"Intelligent design" bill in South Dakota

Senate Bill 112, introduced in the South Dakota Senate and referred to the Senate Education Committee on January 29, 2014, would, if enacted, provide that "[n]o school board or school administrator may prohibit a teacher in public or nonpublic school from providing instruction on intelligent design or other related topics."

"A federal court already ruled in 2005 that teaching 'intelligent design' in the public schools is unconstitutional," commented NCSE's executive director Ann Reid. "So SB 112 is a recipe for disaster. If enacted, school districts are going to find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place — and they'll wind up in court."

The fifth antiscience bill of 2014, after Virginia's HB 207, Missouri's HB 1472 and 1587, and Oklahoma's SB 1765, SB 112 was introduced by Jeff Monroe (R-District 24), Phil Jensen (R-District 33), Dan Lederman (R-District 16), Ernie Otten (R-District 6), Bruce E. Rampelberg (R-District 30), and Bill Van Gerpen (R-District 19). 

Seven members of the House of Representatives — Brock L. Greenfield (R-District 2), Scott W. Craig (R-District 33), Don Haggar (R-District 10), Jenna Haggar (R-District 10), Kyle Schoenfish (R-District 19), Manny Steele (R-District 12), and Hal G. Wick (R-District 12) — are also listed as sponsors, although there is no House equivalent of the bill.