South Dakota
Age verification bill for adult websites passes committee of SD lawmakers • South Dakota Searchlight
PIERRE — A committee of South Dakota lawmakers endorsed a bill Friday that would require pornographic websites to implement age verification measures.
The House State Affairs Committee passed the measure 11-2, with all yes votes from Republicans and the two no votes from Democrats. It now goes to the full House of Representatives.
The legislation would require pornographic websites to ensure users are at least 18 years old by verifying their identification, via means that could include submitting an image of an identification card. The bill would also prohibit the websites and any third parties conducting age verification from retaining users’ identifying information post-verification.
Non-compliance by websites would result in a misdemeanor for the first offense and escalate to a felony for subsequent violations. The bill contains lengthy definitions for pornographic content harmful to children.
Rep. Bethany Soye, R-Sioux Falls, is the prime sponsor of the bill. She said it’s essential to protect minors from exposure to explicit online content.
Hollie Strand is a forensic examiner with the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office who said she was testifying on her own behalf. She said children as young as kindergarten students are being exposed to pornography, whether parents take measures to protect their kids or not.
“I had a kindergartener ask me what to do when his friend showed him porn and he asked him to stop,” she said.
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The state Attorney General’s Office endorsed the bill.
The American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota testified in opposition and said that while the intention is to safeguard minors, the legislation could undermine the First Amendment rights of adults who might be deterred by age-verification privacy concerns from accessing legal content.
“Allowing the government to restrict access to sexual content will inevitably lead to more censorship and a more restricted internet for everyone,” said Samantha Chapman, ACLU of South Dakota advocacy manager. “Young people deserve our protection and support, but age-gating the internet is not the answer.”
The legislative effort follows similar, failed legislation from last year.
In response, an interim study committee was established to examine the issue further. A separate, similar bill also addresses the issue this session in the Senate but hasn’t had a hearing yet.
Sen. David Wheeler, R-Huron, a sponsor of the Senate bill, said it’s modeled after Texas legislation that’s under consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court. The bill would only take effect if the Texas law is upheld. Wheeler said that would prevent South Dakota from having to face litigation and pay legal fees for its own law.
The other difference is the Senate bill would only require age verification for sites where at least one-third of the content is harmful to minors, to more clearly distinguish between pornographic sites and sites that merely contain some adult content. In response to a South Dakota Searchlight question, Wheeler acknowledged that pornographic sites could transition two-thirds of their content to non-harmful material to avoid being age-gated.
“That just illustrates the difficulty of regulating this stuff,” Wheeler said.
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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Throughout April, South Dakota community leaders Nikki Gronli and Julian Beaudion hosted town halls across the state allowing people to raise the concerns they have with the Trump administration.
Now they are back by popular demand with the next one coming up Wednesday evening.
Gronli and Beaudion have previously held town halls in Rapid City, Aberdeen, Vermillion and Sioux Falls, and every one saw a massive crowd.
Now the tour heads to Mitchell.
The popularity of the town halls resulted in changes in venues and people having to stand at meetings as attendees.
Panelists Nikki Gronli and Julian Beaudion delivered the 40-page report to South Dakota’s congressional delegation but only received feedback from Representative Dusty Johnson.
But both Gronli and Beaudion share optimism in the participation in political discourse throughout the state.
“What we saw from the citizens who attended these town halls is that there is still a lot of fight left in them, a lot of fight left in us, folks had no problem talking through some of the concerns,” Beaudion, a US Senate candidate said.
In previous meetings, attendees addressed concerns they had regarding cuts to Medicaid, the Department of Education, and from DOGE, as well as the effects of tariffs.
Now they are prioritizing town halls being more focused on one issue, this starts Wednesday in Mitchell at Dakota Wesleyan University.
“There’s a great farm community, so we decided we would do this one focused as opposed to the last town halls which we allowed people to cover whatever topic they wanted to, we thought we would switch it up and see what the response is like,” Gronli said.
Gronli expects a lot of questions as to what the next farm bill will look like and when it will be passed, the current one has been extended twice and passed in 2018.
She will have the help of another former USDA staffer to answer questions throughout the night.
“I also expect having Marcia Bunger there on stage as the former risk management lead that there will be conversations about crop insurance, the importance to our ag producers and what policies are being made around crop insurance,” Gronli said.
Dates haven’t been announced but town halls are planned for Brookings and Rapid City so far.
Dakota News Now reached out for comment to Senators Thune and Rounds and Representative Johnson, but we did not get a response in time for publication.
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The South Dakota Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big. Here’s a look at June 9, 2025, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from June 9 drawing
30-33-40-43-52, Powerball: 25, Power Play: 4
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lucky For Life numbers from June 9 drawing
03-07-17-29-46, Lucky Ball: 15
Check Lucky For Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lotto America numbers from June 9 drawing
06-14-35-44-49, Star Ball: 05, ASB: 02
Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your prize
- Prizes of $100 or less: Can be claimed at any South Dakota Lottery retailer.
- Prizes of $101 or more: Must be claimed from the Lottery. By mail, send a claim form and a signed winning ticket to the Lottery at 711 E. Wells Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501.
- Any jackpot-winning ticket for Dakota Cash or Lotto America, top prize-winning ticket for Lucky for Life, or for the second prizes for Powerball and Mega Millions must be presented in person at a Lottery office. A jackpot-winning Powerball or Mega Millions ticket must be presented in person at the Lottery office in Pierre.
When are the South Dakota Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky for Life: 9:38 p.m. CT daily.
- Lotto America: 9:15 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Dakota Cash: 9 p.m. CT on Wednesday and Saturday.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a South Dakota editor. You can send feedback using this form.
The major local, regional and national news events, sports, weather conditions and traffic are examined and reported by the ABC 6 News Team.
(ABC 6 News) — After a strong senior campaign with the Kasson-Mantorville Komets, Caisen Thome will continue to play football at the Division I level, joining the University of South Dakota.
Thome originally signed with Iowa Western, but switched to follow in his father’s footsteps as a coyote. Caisen was featured as a Prep Athelte of the Week this past football season, you can watch his story here.
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