Members of the South Dakota House of Representatives meet on Feb. 4, 2025, at the Capitol in Pierre. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)
PIERRE — South Dakota lawmakers spent less taxpayer money attending out-of-state conferences and events during the recently concluded fiscal year.
When one legislator attends an out-of-state event, that’s counted as one trip. Members of the Legislature took 23 out-of-state trips that cost a total of $38,250 during the 2025 fiscal year, which ended June 30. That’s down from 66 trips for $103,500 during the prior fiscal year and 60 trips for $83,800 during the 2023 fiscal year.
Out-of-state travel is approved by the Legislature’s Executive Board. The Legislative Research Council maintains records of each approved request, including the destination, event name and cost.
Senate President Pro Tempore Chris Karr, R-Sioux Falls, said an increasing volume of work during the legislative offseason is likely driving down the number of out-of-state trips. The Legislature meets from January to March every year at the Capitol in Pierre, and some committees continue meeting the rest of the year — including special summer committees that study issues for potential future legislation.
This year, there are five summer study committees involving 52 total positions studying topics ranging from property taxes to incarceration rates, plus a Project Prison Reset task force appointed by the governor, involving legislators and non-legislators studying potential prison construction. In 2024, two summer study committees had a total of 26 positions, and in 2023, two committees had 28 positions.
“You can only allocate so much of your life to this,” Karr said. “Between the new prison and property tax task forces, and the various committee meetings, I think fewer lawmakers simply have the time.”
!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data[“datawrapper-height”][t]+”px”;r.style.height=d}}})}();
House Majority Leader Scott Odenbach, R-Spearfish, had a different take on what’s driving down the number of out-of-state trips. He said that “with conservative leadership, the members are behaving a bit more conservatively.” Republicans replaced their leadership team last fall after 14 incumbent Republican legislators lost in the June primary election.
Among the most frequented gatherings over the last three fiscal years were the National Conference of State Legislators summit (17 trips), the International Legislators Forum (16), and the Council of State Governments conference (15). The events are billed as bipartisan opportunities for lawmakers to share policy ideas and improve interstate cooperation.
“The return on investment for the public is there,” Karr said. “You get to see how things are done in other states, and can bring that back. Better lawmakers make better laws.”
The events are hosted in different states each year, ranging from Kentucky and Louisiana to Indiana and Hawaii. Two lawmakers who went on a Hawaii trip in December 2022 suffered criticism because they knew at the time that they would not be returning to office in 2023. Both of those lawmakers were back in the Legislature this year.
Since the 2023 fiscal year, several Republican lawmakers attended events hosted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative policy organization. Other ideologically themed events attended by South Dakota legislators included a Pro-Family Legislator Conference hosted by Wallbuilders, a group that supported recent failed legislation to require the Ten Commandments to be displayed and taught in South Dakota public schools, and the Statesmen Academy hosted by the Family Policy Alliance Foundation, which aims to “equip Christian leaders for impactful service.”
Those events are also hosted in a variety of states, ranging from Arizona and Colorado to Florida and Texas.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
