Controversial Landowner Bill of Rights signed into law

Local state legislators will return this week to civilian life after wrapping up another year of business in Pierre. The South Dakota State Legislature ended its 2024 session this past Thursday.
Legislators passed a $7.3 billion budget for fiscal year 2025. That budget includes 4% increases for K-12 education, health care providers and state employees.
Among other closely-watched legislation passed foreign entities such as China are now banned from owning farmland in the state and another trio of bills that have become known as the Landowner Bill of Rights were signed into law. That trio of laws is one many locals not only watched closely but fought as they pave the way for controversial personal property land grabs through the use of eminent domain and carbon capture pipeline networks to move forward across the state.
A significant number of ag-related groups came together this session to express support for the bills. Industry leaders fought hard for their passage saying the bills create new demand for corn in the state, offer landowners protection and financial compensation, give tax benefits to counties while maintaining some zoning power, and set the standard for other states to now follow.
SB201, which weve reported on throughout this session, gives local governments some say over setbacks, but the state Public Utilities Commission has the ultimate say.
Counties, in turn, can impose a pipeline surcharge up to one dollar per linear foot of carbon dioxide pipeline installed through a county.
The bill also outlines that all pipelines carrying carbon dioxide must be installed so that the cover between the top of the pipe and the ground level, road bed, river bottom, or underwater natural bottom, as determined by recognized and generally accepted practices, must be a minimum of forty-eight inches in thickness and must be buried so that it is below the level of cultivation.
Pipeline companies are also to be held liable for repairs of drain tile installed prior to any installation of the pipeline facility for the life of the pipeline facility, cover full replacement costs including material, labor, and equipment, and the reclamation and restoration of topsoil as part of any drain tile repair.
HB1185 requires a $500 fee be paid to landowners when a pipeline company of any type wants to perform a survey on that property, but it allows a landowner to challenge the right to survey or examine by commencing an action in circuit court in the county where the survey or examination is proposed within thirty days of service of the written notice.
HB1186 caps easements for carbon pipelines at 99 years, withdraws the easement if business operations dont begin within five years after construction or there is a five-year gap in the use of the pipeline.