# Nick Fosness

Nick Fosness is a Republican member of the South Dakota House for district 1.

- Party: Republican
- Seat: South Dakota House, district 1
- Serving since: 2025-08-05
- Current term: SD 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/1f9d8833-6a73-4985-b33e-635b6bc194b7

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/1f9d8833-6a73-4985-b33e-635b6bc194b7 (America’s Political Pulse, Polarization Research Lab), data through 2026-10-27. Data under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: Westwood, Sean J., and Yphtach Lelkes. 2024. America's Political Pulse [data set].

## Headline

Fosness voted against the majority of South Dakota House Republicans 36 times; party unity 53%, in the bottom quarter of the South Dakota House (average 76%).

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score +0.31 (standard error 0.04), from 0 donors and 156 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 42% of State House Republicans score lower.

## Votes (SD 2025–26 session)

324 roll calls. Attendance 99.6% (South Dakota House 96.6%). Party unity 53% (76%). 36 votes against the party majority.

Key votes:

- 2026-03-12 · voted yea · Do Pass Amended · SB 78 revise the General Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2026. · pass · https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/SB78/
- 2026-03-12 · voted yea · Do Pass Amended · HB 1051 revise property tax levies for school districts and to revise the state aid to general and special education formulas. · pass · https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/HB1051/
- 2026-03-12 · voted yea · Do Pass · HB 1326 appropriate money for the ordinary expenses of the legislative, judicial, and executive departments of the state, the current expenses of state… · pass · https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/HB1326/
- 2026-03-09 · voted yea · Do Pass Amended · SB 219 require that a state agency consult with the Aeronautics Commission prior to purchasing, transferring, or disposing of a state owned and operated… · pass · https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/SB219/
- 2026-03-09 · voted nay · Do Pass Amended · SB 245 create the homeowner property tax reduction fund, and to transfer moneys to the homeowner property tax reduction fund. · pass · https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/SB245/
- 2026-03-09 · voted yea · Do Pass Amended · SB 221 regulate the retail sale of nicotine products, and to provide a penalty therefor. · pass · https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/SB221/
- 2026-03-09 · voted yea · Do Pass Amended · SB 222 make an appropriation for eligible water, wastewater, storm water, and riparian buffer initiative projects and to declare an emergency. · pass · https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/SB222/
- 2026-03-09 · voted yea · Do Pass Amended · SB 119 create the capitol restoration fund and to transfer moneys thereto. · pass · https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/SB119/
- 2026-03-09 · voted yea · Do Pass Amended · SB 106 modify the amount required to be set aside for extraordinary expenses incurred in providing special education programs. · pass · https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/SB106/
- 2026-03-09 · voted yea · Do Pass Amended · SB 102 modify the distribution of gaming revenues. · pass · https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/SB102/

## Legislation (SD 2025–26 session)

Sponsored 3 bills: 3 reached committee, 2 passed one chamber, 2 passed both, 2 became law. Cosponsored 0.

Recent sponsored bills:

- HB 1034: increase fees for decals and license plates mailed to vehicle owners. (became law, 2026-02-23) https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/HB1034/
- HB 1005: provide a sales and use tax exemption for goods and services related to data center operations. (in committee, 2026-02-04) https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/HB1005/
- SB 2: provide that a firearm silencer is not a controlled weapon. (became law, 2026-02-11) https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/SB2/

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/1f9d8833-6a73-4985-b33e-635b6bc194b7