Law enforcement resistance tanks bill barring jail for unpaid sobriety program fees

By: John Hult

Outlets: South Dakota Searchlight

Published: March 10, 2026

Words: 1,324

Last Updated: 4 months, 4 weeks ago

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A late-session rally from law enforcement lobbyists quashed a South Dakota legislative effort to bar the jailing of 24/7 sobriety program participants for their inability to pay.

Codifying constitutional prohibitions against locking up people for debt without a plan to backfill sheriff’s office budgets, the lobbyists said, could spell the death of a program that supporters and opponents of House Bill 1176 both described as a critical public safety tool.

The Senate Appropriations Committee …

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