Is South Dakota a one-party consent state?
Yes. South Dakota is a one-party consent state for recording calls, under S.D. Codified Laws § 23A-35A-20.
General information, not legal advice. Laws change and we can get things wrong, so check with a lawyer before relying on any of this. Citations checked October 2026. Spotted an error? Tell us.
Recording calls in South Dakota
South Dakota lets a call be recorded when one person on it agrees. The business is a party to every call its agent answers, so its own consent is generally enough under the statute.
§ 23A-35A-20 makes it a Class 5 felony to record a communication by an eavesdropping device without the consent of either the sender or the receiver. A party to the call, or someone with one party's consent, does not commit the offense.
Reporters Committee summary for South DakotaSouth Dakota is a one-party consent state, so the penalty applies to recording a call you are not a party to when no party has consented (§ 23A-35A-20). That recording is a Class 5 felony, punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 (§ 22-6-1(8)). South Dakota's wiretap chapter does not give the person recorded a right to sue, though federal law does for this kind of interception (18 U.S.C. § 2520).
General information, not legal advice. Citations checked October 2026. Ask a South Dakota lawyer about your own calls.
Using an AI agent to answer your South Dakota line
South Dakota only needs one party's consent, but a caller from California or Florida brings their state's stricter rule onto the call. So the agent opens every call by saying it is recorded.
“Thanks for calling. This is an AI assistant, and this call is recorded. How can I help?”
A Cartesia voice agent answers your business line, says this on every call, then takes messages or transfers the caller to your team.
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If the agent also calls out from South Dakota
An answering service mostly takes calls. Callbacks and reminders are outbound, and outbound calls follow the federal rules plus South Dakota's own.
Outbound calls that use an AI voice need the called party's prior express consent, unless the call is for an emergency or fits an FCC exemption. AI-voice calls that include telemarketing need prior express written consent. The FCC ruled in February 2024 (FCC 24-17) that an AI-generated voice is an artificial voice under the TCPA, so these calls must also identify the caller and, for telemarketing, offer a way to opt out.
47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1)(B)47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(a)(2) and (a)(3)FCC ruling on AI voices, February 2024Federal rules allow telemarketing calls from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the called party's local time. Some states set a shorter window, listed below when they do.
16 C.F.R. § 310.4(c)South Dakota regulates sales calls made with an automatic dialer that plays a prerecorded message without a live operator. The caller must register with the Public Utilities Commission 10 business days before use (§ 37-30-25), and the message must give the caller's name, the purpose of the call and what is offered right after contact (§ 37-30-26). These calls are barred to cell phones, pagers and unlisted numbers (§ 37-30-27) and may run only on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. (§ 37-30-28).
Statute textSouth Dakota bars unsolicited telephone sales calls to numbers on its do-not-call register (§ 49-31-99), and the Public Utilities Commission may use the federal Do Not Call Registry as that register (§ 49-31-103).
Statute textWhere South Dakota callers are
Time zone: Central, with the west on Mountain. You set your business hours in your own time zone, and the agent takes messages outside them.
605
Statewide
States near South Dakota
Enterprise-grade security
HIPAA compliant
SOC 2 Type 2
GDPR
South Dakota call recording law FAQs
Is South Dakota a one-party or all-party consent state for recording calls?
South Dakota is a one-party consent state for recording calls, under S.D. Codified Laws § 23A-35A-20. This is general information, not legal advice. Ask a lawyer about your own calls.
Do I have to tell callers an AI agent is recording in South Dakota?
South Dakota needs one party's consent, and the business is a party. Most businesses announce recording anyway, because a caller in an all-party state such as California or Florida can bring that state's rule into the call. The sample agent opens with "Thanks for calling. This is an AI assistant, and this call is recorded. How can I help?" This is general information, not legal advice.
What if the caller is in a different state than my South Dakota business?
The stricter state's rule can apply. In Kearney v. Salomon Smith Barney (2006), the California Supreme Court held that California's all-party rule governs, going forward, calls a Georgia office records with clients in California. A business that takes calls from other states usually announces recording on every call.
How much does a Cartesia agent cost to answer calls in South Dakota?
Managed Agents cost $0.03/min, plus telephony and LLM usage. See pricing.
Which time zone and area codes cover South Dakota?
Time zone: Central, with the west on Mountain. Main area codes: 605. The agent answers calls from any number, and you set your business hours in your own time zone.
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