This Tuesday, January 14, 2025 marks the first day of the 100th Session of the South Dakota State Legislature.
South Dakota became a state in 1889 and held its 1st Session in 1890. Thereafter, regular sessions were only held in odd-numbered years, beginning in 1891. It was not until the 1963-64 Legislature that sessions were held annually. That is why 2025, our 137th year of statehood, brings just our 100th Session.
The 100th Session will begin as all others have, with legislators hearing the Governor’s State of the State Address. This year’s address will be unusual, though, as Governor Kristi Noem will likely be departing as Governor in the early weeks of the session, once her appointment as U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security is confirmed. At that point, she will resign and Lt. Governor Larry Rhoden will become the state’s 34th Governor. It will be the first time that a gubernatorial transition has occurred in the midst of a legislative session.
Last year, the State Legislature created a committee to plan commemorations of the 100th session. The resolution creating the committee was sponsored by this blogger in my capacity as a state representative, and by State Senator David Wheeler of Huron. In addition to those legislators, the committee also included Sen. Jean Hunhoff, Sen. Steve Kolbeck, Rep. Steph Sauder, Rep. Erin Healy, former legislator Bernie Hunhoff, former Lt. Governor Matt Michels, and Dr. Ben Jones, the state historian.
The resolution noted that “more than four thousand men and women, from all walks of life and all corners of this state, have entered into legislative service by taking a solemn oath to support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of this state and to faithfully discharge their duties, according to the best of their abilities” and that “the South Dakota Legislature has sagely guided this state, from its admission to the Union, through wartime and peacetime, through economic despair and bounty, through famine and feasts, through drought and floods, and through the challenges and unparalleled promises of the twenty-first Century.”
The committee has planned a number of steps to celebrate the legacy of South Dakota’s citizen legislature.
Chief among them is the first official all-legislator reunion, to be held on April 12, 2025 at the Ramkota Hotel and Convention Center in Pierre, with a program preceding the event to be held at the State Capitol. More details about that, including registration information, are available here.
The South Dakota State Historical Society, under Dr. Jones’ leadership, has created a number of museum-quality displays about the history of the legislature, which will placed on the first floor of the State Capitol and be open to the public throughout the session.
The Legislative Research Council has also created a more formal and structured program for school groups who visit the Legislature. Private sponsors have donated funds to help underwrite the cost of school field trips, with the goal of bringing more students than ever to visit the State Capitol during session.
The State Historical Society will also be publishing a book, available in April, about the State Legislature. The book collects previously-published historical articles from the South Dakota History journal, along with a forward by longtime legislative reporter Terry Woster.
The most recent edition of South Dakota History, the Winter 2024 issue, also has a 100th Session theme. It includes a reprinting of Paul A. O’Rourke’s 1971 article South Dakota Politics During the New Deal Years, a preview of some of the legislative artifacts that will be on display a the Capitol, and a short profile of former U.S. Senator (and state legislator) Tim Johnson, who passed away last year.
The Legislative Research Council is partnering with the State Library to improve online resources about legislative history. The existing Legislator Historical Listing will be improved over the coming year with scanned entries from each year’s South Dakota Legislative Manual (or “Blue Book”) as well as the 1989 Biographical Dictionary of the South Dakota State Legislature, making all of these biographical entries easily available online.
In addition, a commemorative logo was created for the 100th Session, which will appear this session on legislative documents and will be available on a variety of items for purchase, through the Heritage Store on the first floor of the State Capitol.
South Dakota Magazine‘s January/February 2025 cover story is an excellent article by Bernie Hunhoff, celebrating the 100th Session. Hunhoff has also agreed to allow his article to be included in the Historical Society’s book.
In early January, the State Historical Society hosted an online History Chat with this blogger, Woster, and Hunhoff. A link to that program will be added when it is available.
Finally, two artistic works are in progress. The first, a celebratory writing about the citizen legislator, by Bernie Hunhoff, is being prepared in work of calligraphy, with copies to hang in the Senate and House lobbies. South Dakota artist Dick Termes is also created one of his unique Termespheres, which will portray the State Legislature, the legislative chambers, and the Capitol. That should be completed in time for the April reunion.
Donations to support the 100th Legislative Session plans, including the reunion, the school groups, the historical works, and the Termosphere, can be made to the 100th Session account at the South Dakota State Historical Society Foundation, at this link.
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