The following story was reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with Utah Stories. 

The trek into the office is a necessary evil for many employees; it’s unpaid time that could be spent elsewhere. But some state employees are able to cash in on their commutes.

That includes one member of Gov. Spencer Cox’s cabinet who heads the Utah Department of Cultural & Community Engagement. The department oversees a number of civic and social programs ranging from museums, libraries and the state historical society to volunteerism efforts and multicultural affairs. 

The employee’s in-state travel expenses made up a large chunk of the department’s employee reimbursements in recent years, according to documents obtained by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project obtained through a public records request. 

The UIJP reviewed spreadsheets detailing the reimbursed expenses of the department’s 17-person leadership team over the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years. 

The analysis showed one employee, Executive Director Donna Law, accounted for nearly a third of the team’s reimbursements in 2024 and 43% in 2025. Law, who lives in Cedar City, spent more than 11 times the average amount spent by all other employees included in the analysis. 

The majority of Law’s expenses were categorized as in-state travel, which includes mileage and lodging. Between the two years, she spent $21,607.94  on lodging, $10,135.42  on auto mileage and $1,455.00 in miscellaneous travel expenses and meals for a total of over $33,000. 

The next highest amount spent on in-state travel was $3,385. Law’s overall spending far exceeded any other employee as well.

The nearly $36,000 Law spent on travel and other items was nearly three times that spent by the employee with the second highest amount in reimbursements. His expenses, in contrast, were largely out-of-state travel. 

Sheila Weinberg is the CEO and founder of Truth in Accounting, a nonpartisan think tank focusing on government financial transparency and information. She stressed the importance of transparency and accountability in government finances. 

“They’re not just spending their own money, they’re spending the taxpayers’ money,” she said. “A disproportionately large reimbursement for one single employee does raise red flags, and it does prompt a consideration of a closer review of internal controls.” 

A spokesperson for the department said Law accepted a job as associate vice president at Southern Utah University but will lead the department until July. 

During a recent announcement of the change, the Governor’s Office “praised Law’s steady hand spearheading critical projects and rural initiatives for the administration and the state,’ the spokesperson said, pointing to the creation and opening of the Museum of Utah at the capitol and the America250 Utah initiative to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. later this year. 

Law, meanwhile, said serving in her position as a member of the governor’s cabinet “has been a dream job.”

“Spending so much time working on the road wasn’t always easy or convenient, but it anchored my department’s statewide community programs in supporting the governor’s rural initiatives, a pillar of his administration,” she said in a written statement in response to questions from the UIJP. 

A 250-mile commute? 

The distance between Law’s town of residence, Cedar City, and the Department of Cultural & Community Engagement’s Millcreek office is 249 miles and takes about 3.5 hours, according to Google Maps. 

An authorization letter from Jon Pierpont, the Governor’s Office chief of staff, claims that Law’s primary work location is Cedar City but that her role also requires her to be in Salt Lake County daily during the legislative sessions as well as “in person for normal daily work, department meetings, etc.”

The department did not directly answer questions about what parts of Law’s role required her to be in Cedar City rather than the capitol, why it decided to reimburse Law’s travel or whether the reimbursements were part offered as part of her full compensation and benefits package. Instead, it reiterated the authorization letter and referenced the state law that outlines travel exception policies. 

The UIJP reviewed the LinkedIn pages of the department’s other executive staff as well as those listed as directly under Law and found that she was the only one who listed a location outside of Salt Lake County on her profile. The department also lists a Millcreek address on its webpage. 

Utah state policy does give agencies flexibility to reimburse employees for their commutes if they live over 50 miles from their office. 

Utah Division of Finance director Van Christensen said although he doesn’t have data on how common it is for agencies to reimburse commutes, he believes about half do so based on informal conversations with agency finance directors. It’s up to each agency, he added, to decide if such an expense is justified within their budget and needs. 

“As for why 50 miles was chosen, we essentially needed to draw a reasonable line in the sand. We don’t believe it’s appropriate for agencies to pay for commutes when an employee lives relatively close to their assigned office,” he said. “The rule accommodates situations where truly remote employees in cities like St. George, Blanding or Richfield need to periodically travel to their main office.”

The spreadsheet detailing Law’s expenses the department provided to the UIJP does not show the dates of in-state travel in 2024 and 2025. However, it does show 104 individual entries for auto mileage, 538 for miscellaneous travel entries, 12 travel meal entries and 460 lodging entries. 

The department said Law traveled approximately twice a month from Cedar City to Salt Lake City, staying three or four nights “to maximize each trip” over the two years. 

Utah Taxpayers Association President Billy Hesterman said the 50-mile commute reimbursement policy needs to be re-examined by the Legislature. 

“That doesn’t seem to match what would happen in the private sector. If I apply for a new job, I think the expectation is usually that I’m covering my cost to drive to work regardless of where I live,” he said. “I’m sure there’s a reason for it, but it sounds like it could be taken advantage of very easily.”

The full picture 

Law was appointed by Gov. Spencer Cox to the role in January 2024. Prior to joining the governor’s cabinet, she worked for Southern Utah University for over two decades, including as the university’s associate vice president of community and government relations, and served on the Utah Transportation Commission, Utah Office of Museum Services and the Shakespeare Theatre Association. According to her LinkedIn, Law has a master’s degree in arts administration from SUU and a bachelor’s degree in business management from Western Governors University.

Public data on Utah’s transparency site shows Law worked for both SUU and the Department Cultural & Community Engagement in 2024, with a combined compensation package (salary and benefits) of $235,286.35. In 2025, Law collected a paycheck solely from the state but made 11% more than the previous year. 

Weinberg, with Truth in Accounting, said there are situations when large amounts of travel reimbursements could be reasonable for a public employee, such as if their role necessitates visiting many different parts of the state for things like outreach or if the reimbursements were agreed on as part of their total compensation package. 

“The pushback, the other side of it, would be that she is choosing to live there, the state isn’t saying you need to live three and a half hours away,” Weinberg added. “Theoretically, what they’re saying is that this person is so valuable that their compensation, plus this reimbursement, is worth the taxpayers’ money.” 

Hesterman said while face-to-face meetings are important, there are also times when phone or Zoom calls can accomplish the same task. 

“I hope there’s been a conversation with the employee about being very judicious about when to come up to the Capitol,” he said. “That certainly sounds excessive, that they would be traveling that much to have such a large percentage of the reimbursements, and we hope that there’s a greater conversation going with the employee and those involved, the supervisors, to say, ‘What can we do to bring that down so that taxpayers’ resources can be spent in more efficient ways?”