South Dakota Military Specialty License Plates

Section 32-5-155 lists nineteen military specialty plates: National Guard, disabled veteran, veteran, active duty, Prisoner of War, Pearl Harbor survivor, Gold Star, Purple Heart, Medal of Honor, Silver Star, Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross, Air Force Cross, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star with Valor, Bronze Star, tribal veteran, woman veteran and Legion of Merit. The woman veteran and Legion of Merit plates were added by an act of 2024 effective March 1, 2025. The general requirements in 32-5-156 are residence in South Dakota, a valid South Dakota driver licence or nondriver identification card, compliance with registration law, and payment of the fees. The specific requirements in 32-5-157 differ plate by plate and three of them are worth reading before assuming. The veteran plate requires an honorably discharged veteran who served on active duty. That is narrower than 33A-2-1, which 32-5-154(1) nominally adopts, because the subsection then adds active duty service on its own terms. A Guard member who served a full obligation without federalisation is a veteran of South Dakota but is not obviously an applicant for the veteran plate. The National Guard plate reaches an active enlisted member, warrant officer or commissioned member of the National Guard, or a retired member with twenty years or more of creditable service. A member who leaves short of twenty years has no plate under this subdivision. The Gold Star plate is the broadest family plate in the list: a parent, spouse, sibling or child of a member who died while serving on active duty or as a result of that service. Siblings are named, which many states omit. Fees. Section 32-5-159 charges ten dollars for the initial issuance of any military specialty plate, on top of ordinary noncommercial registration and plate fees. A lost, mutilated or destroyed plate is replaced for another ten dollars on an affidavit under 32-5-166. Administration. The plates are surrendered to the county treasurer of the owner's residence if the owner stops qualifying, and failure to surrender is a Class 2 misdemeanour. On the owner's death the family may keep the plates, but may not display them on any vehicle past the expiry of the plates or decals. On a transfer of the vehicle the transferor must remove the plates and gets a credit for the unexpired registration only if the plates are reattached to another vehicle; detach them and leave them off and there is no credit and the plates stop being valid. Since 2026 a business vehicle can carry them. Section 32-5-158.1, added by House Bill 1080, lets a veteran who owns a business apply for and display one set of military specialty plates on a noncommercial automobile, pickup or van registered to the business, provided the veteran is listed as an additional owner on the certificate of title and each owner is stated on the registration. The ten dollar issuance fee applies unless the plate is one of the fee-exempt ones.