My Record in Pierre
I ran to work for District 15 and to be straight with you about how I vote. This page covers three things: the bills I've passed, where I stand on the issues, and how you can look up every vote I've cast.
Jump to: What I've passed · Where I stand · How to see my votes
What I've passed
Every one of these became law the only way anything does in Pierre: by working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle. Here's what's made it, the money I helped secure in the budget, and the work I'm not finished with.
Bills I sponsored that became law+
South Dakota schools have identified 1,748 students experiencing homelessness. A birth certificate or a state ID is the key to a job, a bank account, or a place to live, and the fees put them out of reach for the kids who can least afford them. We helped draft and advocate for these two bills to waive those fees, giving schools a real tool to help students who would otherwise have to cover the cost of these basic documents themselves.
Prime sponsor. Both signed into law February 25, 2025. HB 1074 passed the House 67–1 and the Senate 35–0; HB 1075 passed the House 67–1 and the Senate 35–0.
Our unclaimed property law hadn't kept up with digital assets. HB 1196 brought virtual currency under the law and strengthened the notice people are owed before the state takes custody of their property. It was part of a broader package I helped negotiate to establish South Dakota's first unclaimed property trust fund.
Prime sponsor. Signed March 13, 2025. Passed the House 69–1 and the Senate 32–2.
Every part of South Dakota law guarantees translation or interpreter services so people can get a fair hearing, except one often-forgotten corner: the administrative rules. Helen's Law fixes that. It requires interpreter or translator services in administrative contested cases, so a language barrier can't decide the outcome of your case with the government.
It started with a phone call from Beth Lone Eagle, after her own local representatives wouldn't take the bill up. The inspiration was Helen Red Feather, a Lakota elder fluent in Lakota but not English, who had contested a uranium mining permit in Fall River County and found her own government out of reach. With Beth's tireless organizing, Violet Catches and Duane Two Bulls testifying, and Senator Tamara Grove as Senate prime sponsor, we turned Helen's experience into law, and Helen stood beside the Governor as he signed it. The Oceti Sakowin languages are among the oldest spoken in this state. This is a step toward honoring them, and toward a government that stays within reach of all of our people, whatever their language or accessibility needs.
Prime sponsor. Signed into law March 9, 2026. Passed the House 48–18 and the Senate 30–2.
I brought HB 1117 to require new public reporting on the Governor's Office of Economic Development. I withdrew it and folded its substance into HB 1286, the most comprehensive reform of the state's nearly 40-year-old Futures Fund in its history, which I helped negotiate and co-sponsored.
Co-sponsor of HB 1286. Signed into law March 10, 2026.
What I fought for in the budget+
I sit on the Joint Committee on Appropriations, which writes the state budget, and I chaired its Medicaid Workgroup. Budgets are moral documents. My job on that committee wasn't to spend more for its own sake. It was to make sure we actually fund the things that keep people healthy and safe, and to be honest about where money was being parked instead of used. Some of what I moved or fought for:
- Community health centers. As chair of the Medicaid Workgroup, I led the bipartisan effort to fund our Federally Qualified Health Centers with $3.4 million in state dollars, close to $7 million with the federal match. In our district, that kept the doors open at Falls Community Health in the heart of downtown Sioux Falls.
- Rural hospitals. Through the same workgroup, we kept all 31 of the state's critical access hospitals open, so people can get care in their own communities and so hospitals in larger cities aren't overwhelmed and can keep beds available.
- Special education. Moved the motion to put $682,000 into the fund that helps districts cover the extraordinary cost of educating students with the highest needs.
- Reduced-price school lunches. Backed $592,000 to buy down the cost of reduced-price lunches, easing a real burden on low-income families and answering a long-standing need for schools in our district, so more kids can eat without the cost hanging over them.
- Families in need. Moved and passed the motion that restored $854,000 for TANF after the state cut cash assistance to our lowest-income families with children.
