South Dakota Gov. Bill Janklow’s plan to crack down on overweight trucks was approved by the South Dakota Senate Friday after senators removed a controversial provision that would have allowed state officials to look at weigh scale tickets from elevators and other commercial businesses.

Law officers generally cannot inspect private records without first getting a subpoena or search warrant from a judge, said one senator. Another said allowing law officers to inspect private scale tickets would amount to an unconstitutional search and seizure.
The bill now calls for inspecting scale tickets for trucks involved in state highway construction projects and local road projects. In addition, the measure calls for doubling civil penalties in cases where trucks are more than 10,000 pounds overweight. Penalties could be imposed not only on drivers, but also on people directly supervising the loading of overweight trucks.
The measure now goes to the House for further debate.