SB 3: No More Permits and Fees for Replacing Doors, Windows, Fenceposts, Kitchens…

Senator Michael Rohl (R-1/Aberdeen) has been acting strangely for a Republican, filing bills to raise taxes and not hurt the initiative process. He returns to standard South Dakota Republican form with Senate Bill 3, a proposal that sacrifices local control for the sake of almighty deregulation.

Senate Bill 3 would prohibit counties, municipalities, and townships from setting building codes or standards or requiring permits for a wide range of home renovations:

1. The repair or substantially similar replacement of any of the following existing exterior parts of an owner-occupied residential structure:
   1. Door;
   2. Downspout;
   3. Fencing panel or post;
   4. Gutter;
   5. Roof flashing, shingles, shakes, or tiles;
   6. Siding; and
   7. Window; or
2. Any interior alteration, improvement, or renovation of an owner-occupied residential structure, which does not affect the structure’s:
   1. Air conditioning, electric, heating, plumbing, or ventilation system in a manner requiring any load-bearing modification;
   2. Foundation;
   3. Load-bearing walls;
   4. Roof frame; or
   5. Support beams [2026 Senate Bill 3, filed 2025.12.19].

I can understand the impulse to relieve homeowners of the need to run down to the courthouse for approval to replace one window or a rotting fencepost or adding insulation to that drafty attic. But under Senate Bill 3, homeowners could do complete kitchen and bathroom remodels and finish entire basements, improvements that would have significant impact on home values. So SB 3 could deprive local governments of revenue not only from building permits themselves but from the assessments they could make on substantially increased property values that would go unpermitted, undocumented, and unnoticed by the assessor. And naturally, SB 3 offers no compensation to the counties, towns, and townships for their lost revenue or authority.

Restricting local building permit authority wasn’t among the 18 proposals for property tax reform that the Legislature’s interim property tax committee approved in October but which Governor Larry Rhoden has since poo-pooed. Perhaps SB 3 is an attempt by Senator Rohl, who had not the pleasure of serving on that interim committee, to toss his two cents into the Legislative effort to nickel-and-dime our way to respond to growing discontent with property taxes.