- Veterans. Helped stop $191,812 in cuts to our county veteran service officers that the Noem administration proposed in 2025, protecting the people who help our veterans get the benefits they've earned.
- Victim services. Helped secure about $5.5 million for the nonprofits that serve survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking.
- Public broadcasting and open government. Voted to protect South Dakota Public Broadcasting so every legislative meeting stays on the record. When others moved to cut it, I voted no. You don't save money by making government harder to watch.
- The State Library. As a member of the Appropriations committee, I helped restore funding for the South Dakota State Library after it was targeted for deep cuts in 2025.
- Right-sizing the budget. This wasn't only about spending. I also supported trimming inflated "utilization" lines, the places where money gets parked in an agency to be spent later with less scrutiny, so the budget reflects what we actually intend to fund.
Bills I co-sponsored that became law+
I've signed on to and helped pass a long list of bipartisan bills. Here's a rundown of the ones that became law, grouped by topic. For the complete official record, see the links under "How to see my votes" below.
- SB 106, a set-aside for the extraordinary cost of special education
- HB 1250, community-based providers for state-funded services
- HB 1292, limiting insurers from taking back claims they already paid
- HB 1146, the Physician Assistant Licensure Compact
- HB 1148, the Respiratory Care Interstate Compact
- HB 1101, barring insurers from limiting coverage over living organ donation
- HB 1143, letting students self-administer diabetes medication at school
- HB 1183, overdose Good Samaritan protections
- HB 1104, disability license plates and parking permits
- HB 1099, rescheduling psilocybin
- SB 89, a task force to study EMS as an essential service
- HB 1200, funding for domestic violence and human trafficking victim services
- HB 1300, exempting trafficking and abuse victims from certain clemency-notice rules
- HB 1108, sealing court files when a protection-order petition is dismissed
- HB 1140, allowing treatment at a nonprofit as a probation condition
- HB 1238, protecting institutions that act to stop exploitation of vulnerable adults
- HB 1298, keeping judges' and officers' personal information offline
- SB 98, preventing virtual-currency kiosk fraud
- SB 87, forensic medical examination standards
- SB 139, inmate transport on discharge
- HB 1234, serving a subpoena in a contested case
- HB 1082, reimbursement for free and reduced-price school meals
- HB 1249, School Finance Accountability Board provisions
- HB 1311, reporting outside funding at Board of Regents institutions
- SB 204, loan criteria for the state Housing Infrastructure Fund
- HB 1286, reform of the employer's investment in South Dakota's future fund
- SB 228, tax-increment-financing district provisions
- SB 197, administering the South Dakota–Ireland trade fund
- HB 1244, a grant to Jobs for America's Graduates–South Dakota
- HB 1215, authorizing cigar-bar licenses
- HB 1092, updating open-records provisions
- SB 111, requiring social-media companies to release a user's own data on request
- SB 136, grants for volunteer fire departments' protective gear
- SB 36, utility wildfire-mitigation plans
- SB 222, funding water, wastewater, stormwater, and riparian projects
- HB 1071, physician assistant practice criteria
- HB 1097, temporary training for nonresident physicians
- HB 1099, the community paramedic endorsement
- HB 1141, letting employers stock opioid overdose-reversal medication
- HB 1144, the Dietitian Licensure Compact
- HB 1225, hospital charge-information reporting
- SB 83, treatment for controlled-substance ingestion
- SB 99, funding for sexual assault examination kits
- SB 111, family and reunification therapy in custody cases
- SB 154, 340B pharmacy contract protections
- HB 1068, honoring military decorations at graduation
- HB 1092, a student-teacher stipend grant program
- HB 1094, school-bus safety
- HB 1114, equipment funding for the Board of Technical Education
- SB 5, a housing loan for a school near a military base
- SB 70, the school sparsity benefit
- SB 109, 504 and IEP plans for military children
- HB 1059, open-meeting teleconference rules
- HB 1063, fiscal notes on ballot questions
