Representative Jessica Bahmuller (R-19/Alexandria) pushed her 2024 House Bill 1119 to catch South Dakota up with Minnesota and other states in offering specialty license plates to fund habitat conservation. But out of 13,108 habitat conservation plates sold since their introduction in March 2025, only 4,626 have resulted in any contributions to Game Fish and Parks. At least 8,484 of the conservation plates—nearly 65%—haven’t been paired with the $50 decals that actually support Bahmuller’s outdoorsy purpose:
That’s because unlike some other states, where drivers’ habitat contributions are collected during license-plate transactions, South Dakota dispenses the plates and then asks drivers to separately donate to habitat conservation later by ordering habitat-themed decals and affixing them to the plates.
Some drivers don’t follow through with the optional purchase of the decals. As a result, the state has sold 8,484 more sets of habitat plates than decals, according to data from the state Department of Game, Fish and Parks running from March 2025, when the plates first became available, through last month. That equates to about $415,000 in potential funding for habitat that’s not being collected.
Meanwhile, the state has sold 4,626 sets of decals, generating about $230,000 for habitat conservation [Joshua Haiar, “Thousands of South Dakota Habitat License Plates Do Nothing for Habitat, Due to Two-Part Process,” South Dakota Searchlight, 2026.09.09].
Haiar reports that HB 1119 had to separate plates and decals because Article 11 Section 8 of the South Dakota Constitution requires “the proceeds from the imposition of any license, registration fee, or other charge with respect to the operation of any motor vehicle upon any public highways in this state… shall be used exclusively for the maintenance, construction and supervision of highways and bridges of this state.” The $10 administrative fee [SDCL 32-5-195] for the plate itself covers the cost of making the special plate. Without the $50 sticker [SDAR 41:01:03:01], car owners are simply paying for roads and bridges, just like they would with regular plates.
But publicity counts for something, GF&P sheepishly asserts:
Game, Fish and Parks Commission Chairwoman Stephanie Rissler said the plates themselves, even without decals, provide a benefit.
“Whether someone chooses to display the emblem or not, the plate itself still helps promote the importance of habitat conservation across South Dakota,” Rissler wrote in a statement to Searchlight [Haiar, 2026.09.09].
Nonetheless, it’s disappointing that nearly two-thirds of the vehicle owners who’ve been willing to use their plate space to promote the importance of habitat conservation either have been prevented by South Dakota bureaucracy from making a substantive contribution to protecting wetlands and woodlands or have been unwilling to put their own money where their mouths are by buying a sticker.