Last week, the South Dakota NewsMedia Association First Amendment Committee hosted a webinar with open government expert David Cuillier, who highlighted the declining transparency in government, both nationally and in South Dakota.
Cuillier pointed out South Dakota’s poor ranking in compliance with open records requests and highlighted weaknesses in the state’s open-records and open-meetings laws.
He attributed these issues to a lack of resources, advocacy, and political leadership. Despite these challenges,
Cuillier emphasized the importance of transparency for democratic civic engagement and urged for improvements in South Dakota’s open government laws.