South Dakota Referred Law 21 (Nov 2024) — Voter Rejection of PUC Local-Zoning Override (VOID) (SD)

Tracked preemption from the South Dakota overlay bundle.

Overview

Effective
2024-11-05
Sunset
Authority
state
Scope
state:SD

Trigger predicate

When this evaluates true for a parcel, the law's preempted fields take precedence over base zoning.

always true

Preempted fields

2 fields on the base district schema are rewritten when the trigger fires.

FieldOpValueNote
puc_override_of_local_zoning_for_transmission_or_pipelineoverrideFalsePUC has NO authority to override county / township / municipal land-use, zoning, or building ordinances when issuing a transmission-facility permit — SB 201 was rejected as Referred Law 21 by voters 59-41% in Nov 2024
county_pipeline_setback_ordinancespreservein_forceCounty CO2-pipeline setback ordinances passed in 2022-2023 remain in force

Citation

Authority source
2024 SD SB 201 (signed March 2024, amending SDCL ch. 49-41B); Referred Law 21 (Nov 2024 ballot, 242,337 no / 165,600 yes — REJECTED)
§ 2024 SD SB 201 (void); SDCL ch. 49-41B (PUC transmission-facility siting, as it stood before SB 201)
https://ballotpedia.org/South_Dakota_Referred_Law_21,_Regulation_of_Carbon_Dioxide_Pipelines_Referendum_(2024)

Research notes

Dominant 2024-2026 SD preemption story. SB 201 (2024) was originally engineered to enable Summit Carbon Solutions' multi-state CO2 pipeline by granting the PUC authority to override county pipeline-setback ordinances. Voters referred the bill to the November 2024 ballot as Referred Law 21 and rejected it 59-41%. The PUC-preempts-local clause never took effect. HB 1052 (2025) followed up with an eminent-domain ban for CO2 pipelines (statutory, not zoning, but the load-bearing follow-on). HJR 5001 (2026), a constitutional companion to HB 1052, died in the Senate March 2026 after passing the House 62-5. Federal-conflict check enabled because federal pipeline-siting authority (FERC for interstate natural gas; PHMSA safety regs) could still preempt local controls on different statutory bases.