Per diem and expense reimbursements for state lawmakers dropped last year, despite the longest legislative session since the Great Depression.
The expense payments totaled $4.77 million in 2013 when the Legislature met in a 101-day regular session and a three-day special session in October - down from $5.09 million in 2011 when the Legislature met in a 95-day regular session - according to state records.Last year’s regular session was the longest since the Legislature met for 121 days in 1931.
The payments declined largely as a result of a reduction in office-related expense reimbursements to lawmakers in the aftermath of the settlement of a lawsuit challenging the Legislature’s system of reimbursing lawmakers for expenses.
Per diem (a daily allowance for lodging, meals and incidentals), mileage and expense payments are in addition to legislators’ annual salaries, which are $15,869 each except for the House speaker and Senate president pro tempore, who get $17,771 each.
Seven lawmakers received more than $50,000 last year in per diem, mileage, travel expense reimbursements - down from 11 in 2011.
Rep. John Burris, R-Harrison, collected the largest amount of expense payments in 2013.
Burris - who is chairman of the House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee and one of the architects of the state’s fledgling program to use federal Medicaid dollars to purchase private health insurance for poor Arkansans - was reimbursed $57,504 last year, including $10,390 from 2012 office-related expenses paid last year, according to state records.
Burris, who has been political director for U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton’s campaign since last spring, said he’s “never put a pencil to paper” to determine whether the state payments cover or exceed his legislative expenses.
“I don’t think anybody is losing money and I don’t think anybody is getting rich either,” he said, “and I think that’s probably the way it should be.”
Burris said he waited until last year to submit documents for reimbursement of office-related expenses for the period from April-December 2012 “to make sure I was doing it right” after the April 2012 settlement of the lawsuit challenging the Legislature’s system for reimbursing lawmakers for expenses.
Sen. Johnny Key, R-Mountain Home, received the second-largest amount.
Key, who is chairman of the Senate Education Committee, was reimbursed $55,841 last year, according to state records.
Usually, lawmakers who draw the most attend more meetings, live farther from Little Rock and go to more out-of-state conferences.
The House and Senate education committees and public health, welfare and labor committees met more often than other legislative committees between sessions.
Key was reimbursed $1,274 by the Senate for attending the Southern Regional Education Board’s legislative work conference in New Orleans in June; $1,515 by the Bureau of Legislative Research for attending the Southern Legislative Conference meeting in Mobile, Ala., in July; and $2,767 by the Senate for attending the American Legislative Exchange Council’s annual meeting in Chicago in August, according to state records.
Burris said he didn’t attend any out-of-state meetings last year at state expense.
As it has for the past several years, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reviewed records kept by the bureau, the Legislative Audit Division, the state House of Representatives and the Senate in calculating the amount of state expense payments made to lawmakers.
From January to October 2013, legislators were paid $147 per day for attending meetings in Little Rock; on Oct. 1 the rate increased to $148 per day, said Margie Davis, the bureau’s fiscal officer.
From January to June 2013, lawmakers were reimbursed for mileage at a rate of 51 cents per mile by the audit division. The rate increased to 56.5 cents per mile on June 1, according to the division.
The bureau reimbursed lawmakers at a rate of 51 cents per mile from January-May 27, 2013, and then the rate was increased to 56.5 cents per mile starting May 28, according to Davis.
The House and Senate reimbursed lawmakers at a rate of 56.5 cents per mile for all of last year, according to House and Senate officials.
COMPARING EXPENSES
Lawmakers tend to report 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 to $5.09 million in 2011, according to the state’s latest records.
Legislators and state officials gave several differing explanations for the 20 percent drop between 2010 and 2012, including the settlement of a lawsuit challenging the Legislature’s system of reimbursing lawmakers for expenses, a 2011 law giving the House speaker and Senate president pro tempore authority to veto legislators’ out-of-state travel requests, and the 2012 election that prompted some lawmakers to spend more time campaigning and attend fewer legislative meetings.
In 2013, the House paid out $2.74 million to representatives, compared with $3.02 million in 2011, according to House records.
The Senate paid $1.047 million to senators last year, compared with $1.057 million in 2011, according to Senate records.
In addition, the bureau paid $851,106 to lawmakers in 2013, compared with $873,460 in 2011, according to bureau records.
And the audit division paid $135,545 to lawmakers last year, compared with$136,416 in 2011, according to division records.
LAWSUIT SETTLEMENT
In April 2012, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza approved a settlement of a lawsuit filed by the Arkansas Public Law Center, which was established to litigate “issues of broad importance.”
The settlement bars the state from making $10,200 payments annually to lawmakers who live within 50 miles of the state Capitol in Little Rock regardless of how much mileage and expenses they actually incur.
At that time, 36 of the 135 lawmakers were eligible for the $10,200 annual 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.
Among other things, the settlement also requires lawmakers to provide more documentation to obtain expense reimbursements.
The House’s payments for office-related expenses dropped from $1.82 million in 2011 to $1.16 million in 2013, including $246,548 paid in 2013 for office-related expenses from 2012.
The House’s payments for reduced per diem and mileage for lawmakers living within 50 miles of the Capitol totaled $270,704 in 2013. They didn’t make such payments in 2011.