- HB 1100, reporting of judicial opinions
- HB 1264, campaign-finance loan disclosure
- SB 10, opening former Governors' records sooner
- SB 12, limits on PAC money
- SB 17, campaign-finance filing timing
- SB 74, a plain-language open-meeting explainer
- SB 92, single-subject review of initiated measures
- SB 106, voter registration for petition circulators
- SB 164, banning election deepfakes
- SB 176, Government Operations and Audit Committee procedures
- HB 1238, protections for veterans seeking help with their benefits
- SB 171, seller disclosure for historical properties
- HB 1072, water development districts
- HB 1079, off-sale liquor licenses for small towns
- HB 1125, a bicyclist-safety specialty plate
- HB 1157, county drainage-permit fees
- HB 1173, a cap on road-improvement assessments
- HB 1189, extending GOED marketing and air-service funding
- SB 131, electronic vehicle titles
- SB 143, the South Dakota–Ireland Trade Commission
- SB 155, unclaimed-property receipts (a companion to my HB 1196)
- SB 170, a Brand Board agreement to fight tribal cattle theft
- SB 193, an interpreter for the driver's license exam
This reflects co-sponsored bills confirmed signed into law. My complete sponsorship record is on my legislature profile, linked below.
Unfinished business to address+
Not everything passes the first time. These didn't make it through, and I plan to bring them back.
- HCR 6015, to take on reform of South Dakota's involuntary mental-health hold process, the system that decides how people in crisis are held and helped, because the gaps in it can cost lives. It passed the House but stalled in the Senate.
- HB 1213, a statewide push to keep teachers in South Dakota classrooms
- HB 1281, cutting the grocery tax and setting up a dedicated building fund for schools
- HB 1147, money to buy and distribute food through our food banks
- HB 1154, letting South Dakota businesses form as public benefit corporations
Where I stand
A few issues where my record in Pierre tells the story best. Click any to read my take, and see my full platform on the Vision for South Dakota page. My votes back these up, and you can check them for yourself below.
Housing and renting+
Housing is the biggest thing I hear about in our district, and I hear it as a renter myself. We haven't built enough of the housing working people can actually afford, and when rents jump, renters feel it right away while property tax "relief" rarely reaches them. I co-sponsored a bill to give first-time buyers down payment assistance, including families buying manufactured homes, so more people could reach the dream of owning a home. It fell just short of the two-thirds it needed, even as the same majority pushed through a property tax break tilted toward the most expensive homes in the state. The state can't build its way out of this alone, but it can help, and I've backed the Housing Infrastructure Fund and the investment that actually gets workforce housing built. Renters and first-time buyers are full members of this community, not an afterthought.
Homelessness+
Homelessness is visible in our district every day, and I've treated it as a problem to solve, not to look away from. My first bills in Pierre waived the fees for the birth certificates and IDs that people experiencing homelessness need to get a job, a bank account, or a place to live, and I wrote them to help the nearly 1,750 students across our state living without stable housing. I've worked on this alongside my seatmate, Rep. Kadyn Wittman, and I'll keep backing the solutions that actually move people toward stability, from documents to shelter to the mental health and addiction care that so often sits underneath it.
Health care costs+
Health care is one of the hardest costs families carry, and it compounds everything else. Premiums, deductibles, and surprise bills eat paychecks, and one illness can undo years of saving. I helped pass a law to stop insurers from clawing back claims they'd already paid, backed protections so a living organ donor can't be denied coverage, and fought to keep our community health centers and rural critical access hospitals open so people have somewhere to go. South Dakotans voted for Medicaid expansion, and protecting those services and implementing them well, instead of slow-walking them, is essential. Care you can't afford isn't really care.
