South Dakota

In an attempt to clarify South Dakota’s vague open records law, Attorney General Larry Long created the Government Openness Task Force. Comprised of nearly 30 members, including members of the media, the task force formed in December 2002 and has discussed access to electronic public records, among other practical issues not addressed in the law.

According to Assistant Attorney General Diane Best, the task force will very likely propose legislation in 2004 on electronic records management.
The law. South Dakota’s open records law applies to records created in the transaction of official business "regardless of physical form of characteristics." S.D. Codified Laws § 1-27-9(2). The statute also stipulates that records custodians may copy records by an "electronic process." § 1-27-4.

Records can be retained as "magnetic tapes, disks, other machine-sensible data media within a data processing system," and to the extend a government agency is computerized, the agency need not maintain paper records. § 6-1-11.

However, if the state Department of Legislative Audit has requested state agency records, the state agency does not have to provide access to their copies. § 1-27-27.

Cases and Opinions. None found

Fees. Fees are only mentioned in a statute pertaining to "any subscription of license holder list maintained by the Department of Game, Fish and Parks." The list is accessible for a "reasonable fee." S.D. Codified Laws § 1-27-1. Court clerks may charge $15 per search for court records, if requestor is not a party to the litigation. § 16-2-29.5.

While the open records law remains vague, fees are sometimes set by other statutes and by past attorney general opinions: County auditors may charge actual cost fees for compiling voter registration lists, including charges for the tape, layout and price per name. S.D. Op. Att’y Gen. 88-47. (1988). State agencies may recoup copying costs for staff time, material and supplies. The fees must be "reasonable." S.D. Op. Att’y Gen. 96-01 (1996).

Despite the vagueness of "reasonable," Best said, "We haven’t had any complaints about records being withheld because of exorbitant fees."

Resources. The Government Openness Task Force list of applicable statutes