Expenses claims dip $1 million since 2010

State legislators ask for less in ’12

The amount of money that state lawmakers collected in per diem, mileage and expense reimbursements from the state was $1 million lower in 2012 than in 2010.

The expense payments totaled $3.87 million last year when the Legislature met in a fiscal session, down from $4.87 million in 2010 when lawmakers convened their first-ever fiscal session, according to state records.

Per diem (a daily allowance for lodging, meals and incidentals), mileage and expense payments are in addition to legislators’ salaries, which are $15,869 each except for the House speaker and Senate president pro tempore, who get $17,771 each.

Four lawmakers received more than $50,000 last year in per diem, mileage, travel and expense reimburse-ments, compared with eight in 2010.

“I know everybody thinks we get rich doing this job, [but] I don’t think so,” said Mike Patterson, a Piggott Democrat who collected $52,450 in expense payments last year as a state representative. He now works for the state Department of Information Systems in a temporary position.

As a state senator, Jasper Democrat Randy Laverty, who is now the commissioner of Arkansas Rehabilitation Services, collected the largest amount of expense payments last year, as he did in 2010.

He received $57,301 in 2012, down a tad from $59,745 in 2010.

Legislators and state officials gave several differing explanations for the 20 percent drop in expense payments from 2010 to 2012.

Those factors included:

The settlement of a lawsuit challenging the Legislature’s system of reimbursing lawmakers for expenses. Under the terms of the settlement, lawmakers are required to provide more documentation for expenses, particularly office-related expenses. The state is also barred from paying up to $10,200 a year for office-related expenses to lawmakers who live within 50 miles of the Capitol, instead of paying them for per diem and mileage for attending legislative meetings. Thirtysix lawmakers were eligible for such payments last year.

The 2011 Legislature giving the House speaker and Senate president pro tempore authority to veto legislators’ out-of-state travel requests.

Then-House Speaker Robert S. Moore Jr., D-Arkansas City, suggested after the 2011 session that committee chairmen coordinate their committee-meeting schedules to cut down on the number of legislators’ trips to Little Rock.

The 2012 election in which the Republicans stripped control of the Legislature from the Democrats. Lawmakers, who were locked in battles to retain their seats or to oust a colleague, focused more on their campaigns and attended fewer legislative meetings.

As it has done for several years, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reviewed records kept by the Bureau of Legislative Research, the Legislative Audit Division, the House of Representatives and the Senate in calculating the amounts of state expense payments made to lawmakers.

The legislators each get $147 per day for attending meetings in Little Rock and Hot Springs, and $123 per day for going to meetings in other Arkansas cities, according to Margie Davis, fiscal officer for the Bureau of Legislative Research.

Last year, the bureau and audit division reimbursed lawmakers for mileage at a rate of 51 cents per mile, state officials said.

The Senate reimbursed its members at a rate of 51 cents per mile earlier last year, then increased the rate to 55.5 cents per mile. The House reimbursed representatives at a rate of 51 cents per mile, then in December increased the rate to 55.5 cents per mile, state officials said.

A COMPARISON

Lawmakers tend to have more expenses in odd-numbered years, when the Legislature meets in regular session. Generally the longer the session, the higher the costs.

In 2008, voters amended the state constitution to provide for fiscal sessions in even-numbered years, beginning in 2010.

Expense payments to lawmakers totaled $3.6 million in 2006 and $4.4 million in 2008, and then increased to $4.8 million in 2010 before dropping to $3.8 million in 2012.

Such payments totaled $3.9 million in 2005, $4.7 million in 2007 and $5.41 million in 2009. They dipped by about $350,000 to $5.06 million in 2011.

LAWSUIT SETTLEMENT

In April, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza approved a settlement in a lawsuit filed by the Arkansas Public Law Center, which was established to litigate “issues of broad importance.”

