South Dakota Commissioner of School and Public Lands

The South Dakota Commissioner of School and Public Lands is one of the constitutional offices of the state of South Dakota . The incumbent is elected by the electorate of South Dakota for a four-year term. A person may serve as Commissioner of School and Public Lands for a maximum of two consecutive terms. A term coincides with the term of the South Dakota Governor .

In fiscal 2014, the agency had a budget of $ 839,955 from the South Dakota Commissioner of School and Public Lands  .

The current incumbent is Ryan Brunner , who took up his post in January 2015.

Duties and duties

The duties of the South Dakota Commissioners of School and Public Lands are described in Article VIII of the South Dakota Constitution.

The office was created mainly for the purpose of supervising the lands that the federal government had designated for educational use. Section 4 provides details for assessing such school lands that can be sold. The Commissioner of School and Public Lands sits on a committee of experts who assess all school lands that are to be sold. The State Auditor and County Superintendent of Schools also sit on this committee . After Section 6, all sales must be made through the Office of the Commissioners of School and Public Lands. All sales are subject to approval by the Governor of South Dakota. Section 9 describes the role of the Commissioners of School and Public Lands in leasing these lands.

Funds derived from the sale and rental of these lands and their mining rights are used to finance education in the state.

Other duties of the Commissioner of School and Pulic Lands include:

• Manage the permanent trust fund
• Allocation and maintenance of pastureland
• Inspection and repair of state-owned Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) dams
• Identify and monitor all mining rights leases for the state
• Control for harmful marijuana in schools and public lands, state dams and winding lakes
• Record of land transactions regarding rights of use to legal and state lands
• Buying and selling property as required by the legislature or other government agencies
• Issuing permits for seismic surveys in state-owned mineral areas

vacancy

Under the South Dakota Codified Laws , the South Dakota Commissioners of School and Public Lands post becomes vacant if any of the following occurs:

• Death,
• Resignation,
• removed from the post,
• criteria not met, which are required by law,
• is no longer a resident of the state,
• a conviction of a suspect criminal offense or any misdemeanor which constitutes a violation of the official oath is present or
• a confirmed breach of contract regarding an official loan by a court.

If there is a vacancy with the South Dakota Commissioner of School and Public Lands after May 1 in an even year, the Governor of South Dakota will appoint a substitute for the remainder of the Commissioner's term of office. However, if the vacancy is available before May 1st in an even-numbered year, the post must be filled by means of an election. An exception is the year in which the term of office normally ends. A person who has been elected Commissioner of School and Public Lands to fill a vacancy takes up his post immediately after the election.

List of South Dakota Commissioners of School and Public Lands

#	Commissioner of School and Public Lands	Term of office	Party affiliation
1	Osmer H. Parker	1889-1891	republican
2	Thomas H. Ruth	1891-1895	republican
3	John L. Lockhart	1895-1899	republican
4th	David Eastman	1899-1903	republican
5	CJ Bach	1903-1907	republican
6th	OC Dokken	1907-1911	republican
7th	FF Brinker	1911-1913	republican
8th	Fred Hepperle	1913-1917	republican
9	NE Knight	1917-1925	republican
10	OPJ Engstrom	1925-1933	republican
11	Ben Strool	1933-1939	democrat
12	Earl A. Hammerquist	1939-1943	republican
13	John A. Lunden	1943-1949	republican
14th	Bernard Linn	1949-1971	republican
15th	Ralph Ginn	1971-1972	republican
16	George D. Kane	1972-1979	democrat
17th	John J. Gerken	1979-1983	republican
18th	F. Julian Cheney	1983	republican
19th	David L. Volk	1983-1984	republican
20th	John J. Gerken	1984	republican
21st	Sheldon E. Cotton	1984-1987	republican
22nd	Timothy H. Amdahl	1987-1990	republican
23	Curtis J. Johnson	1991-2003	democrat
24	Bryce Healy	2003-2007	democrat
25th	Jarrod Johnson	2007-2013	republican
26th	Vernon L. Larson	2013-2015	republican
27	Ryan Brunner	since 2015	republican

literature

• Chapter 4 - 2007 South Dakota Legislative Manual Executive Branch , p. 95 (PDF document)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ South Dakota Constitution, Article 4, Section 7
2. ↑ Bureau of Finance and Management: State of South Dakota Budget in Brief Fiscal Year 2014 , p. 53
3. ↑ South Dakota Codified Laws, "Title 3, Chapter 4, Section 1"
4. ↑ South Dakota Codified Laws, "Title 3, Chapter 4, Section 3"
5. ↑ South Dakota Codified Laws, "Title 3, Chapter 4, Section 6"

Web links

• Website of the South Dakota Commissioner of School and Public Lands