South Dakota Veteran Designation on a Driver License

Section 32-12-17.15 requires the veteran designation to be indicated on a driver licence, permit or nondriver identification card where the holder is an honorably discharged veteran having served in the armed forces of the United States, has requested the designation, and has provided proof. The accepted proofs are listed rather than left to the counter: DD Form 214, DD Form 2 (Retired), DD Form 2A (Reserve Retired), National Guard Form NGB 22, a Uniformed Services ID Card (Retired), or a certificate signed by a county veterans service officer on a form prescribed by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Uniformed Services ID card was added in 2023, and the county veterans service officer certificate is the route for a veteran whose discharge paperwork is lost, because 33A-1-13 puts the department and its officers behind the retrieval at no charge. The designation is free. The statute imposes no fee, and no separate fee appears in chapter 32-12 for it. The two licences use different tests, and this is the fracture worth knowing about. The ordinary licence section asks for "an honorably discharged veteran having served in the armed forces of the United States". The commercial driver licence section, 32-12A-20.2, asks for "a veteran as defined in § 33A-1-1", which is the state's broad definition in 33A-2-1 reached through a cross-reference. So a Guard member who served a full six-year obligation without federalisation is squarely within the commercial licence test, and is arguably outside the ordinary licence test, even though the ordinary licence section accepts NGB Form 22 as proof. Two counters in the same Department of Public Safety are running different rules, and the narrower rule sits on the licence almost everyone carries. Section 33A-2-1 itself names "veterans designation on a driver license or identification card" as one of the benefits its broad definition governs, which is a third view of the question. The commercial licence list of proofs was widened in 2025 and now takes a county veterans service officer certificate, NGB-22, a Uniformed Services Identification card, DD-2, DD-2A or DD-214. What the designation does not do. It is not evidence of eligibility for any particular benefit, and no South Dakota statute attaches a retail discount to it. Where a merchant honours it that is a private decision. Two related provisions keep a deployed member's licence alive. Section 32-12-45 continues a valid licence or permit held by an active duty member, or by a spouse or dependent of a member serving outside the state, for as long as the service continues and the person is absent, up to ninety days after honorable separation or return, with military identification or orders carried alongside. Section 32-12-42.3, added in 2025, takes an active duty member, a State Department employee serving abroad, and a spouse or dependent of an active duty member out of the one hundred eighty day renewal window entirely, so the licence can be renewed at any time regardless of the expiry date.