2024: The Wake-Up Call
In February 2024, the South Dakota Legislature passed SB 201, which was disingenuously marketed as the “Landowners Bill of Rights.”
In reality, that title was “lipstick on a pig,” and the language of this egregious bill gutted private property rights and stripped away local control in South Dakota.
That moment made something unmistakably clear:
South Dakotans’ government was no longer working for them — it was working for billion-dollar global corporations.
Alarmed and angry, thousands of grassroots conservatives from every corner of the state did what they do best: they got to work.
Throughout the summer of 2024, property rights and local control advocates organized a statewide petition effort to refer SB 201 to the ballot as Referred Law 21 — and they CRUSHED IT.
In 90 short days…
500 volunteers, on their own time and own dime, gathered more than 38,000 signatures statewide.
Referred Law 21 was officially headed to the ballot, giving South Dakotans the chance to decide a simple question: Were their legislators representing the will of the people – or big corporate interests – when they passed SB 201?
In November 2024…
South Dakotans answered decisively.
Voters overturned SB 201 in a landslide, rejecting it by a 59.4% margin in 65 of 66 counties. We then voted out 12 legislators who had pushed SB201 through and replaced them with champions for property rights, officially putting us in a position to have leadership in both the House and Senate who understood the landowners’ concerns.
The message was unmistakable — the people care deeply about their property rights and they value local control — and Pierre was flat out wrong in their deception and subterfuge with SB201.
We have the high ground for now, but we’ll have to fight to keep it.
During the 2025 legislative session…
…a newly energized legislature passed House Bill 1052 — a clear, unmistakable ban on the use of eminent domain for carbon pipelines – sponsored by Speaker Pro Tempore Rep. Karla Lems and farmer/rancher, first-term Senator Mark Lapka – both impacted landowners on the proposed carbon pipeline route.
In March 2025…
HB 1052, a nation-leading landmark piece of legislation, that eliminated eminent domain for private gain, was signed into law.
For the first time in years, South Dakota landowners could pause – and breathe a sigh of relief. With the passage of HB1052, the people of South Dakota could officially say, “Yes, I want to participate in this project,” or “No, thank you. I have other plans for my land and my business.”
2025: A Hard-Won Victory
It was a hard-fought battle, with a steep cost. And along the way, other victories were achieved – a unanimous South Dakota Supreme Court ruling against invasive surveying; moratoriums and ordinances placed at township and county levels; condemnation cases tossed out of court; three denied permit applications at the PUC; and other threatening bills like SB198 and HB1216 squashed dead in their tracks.
Yes, many victories were achieved, but the lesson was learned. South Dakotans could never again blindly trust legislators to protect and defend our God-given property rights without constant vigilance. If it is to be, it is up to you and me.
What's Coming...
The establishment did not take this defeat lightly. Neither did the billion-dollar pipeline interests who lost their grip on South Dakota’s land.
They know exactly how this game is played. And at this moment – the suits are regrouping, reorganizing, and polishing up the old play book in secret backroom meetings.
All it takes is flipping a handful of legislative seats; amending a statute here or there; and the protections secured under HB1052 can be quietly unraveled. They have near-unlimited capital, long-time horizons, and no roots in the soil they seek to control.
Their strategy is simple – wait us out.
They assume grassroots landowners will grow tired. That families can’t afford to spend every summer, every session, every election cycle fighting to keep what is already theirs.
They want South Dakotans to believe the battle is over — that the passage of HB 1052 was the finish line rather than a foothold. They figure we’ll pack up and go back to the farm and ranch.
Wear us down.
Let vigilance fade.
Move back in when no one is watching.
They are wrong.
American Land & Legacy is not a campaign.
It is not a moment.
It is not a single bill.
We exist because defending property rights is never “settled.” Thomas Jefferson said, “The price of liberty is eternal vigilance,” and we are committed to standing in the gap against any threats to a core tenant of freedom — property rights.
That’s exactly what we intend to do.
Since the passage of HB1052, more threats have come our way. With a trip to Washington, D.C. this summer, we pushed back when a $10 million pay-to-play scheme and a federal eminent domain pre-emption was placed in the Big Beautiful Bill.
We stood our ground when the North Dakota attorney general threatened to sue South Dakota over HB1052. We were whistle blowers against a proposed bill by Dusty Johnson, HR4135, that would have fast-tracked the permitting process from the top down for data centers and carbon pipelines.
And you can bet there will be more schemes and threats to come.
Our commitment to you is that we will work relentlessly to ensure that South Dakota’s land remains in the hands of those who steward it — not corporations, not bureaucrats, and not political interests operating from a distance.
Our mission is bigger than defense.
We intend to make South Dakota the property rights bastion of the Midwest – a beacon on a hill, a place where landowners know the law is on their side; where eminent domain abuse finds no foothold; and where future generations inherit land that is truly theirs.
This fight isn’t over. In many ways, it’s just beginning.