Rules of Gold in South Dakota

South Dakota has not yet enacted a statute recognizing gold or silver coins as legal tender for payment of debts, but SB 112 (2026 session, lead Sen. John Carley) introduced January 2026 would change that materially. SB 112 would (a) recognize gold and silver specie as legal tender in South Dakota beginning 2027-07-01, (b) permit specie use for payment of private debts (by mutual agreement) and for taxes/obligations owed to state or political subdivisions (subject to state agreement to accept), (c) authorize a state bullion depository to facilitate gold/silver transactions, (d) provide that "the exchange of one type or form of legal tender for another type or form of legal tender shall not give rise to any tax liability" (paralleling OK HB 1199 and KS HB 2515 / SB 39 language), and (e) provide that no person or entity is compelled to accept specie except by mutual agreement or via electronic payment system participation. Prior to SB 112 (2026), no SD legal-tender bills were identified in 2021-2025 sessions. Status: pending in committee as of capture (2026-04-26). If enacted, SD would join the legal-tender state cluster with one of the most COMPLETE sound-money packages — combining legal tender + depository authorization + cap-gains-via-exchange exemption — alongside OK HB 1199 (pending Senate floor) and KS HB 2515 (forwarded to Gov. Kelly).

South Dakota has not enacted enabling legislation authorizing a state-administered or state-chartered bullion depository as of capture. SB 112 (2026 session) would authorize a state bullion depository to facilitate gold and silver transactions if enacted. Pending in committee. Currently, the South Dakota State Treasurer has no statutory authority to operate a depository or hold physical bullion as a state asset. (Note: there is a private operation called "Dakota Depository" which provides commercial bullion storage services; this is unrelated to any state-administered facility and does not satisfy the brief's `state_bullion_depository_authorized` definition.)

The South Dakota State Treasurer does not hold physical gold or silver as a reserve asset on the state balance sheet. SD statutes do not currently authorize state-treasury PM holdings (SB 112 pending would authorize but not mandate). The State Treasurer's published priorities focus on cash management, banking relationships, and unclaimed property — no precious-metals reserve initiative currently in place.

The South Dakota Retirement System (SDRS, ~$15B AUM) is administered by the South Dakota Investment Council (SDIC) under direction of the SDRS Board. SDIC manages investments across standard institutional categories (public equities, fixed income, real estate, alternatives) without enumerating physical-precious-metals exposure in publicly-available summary documents. Field marked `No-public-disclosure` rather than definitive `No` because the alternatives sleeve composition is not fully enumerated in summary disclosures — physical PM exposure is presumed minimal-to-zero but cannot be ruled out without ACFR-level review.