Sunshine Week finds some light in a partly cloudy South Dakota
Sunshine Week is a nationwide time to reflect on just how good your government is about conducting the public's business in a transparent, accountable way. South Dakota has always struggled to let the sunshine in, though some clouds may have parted this year.
Those clouds can blot out the sun in South Dakota because of the state's limp open meetings law. That law, among other things, governs when city councils, school boards and county commissions may go into executive session — barring the public from seeing them do the people's work. While there have certainly been transgressions, there has never been a case brought by a state's attorney against a local governing board for an open meetings law violation. Never.
There is reason for hope, however. During the recently completed legislative session, both chambers passed, and the governor signed, Senate Bill 74. It requires local governing boards to conduct a yearly review of the open meetings law. This will surely cut down on some of the infractions that are simply due to an ignorance of the law.
March 16-22, 2025, is Sunshine Week, a nonpartisan collaboration among groups in the journalism, civic, education, government and private sectors that shines a light on the importance of public records and open government.
Also providing a little sunshine was House Bill 1059, which clarifies that local governing boards are not allowed to conduct business in a group text or email chain except for the purpose of setting a time for an official meeting. That bill was approved unanimously in both chambers and, at this writing, is awaiting the governor's signature.
South Dakota's new governor, Larry Rhoden, is also letting some sunlight into the Capitol. His predecessor, Kristi Noem, was prone to seeing the media as an enemy causing her office to be unresponsive or dismissive of media requests. She did her best to shut down media access to state government with her decree that all media inquiries had to go through each department's information officers. The responsiveness and professionalism of those information officers varied wildly by department.
Rhoden has promised a reset of his office's relationship with the Legislature and the media. Like many professional groups, the South Dakota NewsMedia Association hosts a day in Pierre during the session to meet with lawmakers. A meeting with the governor was a traditional part of NewsMedia Day until Noem gave up on the practice a few years ago.
At this year's NewsMedia Day, Rhoden invited SDNA's board of directors in for a meeting to discuss media issues as they pertain to state government. Rhoden has also restarted the governor's weekly news conferences during the legislative session, another tradition that Noem gave up on.
While Rhoden and his office have been open to media requests, it may take a while for that openness to trickle down to the rest of the executive branch. After the Noem years of being told not to talk to the media, it's likely state government officials are still wary about opening their mouths. Rhoden, however, is setting a good example for them to follow.
Another good example was set last year by Attorney General Marty Jackley, who resurrected the Open Meetings Commission after it went dark during the tenure of Jason Ravnsborg. The commission, made up of state's attorneys, met twice last year to deal with the backlog of complaints about open meetings violations. In most cases, the commission found that local boards and councils had run afoul of the open meetings law.
There is no real punishment for those offenders, other than being reprimanded by the commission. Since the mechanism to review open meetings violations already exists, it would help increase transparency in local governments if the commission were given the power to do more than just slap wrists.
While no one wants to see elected officials go to jail for an open meetings violation, there should be real consequences for failing to handle public business in a transparent way. Perhaps a system of fines, imposed by the commission and to be paid for individually by elected officials who break the open meetings law, would go a long way toward letting some sunshine in.
At the least, a system of fines would ensure that the new law calling for a yearly review of the open meetings law becomes a priority for elected officials.
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