shoot a duck and be left the hell alone.
Keep poking the working class in this state and see what happens.
South Dakota Codified Law
43-16-1. Owner of land in fee, right to surface and things beneath or above it. The owner of land in fee has the right to the surface and to everything permanently situated beneath or above it.
Source: CivC 1877, § 265; CL 1887, § 2781; RCivC 1903, § 288; RC 1919, § 358; SDC 1939, § 51.0701.
I love anonymus posts, they are so bold!
Read these and get back to me with your 43-16-1
South Dakota State Supreme Court 2004 Parks v Cooper
South Dakota State Supreme Court 2017 Duerre v Hepler
Those decisions dont conflict with the law. They only conflict with the law if the legislature allows them to. The court only declared that the waters are a public trust. That doesn’t mean the public has access to them any more than the public has access to the state trust funds
I have a simple solution. Every boat owner is supposed to get a boat license, right? Put a statement on that license that said owner takes all responsibility for operating his boat in any water, public or private; in getting the license, the boater agrees to this, which stops any suits against landowners or the state.
Then any land that is covered by meandered waters and unable to be farmed comes off the tax registry until the waters recede and the land is again fit for farming/grazing. The water can be used by anyone as long as the landowner can’t use the land for ag purposes.
That would seem to satisfy everyone. It isn’t fair to pay taxes on land under water, and it isn’t fair to deny boaters access to recreational waters.