Senate passes bill requiring uniform pre‑election campaign finance reports

Senate Bill 17, which requires candidate campaign committees to file pre‑primary, pre‑general and end‑of‑year campaign finance disclosures, passed the South Dakota Senate after an amendment clarified the bill’s language.

The bill’s sponsor, Senator Roll, told colleagues the measure “makes sure that every single candidate campaign has to file a pre primary, a pre general, and an end of year report,” arguing the change improves transparency so “our constituents have a better understanding of who we're getting money from and what we're spending money on.” Roll also said the bill “fixes that mistake” that previously let some candidates avoid those filings when a primary did not occur.

Supporters said the change standardizes filing requirements for candidate committees and strengthens public access to campaign finance information. The Senate adopted amendment 17A, which Roll described as a clarification for the Secretary of State’s office and not a functional change, and then approved the amended bill on a roll call vote of 31 yeas and 4 nays. The Senate journal recorded the negative votes as Senator Carr, Senator Otten, Senator Pischke, and Senator Voigt.

Legislative procedure recorded the motion to amend and the final passage. The bill was presented on second reading, debated briefly with the sponsor speaking, and then put to the roll call. No additional statutory citations or administrative rules were discussed on the floor during debate.

Senate Bill 17 will proceed to the next step in the legislative process as required by Senate rules.