SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Under South Dakota law, state employees are limited in how much money they can spend on a hotel room for work-related travel. In most South Dakota cities, a state employee can be reimbursed up to $110 for a hotel room, including taxes and fees. If they travel out of state for work, they can spend up to $175 plus tax.
But not everyone has to follow these regulations; there is no limit in South Dakota state law on how much the governor and lieutenant governor can spend on travel on a state credit card. When providing security for the governor or lieutenant governor, the leaders’ security detail also has no such restrictions in cost.
In recent days KELOLAND News has been combing through former Gov. Kristi Noem’s state credit card spending following a public records request, and different invoices highlight a governor’s ability to spend.
South Dakotan taxpayers in October 2024 paid for one night at JW Marriott’s Essex House in New York City. Since the partially-redacted invoice lists “Governor Noem Security Detail” on it, it is unclear if the governor herself or just members of her security team were there. But what is clear is that South Dakota taxpayers paid $869.85 for the night.
A few days later in November, the governor or her security had a two bedroom suite for two nights at the Naples Bay Resort & Marina on the gulf coast of Florida in Naples. The nightly room charge for the 1,300 square foot suite with a kitchen, two bathrooms and a waterway view was $449, but parking and resort fees helped push the two night total to $1,134.58.
In December 2024, on the other side of the Florida panhandle near current President Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago club, the governor or her security detail spent three nights at the Canopy by Hilton in West Palm Beach. The cost per room ranged from $287.10 to $773.10 per night; adding in taxes and $132 of valet parking, the state was on the hook for $1,948.47.
The governor or her security also stayed three nights in December 2024 at the Four Seasons hotel in Las Vegas, with the stay at the luxury hotel on the strip added up to $1,721.10.
With Noem’s state credit card spending under the spotlight, current South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley released vouchers Tuesday for his own expenses while he’s been in office. However, while Noem had access to a state credit card, Jackley does not.
