PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden wants harsher penalties for people that disrupt the practice of religion in the state.
Rhoden announced his support of Senate Bill 113 at his weekly news conference Friday alongside the prime sponsors Republican Sen. Jim Mehlhaff and Republican Rep. Scott Odenbach and Republican Rep. Jon Hansen.
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“Just last week, religious freedom came under assault just a few miles from here in the Twin Cities,” Rhoden said.
The bill arrives to the 2026 session after three people were recently arrested in Saint Paul, Minnesota for disrupting a church service with an anti-immigrant customs enforcement (ICE) protest.
“If someone tries to target a house of worship, there will be real consequences,” Rhoden said. “We will continue to be a state that doesn’t just talk about freedom.”
“There are some issues that transcend politics,” Hansen, who running against Rhoden as the 2026 Republican gubernational candidate, said. “We’re going to make sure that people are protected in their religious liberty.”
Rhoden was asked whether this bill conflicts with the First Amendment and if it could conflict with already existing laws at the federal level.
“It’s pretty simple to me, you can’t violate the First Amendment with the First Amendment,” he said. “In my years in the Legislature, there are a number of implications of state law and federal law, we’re just going to make it very clear that this isn’t allowable in South Dakota,” Rhoden said.
The bill will be first introduced by Mehlhalff.
