38-18-3. Annual application for registration of apiaries--Contents--Revocation of landowner or lessee's placement authorization--Approval or rejection of registration--Hearings--Violation as misdemeanor--Civil penalty. Any person owning, leasing, or possessing bees shall file an application registering the bees and each apiary with the secretary. The application shall be filed before the first day of February each year or within ten days of acquiring ownership or possession of any bees or apiary or before moving bees into the state and shall contain each location by legal description, the name of the landowner or lessee of the location, the number of colonies of bees in each apiary, and any other information required by the secretary. The landowner or lessee authorizing the placement of an apiary on a location may revoke the authorization by notifying the owner of the apiary and the secretary in writing. Such revocation of authorization by a landowner or lessee is not sufficient justification for a contested case hearing. If any person fails to register an apiary within the time specified by this section, the landowner authorization for that location is invalid.

A registration application shall be approved or rejected by the secretary in compliance with this chapter or rules promulgated pursuant to chapter 1-26. The secretary may deny applications, revoke permits, or conduct contested case hearings in accordance with rules promulgated pursuant to chapter 1-26. Any person failing to register an apiary or bees pursuant to this section is guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor. In addition to the criminal penalty imposed by this section, a person is subject to a civil penalty not to exceed five hundred dollars for each location that the person has failed to register.

Source: SL 1945, ch 10, § 2; SL 1947, ch 6, § 4; SL 1953, ch 6; SL 1959, ch 2, § 4; SDC Supp 1960, § 4.1104; SL 1961, ch 4; SL 1963, ch 4; SL 1965, ch 5; SL 1976, ch 243, § 3; SL 1983, ch 280, § 2; SL 1986, ch 326, § 22; SL 1986, ch 330, § 2; SL 1989, ch 344, § 1; SL 1992, ch 280, § 2; SL 2001, ch 215, § 3.