High school coaches in sanctioned activities could soon be required to report abuse, neglect

Rep. Mary Fitzgerald, R-Spearfish, speaks on the South Dakota House floor in January 2026. (Photo by Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

A bill to require high school coaches to report abuse and neglect earned the full support of a South Dakota House of Representatives panel on Friday.

House Bill 1187 earned yes votes from every member present on the House Judiciary Committee and was cleared for the House’s consent calendar. Consent calendar items are voted on in bulk, without debate, unless a member asks to pull them off for discussion.

The initial version of St. Onge Republican Rep. Mary Fitzgerald’s bill would have made anyone serving as a coach in any capacity — paid or volunteer, leading school-sanctioned or non-sanctioned activities for kids at any age — a “mandatory reporter,” meaning obligated by law to report suspected abuse or neglect to authorities.

Teachers, health care providers and child care workers are currently deemed mandatory reporters under state law.

Coaches, Fitzgerald said, spend “hours and hours” with children, often developing the kind of rapport and trust relationships that invite disclosure by children of abuse and neglect in or outside the home.

As such, she argued, coaches ought to have the same reporting expectations as a teacher or caregiver. Leaders with the state’s school administrators, large schools, education association, state’s attorneys and supporters from nonprofit organizations that work on behalf of children and sexual assault survivors agreed in their testimony.

One opponent, a youth coach from Pennsylvania who testified remotely, expressed concerns about volunteer coaches feeling compelled to issue dubious reports for fear of facing consequences for lack of disclosure. That could overwhelm already overworked social workers, he said, without improving the odds of catching legitimate wrongdoing.

“The question before you is not whether abuse should be reported,” said Zac Martin. “We’ve got to report it. But the question is whether adding coaches to the statutory list of mandatory reporters with criminal penalties attached is an effective and responsible way to advance this goal.”

Martin said the bill could also make volunteers think twice about signing on to coach youth sports.

Committee member David Kull, a Brandon Republican, noted that some coaches in youth activities are teenagers. The possibility of penalties for a 15-year-old who fails to report suspected abuse “does raise a little bit of concern,” Kull said, asking Fitzgerald to address the issue.

“I can see your point,” Fitzgerald said. “But I would think that if that 15- or 16-year-old did see something, that they would go to an adult.”

An amendment from Rep. Will Mortenson, R-Fort Pierre, aimed to clear up any concerns about volunteers and youth coaches. The change, which Fitzgerald called “friendly,” drew a box around the coaches covered by the bill by restricting mandatory reporting requirements to coaches leading activities sanctioned by the South Dakota High School Activities Association.

Mortenson said it’s clear that “we should all be reporting,” but worried that the bill as written might see resistance without a tighter definition of which coaches are expected to comply.

“I think we are potentially going to be losing a very important step in the right direction by the breadth of the statute as drafted,” Mortenson said.

Rep. Peri Pourier, R-Pine Ridge, grew emotional as she spoke in support of her motion to pass the bill and recommend that the full House of Representatives do the same.

“There are areas within our state, remote areas within our state, where secrecy is a culture. Areas where ‘don’t speak out’ is about survival,” Pourier said.

It’s not “a heavy lift” for coaches to watch the Department of Social Services’ 44-minute training video for mandatory reporting, Pourier said.

One committee member spoke up to say that the bill doesn’t touch on an issue that’s discouraged reporting in her area.

Republican Rep. Jana Hunt of Dupree said some teachers had stopped reporting abuse and neglect because, Hunt said, they felt the state’s Child Protection Services failed to act on the reports.

She “talked herself into” supporting the bill over the course of her remarks, but said she would have liked to have seen social services officials in the room to speak to the issue.

“I am severely disappointed in how they are handling the reports that my local school district is sending their way,” Hunt said.