The settlement bars the state from paying lawmakerswho live within 50 miles of the Capitol up to $10,200 a year instead of paying for per diem and mileage for attending legislative meetings in Little Rock. Thirty-six of 135 lawmakers were eligible for the $10,200-a-year payments, which most of them received. After the settlement, legislative leaders decided to pay a reduced per diem of $61 per day and mileage to those lawmakers for attending meetings in Little Rock.

The settlement also requires lawmakers to provide more documentation to obtain expense reimbursements.

Rep. Ann Clemmer, R-Benton, and then-Sen. Jerry Taylor, D-Pine Bluff, were two of the four lawmakers named in the lawsuit. They were previously eligible for the $10,200-a-year payments.

Last year, Clemmer received $23,507 in per diem, mileage and other expenses, compared with $28,187 in 2010.

Complying with the terms of the settlement “has added a layer of accountability and a layer of a headache, and some people didn’t want a headache,” Clemmer said.

Twenty-two state representatives haven’t filed for reimbursement for officerelated expenses since the lawsuit’s settlement in April, according to House records.

Th at g roup includes House Speaker Davy Carter, R-Cabot, and Reps. Duncan Baird, R-Lowell; Nate Bell, RMena; John Edwards, D-LittleRock; Justin Harris, R-West Fork; Lane Jean, R-Magnolia; Greg Leding, D-Fayetteville; Jim Nickels, D-Sherwood; Mark Perry, D-Jacksonville; Nate Steel, D-Nashville; and Darrin Williams, D-Little Rock.

“I like other people to be guinea pigs,” said Bell. “I want to see what other people have done, and I prefer not to have ugly press articles on me. That’s just the bottom line.”

He said he expects to file for reimbursement of his post-settlement 2012 officerelated expenses in the next few months.

Carter received $7,050 in reimbursements last year, compared with $26,400 in 2010.

He hasn’t filed for any office-related expense reimbursement since the settlement and said he hasn’t decided whether he’ll seek such reimbursement.

Last year, Taylor collected $19,861 in per diem, mileage and other expenses, compared with $35,488 in 2010.

“Obviously I liked the old method because I got a little more money, and I didn’t have all the paperwork to keep up with it,” said Taylor.

But, he added, the lawsuit was settled, and “I don’t really have any complaints.” THE ENERGY COUNCIL

Usually the lawmakers who report the most expenses attend more legislative meetings, live farther from Little Rock and go to more out-of-state conferences than do some of their colleagues.

Laverty, who collected $57,301 in expenses last year, described himself as a very active lawmaker.

“My principal job was being a state senator, and I attended every meeting I couldthat was germane to my interest, and about all of them were because I represented 80,000 people,” he said.

Laverty’s reimbursements include $18,000 from the Senate for office expenses; $17,055 in per diem and $8,155 in mileage from the bureau for attending legislative meetings; and $3,555 in fiscal-session reimbursements from the Senate, according to state records.

His travel expenses were $1,021 for attending a meeting of the Energy Council in Washington, D.C., in March; $1,597 for an Energy Council meeting in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, in June; $1,921 for the Southern Legislative Conference meeting in Charleston, W.Va., in July; $2,278 for the National Conference of State Legislatures meeting in Chicago in August; and $1,602 for a meeting of the Energy Council in New Orleans inDecember.

Laverty said he was chairman of The Energy Council through its meeting in September in Little Rock.

The council is a consortium of a dozen energy-producing states, five Canadian provinces and Venezuela, and “is an extraordinary forum with a lot of educational stuff,” Laverty said.

Sen. Eddie Joe Williams, R-Cabot, and Taylor also attended The Energy Council meeting in St. John’s in June, for which they were each reimbursed $2,021.37 by the bureau.

“I don’t know whether it was worthwhile for the state or not,” Taylor said of his attendance.

“I enjoyed the trip,” he said, adding “I learned just how foolish in my opinion ethanol and alternative energy subsidies are.”

Front Section, Pages 1 on 02/10/2013

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