What needs to change in South Dakota.

• Clergy are absent from the § 26-8A-3 enumerated list

  SDCL § 26-8A-3 lists roughly 14 mandated-reporter categories: physicians, dentists, mental health professionals, religious healing practitioners, social workers, teachers, school counselors, school officials, law enforcement officers, coroners, chemical dependency counselors, and a few others. Clergy are not named. The single religion-adjacent term, **religious healing practitioner**, is a narrow healthcare-style designation and is not coextensive with clergy generally. South Dakota's own Department of Social Services confirms in its mandatory-reporting pamphlet that clergy are not mandatory reporters unless they independently fall within another listed role such as counselor, teacher, or school official.

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• Clergy-penitent privilege is missing from the § 26-8A-15 override list

  SDCL § 26-8A-15 enumerates the privileges that may NOT be claimed in a child-abuse case: physician-patient (§ 19-2-3), psychotherapist-patient (§ 19-19-503), spousal (§ 19-19-504), school counselor-student (§ 19-19-508.1), and social worker-client. The clergy-penitent privilege established by **SDCL § 19-19-505** is conspicuously absent. That omission is why the privilege posture under the principal statute is silent: the reporting chapter neither expressly preserves nor expressly overrides clergy-penitent privilege. It simply does not address it, leaving § 19-19-505 in effect.

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• Outcome: 2026 HB 1216 voted down in committee

  HB 1216, sponsored by Rep. Erin Healy, would have added member of the clergy to § 26-8A-3 with a confessional carveout citing Washington's clergy-reporting law as precedent, and would have added § 19-19-505 to the § 26-8A-15 override list. The House Judiciary Committee took testimony on February 11, 2026. Religious-institution testifiers opposed; survivor-advocacy and one religious-institution testifier supported. The Do Pass motion failed 4-7, and the bill was deferred to the 41st legislative day on an 8-3 vote, killing it.

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• Outcome: clergy voted down in the same session that added coaches

  The 2026 session that voted HB 1216 down was the same session that expanded the reporter list to add school coaches. South Dakota Searchlight's coverage from February 11, 2026 carried the headline accordingly: lawmakers endorsed adding school coaches as mandatory reporters and declined to add clergy. A 2019 predecessor bill had also failed, 34-33, on the House floor. The pattern is a multi-session reform attempt, not a one-off.

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• Federal cross-check: Child Welfare Information Gateway 2023

  The Children's Bureau 50-state clergy catalog (current through May 2023) does not list South Dakota among the states that enumerate clergy as mandated reporters, and identifies South Dakota as a state where the clergy-penitent privilege remains intact outside the reporting statute. Independent federal corroboration of both the not-expressly and silent classifications.

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What it takes to close the gap.

How South Dakota got here.

• 2019
  First clergy-reporter bill fails 34-33 on House floor

  HB 1230 (2019), sponsored by Rep. Erin Healy, would have added clergy to § 26-8A-3. The House defeated it 34-33 on February 25, 2019. A reconsideration motion also failed.

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• 2026-01
  HB 1216 introduced by Rep. Erin Healy

  Rep. Erin Healy (D-Sioux Falls) introduces HB 1216 to add member of the clergy to § 26-8A-3 with a sacramental-confession carveout citing Washington's clergy-reporting law as precedent, and to add § 19-19-505 to the § 26-8A-15 privilege-override list.

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• 2026-02
  HB 1216 voted down in House Judiciary

  House Judiciary takes testimony on February 11, 2026. Do Pass motion fails 4-7; bill deferred to the 41st legislative day on an 8-3 vote, killing it. Opposition led by religious-institution testifiers.

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• 2026
  Same session adds school coaches to reporter list

  The 2026 session that voted HB 1216 down also expanded the § 26-8A-3 reporter list to add school coaches. Clergy was the category lawmakers refused to add.

Public-record sources UCO is tracking.

Always verify against the underlying statute or filing before quoting.

• South Dakota Legislature
  SDCL § 26-8A-3 — Persons required to report child abuse or neglected child

  Canonical legislature rendering of the principal statute. The enumerated mandatory-reporter list runs roughly 14 professions deep (physicians, dentists, mental health professionals, religious healing practitioners, social workers, teachers, school counselors, school officials, law enforcement officers, coroners, chemical dependency counselors, and a few others) and does not name clergy.

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• South Dakota Legislature
  SDCL § 26-8A-15 — Communications not privileged in child abuse or neglect cases

  Companion statute that names five privileges (physician-patient, psychotherapist-patient, spousal, school counselor-student, social worker-client) that may not be claimed in child-abuse proceedings. Clergy-penitent privilege at SDCL § 19-19-505 is conspicuously absent, which is the textual basis for the silent privilege-posture classification.

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• South Dakota Department of Social Services· October 2025
  Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse and Neglect in South Dakota (DSS pamphlet)

  Official state-agency guidance stating that clergy are not mandatory reporters unless they fall within another listed § 26-8A-3 category such as counselor, teacher, or school official, and that clergy are not required to report abuse learned solely through a clergy-penitent privileged conversation. Direct agency support for both the not-expressly and silent classifications.

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• LegiScan· Killed February 11, 2026
  South Dakota HB 1216 (2026) — Revise the list of mandatory reporters of suspected child abuse or neglect

  Rep. Erin Healy's 2026 bill to add member of the clergy to § 26-8A-3 with a sacramental-confession carveout and to add § 19-19-505 to the § 26-8A-15 override list. House Judiciary Do Pass motion failed 4-7; deferred to the 41st legislative day on an 8-3 vote.

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• South Dakota Searchlight· February 11, 2026
  Lawmakers endorse adding school coaches as mandatory reporters of abuse and neglect, but not clergy

  Contemporaneous news account of the February 11, 2026 House Judiciary hearing on HB 1216. Documents the 4-7 Do Pass failure, the 8-3 deferral to the 41st day, the religious-institution-led opposition and mixed religious-institution + survivor-advocacy proponent lineup (including the South Dakota Network Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault), and the same-session contrast with the school-coaches expansion.

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• Child Welfare Information Gateway, U.S. HHS Children's Bureau· May 2023
  Clergy as Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect — South Dakota

  Federal clergy-specific summary for South Dakota. Cites SDCL § 26-8A-3 for the mandatory-reporter list (including religious healing practitioners but not clergy) and § 19-19-505 for the clergy-penitent privilege. Independent federal corroboration of both the not-expressly and silent classifications.

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• LegiScan· Defeated February 25, 2019
  South Dakota HB 1230 (2019) — Revise the list of mandatory reporters of suspected child abuse or neglect

  Rep. Erin Healy's 2019 bill to add clergy and church staff to § 26-8A-3. The House defeated it 34-33 on February 25, 2019; a reconsideration motion also failed. Source for the 2019 predecessor vote count cited in the timeline, summary, and legalNotes.

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• Dakota News Now· February 25, 2019
  SD House votes down adding clergy to mandatory reporter law

  Contemporaneous news report confirming the 34-33 House floor vote against HB 1230 on February 25, 2019.

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• SDPB· 2026-02-11
  Committee says no to making clergy mandatory child abuse, neglect reporters

  Rep. Healy told the committee that SD HB 1216's confessional exemption was modeled on Washington's post-litigation outcome, noting Washington's law was contested in court and ultimately agreed that clergy are not required to disclose information learned solely through confession.

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