South Dakota Labor Secretary Marcia Hultman says state officials had decided to give Gov. Kristi Noem’s daughter another chance to earn a state real estate appraiser license even before a controversial meeting in the governor’s mansion last year.
The meeting, which came just days after Kassidy Peters had been denied a license, included Peters, Noem, Hultman, and the head of the licensing agency among others.
Hultman acknowledged Thursday to a legislative committee investigating the July 27, 2020, meeting that it was unusual to have an applicant like the governor’s daughter in such a meeting, but she defended her department’s handling of the situation.
Peters received a license a few weeks after the meeting while the agency head retired, then sued the state – saying she’d been forced to retire. The state settled her suit for $200,000.