Property and sales taxes+
These are costs people feel every month, and I've brought real solutions. I sponsored a bill to cut the state sales tax on groceries, and I offered the HB 1308B amendment that would have eliminated the grocery tax while actually delivering property tax relief. The truth is that the large majority of property tax "solutions" floated over the last two years were poorly designed, blunt instruments that create geographic winners and losers or that force cuts to the pools, libraries, and schools people depend on. That's cost-shifting, not relief. Real relief comes from the state paying for what it mandates, especially education, and from cutting the grocery tax, which hits working families and renters hardest and reaches people a property tax cut never touches.
Data centers+
South Dakotans aren't anti-tech, but too often they learn about billion-dollar hyperscale data centers only after the deals are signed, and they're left with fair questions: How much water and power will these pull, and will my utility bill climb to cover it? Why offer tax breaks to out-of-state corporations when we won't cut the grocery tax at home? We shouldn't be signing deals we can't undo before the state even has a regulatory framework for projects this size. That's why I co-sponsored HB 1301, to make these companies pay the full cost of the power they use, protect other customers if a center closes early, and pause new large centers until that framework exists. A fair process also means the family watching its utility bill isn't the one covering the tab, the community gets real input and the authority to say yes or no, and we see and verify the financing, the tax deals, and the job numbers. Smaller data centers have been useful here. Hyperscale is a different animal, and it deserves scrutiny at every step.
Mental health and suicide prevention+
This one is personal for me. I've come through my own mental health struggles, and I've lost friends to suicide, which is still a leading cause of death for young South Dakotans. This is an immediate problem that needs immediate solutions. Our system for handling people in crisis is broken in ways that put people in harm's way, and I'm working hard to change it, including a resolution to overhaul how the state manages involuntary mental-health holds. Policy only works if people can actually get help when they need it, and access, affordability, and timeliness are the difference between prevention and tragedy. And police shouldn't be our default response to a mental-health emergency. A health crisis deserves a health response.
Public safety+
Real public safety means people are free from fear, and it takes more than enforcement alone. I helped secure funding for the nonprofits that serve survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking, and I support treating substance use as the health issue it is, because punishment alone doesn't make us safer. Police are asked to carry burdens they were never trained for, and a mental health crisis deserves a health response, not a squad car by default. And when people leave prison with housing, work, and support, they're far less likely to return, which is safer and cheaper for all of us.
Open government and transparency+
Government works better in the sunlight. I helped pass stronger open-records law (HB 1092), clearer open-meeting rules (HB 1059), and a measure to open governors' records to the public sooner (SB 10), and I voted to protect South Dakota Public Broadcasting so every legislative meeting stays on the record. It's the same reason I write The Muckey Minutes every week during session and put every one of my votes where you can check them. You shouldn't need a lobbyist to find out what's happening in Pierre.
Protecting the freedom to vote+
Real election integrity means every eligible citizen can cast a ballot that counts. I opposed the SAVE Act, not because I'm against voter ID, which we already use, but because it manufactures gaps in proving citizenship that could push thousands of eligible South Dakotans off the rolls to solve a problem we've never had.
Closer to home, the new "mailbox voter" rule quietly switches people who register with a mail-forwarding address to a "federal-only" ballot, often with no notice or a chance to prove where they live. Two of my own constituents got those ballots during early voting before the June primary, and around 1,500 South Dakotans have been reclassified without notification. I'm preparing bills to fix it. And whether it's the push for slower, less accurate hand-counts or elections that simply aren't run on time, I'll keep pressing for a system people can actually trust.
How to see my votes
You don't have to take my word for any of this. Everything I've voted on is public. Here's where to look.
My official pages at the Legislature. These list every bill I sponsored and link to each roll call, where you can see how I and everyone else voted.
2026 session: sdlegislature.gov (2026)
2025 session: sdlegislature.gov (2025)
Other trackers. Pierre Review logs every roll call in one place, and LegiScan and FastDemocracy track my bill activity. Ballotpedia has my background and election results.
Hear it from me directly. During session I write The Muckey Minutes, a plain-language recap of what I'm voting on and why:
erikmuckey.substack.com
I represent the many, not the few.