Legislators’ pay in local rep’s crosshairs

The Louisiana Legislature, recently outed as having received a 9-percent increase in per diem payments, from $145 to $159, is now seeking an annual district office expense allowance of $80,000 for each of the 144 members.

Members of the House and Senate, as of Oct. 1, 2009, earn $13,515 each for the current 85-day session – despite not attending for 37 of those days. That equates to $5,883 per legislator, or $847,152 total for weekends and Memorial Day during which they do not convene.

Now Rep. Joe Harrison (R-Gray) wants to change the way legislators are paid expense money by allowing up to $80,000 in vouchered expenses per year.

Lawmakers currently receive $1,500 a month in non-vouchered expenses, plus another $500 monthly in vouchered expenses, or about $24,000 per year. At first glance, it would appear that Harrison, who represents parts of Lafourche, Terrebonne, and Assumption parishes, is seeking an additional $56,000 per year in expenses per legislator, which would cost the financially-strapped state more than $8 million a year.

But it’s not quite that simple. The actual cost increase to taxpayers would be a more modest $1.267 million per year, still a hefty sum considering the state’s fiscal stress and the fact that state employees are being laid off in favor of privatization.

The breakdown in additional costs to the state would be $1.168 million for the House and $99,712 for the Senate, according to figures provided by the Legislative Fiscal Office.

Senior, or primary legislative aides, who are unclassified employees and who earn as much as $3,000 per month, would also be eligible for the state’s group life, health, and hospitalization insurance program and the state employees’ retirement system. Total cost for legislative assistants’ expenses is projected to be $6.796 million for both houses.

The bill was assigned to the House and Governmental Affairs Committee.

– Editor’s Note: Tom Aswell writes for Capitol News Service. He regularly contributes to the Tri-Parish Times.