South Dakota's public records law is chapter 1-27 of the codified laws, and the Attorney General's open government page explains the unusual feature of the state's system: disputes about public records are handled through an administrative proceeding governed primarily by the Office of Hearing Examiners, a separate agency of state government, under sections 1-27-38 through 1-27-43. The courts themselves are outside the chapter, the Unified Judicial System having its own rules.
The request process assumes an informal approach first. Section 1-27-37 is written to apply where an informal request has been denied in whole or in part by the custodian of the document, at which point the requester may make a written request to the public record officer of the entity. Agencies may insist on a particular channel for that formal request: the Attorney General's own office requires formal requests to be made by post in hard copy and states that an oral or emailed request will not be treated as a formal records request under section 1-27-37. For South Dakota records held locally, see the South Dakota county pages.
- Informal first, then writing: the statutory process starts once the custodian has refused an informal request in whole or in part.
- Ten business days: the public record officer must produce, refuse, or acknowledge with an estimate of the time reasonably required.
- Ninety days to challenge: a refusal, or an objection to the fee or time estimate, goes to court or to the Office of Hearing Examiners.
- Fifty dollars a day: a court may add that civil penalty for each day records were delayed where the entity acted unreasonably and in bad faith.
Written by SearchSystems.net from South Dakota's own systems: the South Dakota Attorney General on public records, chapter 1-27 of the South Dakota codified laws, section 1-27-37, written request for disclosure of records, section 1-27-38, civil action or administrative review, section 1-27-40.2, costs and civil penalty for bad faith denial, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Ten business days, and the three permitted answers
Once a written request reaches the public record officer, that officer must respond promptly and in no event later than ten business days from receipt. Three responses satisfy the section. The officer may provide the record in whole or in part on payment of any applicable fees. The officer may deny the request. Or the officer may acknowledge receipt and provide an estimate of the time reasonably required to respond further. The statute then limits what can justify that third answer: additional time may be based on the need to clarify the nature and scope of the request, to locate and assemble the information requested, to notify third persons or government agencies affected by the request, or to determine whether any of the information is not subject to disclosure and whether a denial should be made as to all or part of it.
Nothing else is listed, so an estimate that rests on general workload is outside the grounds the legislature gave.
The clarification trap
Where a written request is unclear, the public record officer may require the requester to clarify which records are being sought. The consequence of ignoring that is severe and automatic: if the requester fails to provide a written response to the request for clarification within ten business days, the request is deemed withdrawn and no further action by the public records officer is required. A South Dakota requester therefore needs to watch for a clarification letter as closely as for a refusal, because silence ends the request without any decision on the records and without any right of review attaching to it.
Ninety days, and two ways to challenge
Section 1-27-38 covers three situations: a written request denied in whole or in part, an objection to the officer's estimate of fees, and an objection to the estimated time to respond. In any of them the requester has ninety days from the denial either to commence a civil action by summons or, in the alternative, to file a written notice of review with the Office of Hearing Examiners. The notice must go by registered or certified post and must contain the requester's name, address and telephone number, the name and business address of the public record officer who refused, the name and business address of the entity involved, a copy of the written request, a copy of any denial or response from the officer, and any other information the requester wants considered.
Because the fee and time estimates are themselves reviewable, the administrative route is useful against an agency that has not refused anything but has quoted an impossible price or an indefinite timetable.
How the Office of Hearing Examiners decides
On receiving a notice of review, the Office promptly mails a copy of it and all the requester's material to the public record officer named. The entity may file a written response within ten business days, and where it does not, the Office acts on the information provided, so an agency that ignores the process loses the chance to explain itself. Reasonable extensions are granted on written request or by agreement of the parties.
The Office then makes written findings of fact and conclusions of law and a decision on the issue presented, and may hold a hearing under the state's administrative procedure chapter where good cause is shown. The process is therefore conducted mainly on paper, which keeps it within reach of a requester acting without a lawyer, and the statutes set out what happens next on compliance with or appeal from the decision.
Costs, and the fifty dollar a day penalty
Section 1-27-40.2 applies both to a civil action brought under section 1-27-38 and to an appeal from the Office of Hearing Examiners. Where the court determines that the public entity acted unreasonably and in bad faith, it may award costs and disbursements and impose a civil penalty not exceeding fifty dollars for each day that the records were delayed through the fault of the public entity. The penalty is paid into the state general fund rather than to the requester, so it operates as a deterrent rather than as damages, but combined with costs it gives a serious answer to a long and deliberate delay.
The standard is high: unreasonableness alone is not enough, and bad faith must be found as well, which is another reason to keep every letter in the sequence from the informal request to the review.
What the chapter does not reach
Several categories sit outside the ordinary process. The chapter does not apply to the Unified Judicial System, so court records follow the judiciary's own rules. Specified records are closed by section 1-27-1.5, and separate provisions exempt certain financial, commercial and proprietary information, certain drafts, notes and memoranda, records relevant to court actions, and documents used in the decisional process arising from a person's official duties, with redaction rules governing what must be removed before release.
Inmates are restricted in what they may obtain. One provision protects officials rather than requesters: there is immunity for a good faith denial or provision of a record, which encourages release in doubtful cases. And one provision helps anyone studying an agency's behaviour: under section 1-27-1.4 each public body must maintain a file of all letters of denial of requests for records, and must make that file available to any person on request.
Questions about public records requests in South Dakota
Related South Dakota records
South Dakota's other public records guides on this site are the South Dakota background check guide for the Division of Criminal Investigation, the South Dakota court records guide for the Unified Judicial System's own access rules, the South Dakota arrest records guide for what a booking makes public, and the South Dakota county pages for every county office.