South Dakota lawmakers not ready to call emergency medical services ‘essential’

By: John Hult

Outlets: South Dakota Searchlight

Published: February 2, 2026

Words: 791

Last Updated: 3 weeks, 2 days ago

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South Dakota doesn’t recognize emergency medical services as essential under state law, and that wouldn’t change under an ambulance bill passed Monday by a state Senate panel.

A legal designation of “essential” in this case would have put the onus on state or local units of government to guarantee availability. A legislator-led summer study on emergency medical services concluded that the state ought to add the designation to state law, but the Senate Health …

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