In 2013, the House paid out $246,548 to representatives for reimbursements of office-related expenses incurred in 2012, according to House records.
More than a dozen lawmakers collected more than several thousand dollars each last year from 2012 office-related expenses. Besides Burris, those collecting the most money last year for 2012 expenses included: Reps. Nate Bell, R-Mena, ($10,689), Justin Harris, R-West Fork ($7,842), John Catlett, D-Dover ($11,381), as well as Reps. Darrin Williams, D-Little Rock ($15,000), John Vines, D-Hot Springs, ($12,150), Betty Overbey, D-Lamar, ($9,949), Sen. Bobby Pierce, D-Sheridan ($13,400), and House Speaker Davy Carter, R-Cabot ($7,750).
FOREIGN TRIPS
Some of the 2013 expenses were for international travel.
The Senate paid $2,808 toward the cost of Senate President Pro Tempore Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville, attending a National Conference of State Legislatures’ meeting July 9-12 in Edinburgh, Scotland, according to its records. He reported that the group’s Leaders Forum also paid $1,990 toward the cost of the trip.
Along with Senate leaders in Kentucky and Mississippi and legislative leaders from other states, he said he met with Scottish lawmakers and talked about their issues and how they operate, the history of Scotland and the United States, and famous Scottish figures in American history.
“I felt like it was very informational and educational. I am not sure there is any direct benefit to Arkansas,” he said. But he added, “I think it is always good to be with other leaders of other chambers.”
The bureau paid for Sens. David Burnett, D-Osceola, Eddie Joe Williams, R-Cabot, Linda Chesterfield, D-Little Rock, and Pierce to attend a meeting of the Energy Council in Alberta in December.
The bureau’s records show that it paid $2,189 each for Burnett, Pierce and Williams and $2,130 for Chesterfield’s expenses.
The council is a consortium of a dozen energy-producing states, five Canadian provinces and Venezuela. Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and New Mexico founded the council in 1975.
Burnett and Williams said they learned more about the Keystone XL pipeline at The Energy Council meeting, and Williams said he talked with Alberta’s premier at the meeting as well.
Williams said he attends energy-related board meetings in an effort to help ensure that Arkansas’ energy rates remain below the national average.
Carter approved a request from state Rep. Andrea Lea, R-Russellville, to get reimbursed for attending The Energy Council meeting in Alberta in December, but she later decided to instead attend the American Legislative Exchange Council’s meeting in Washington, D.C., according to state records. Lea said she is the House’s chairman for the American Legislative Exchange Council and she initially didn’t realize the two meetings were scheduled at the same time.
SOME TRIPS REJECTED
Not all trips were approved.
Rep. Robert Dale, R-Dover, asked Joint Energy Committee co-Chairman David Branscum, R-Marshall, to make him a delegate to the Dec. 5-8 conference in Alberta.
House Administrator Kaye Donham wrote in an email to then-House Chief Operations Officer Bill Stovall that Dale is not a member of the Joint Energy Committee, so Dale cannot receive reimbursement to attend the meeting through the committee.
House Speaker Davy Carter, R-Cabot, denied requests by state Reps. Tommy Thompson, D-Morrilton, and Butch Wilkins, D-Bono, to be reimbursed by the House to attend the 2013 Energy Council annual meeting in Moran, Wyo., from Sept. 19-22.
Carter wrote in letters to Thompson and Wilkins that only primary members of the Legislature’s Joint Energy Committee attend the Energy Council’s meetings, and those members are reimbursed by funds appropriated to that committee. There is no precedent for reimbursement from the House for travel to these meetings based on caucus memberships, he said.
Thompson said he is member of Arkansas Legislative Oil and Natural Gas Caucus. Wilkins said he sought reimbursement for the trip based on his membership on the Legislative Council, adding that he’s not a member of the oil and natural gas caucus.
Carter also denied a request by Rep. Fred Love, D-Little Rock, to get reimbursed for attending the National Black Caucus of State Legislators’ annual conference in Memphis from Dec. 11-13.
Carter said in letters to House Insurance and Commerce Committee Chairman Tommy Wren, D-Melbourne, and House City, County and Local Affairs Committee Chairman David Fielding, D-Magnolia, who recommended approval of Love’s request, that it’s against House policy to authorize members’ reimbursement for meetings of various caucuses.
Love said he believes that Carter is the first House speaker to ever deny members of the Arkansas Legislative Black Caucus reimbursement to attend the National Black Caucus of State Legislators’ annual legislative conference, which Love said is widely regarded as a nonpartisan group “whose purpose is to deal with issues of education, economics and many more which have a disparate effect on minority communities.”
“I was disappointed in his actions. However, we must move on to work for the good of the people we serve,” Love said, adding that then-House Speaker Robert Moore, D-Arkansas City, authorized reimbursement of Love’s expenses for a similar meeting a few years ago.
Donham said in a Nov. 12 email to House Chief of Staff Gabe Holmstrom that some House committee chairmen previously authorized representatives to be reimbursed for attending this meeting before the Legislature enacted Act 71 of 2011 to give the House speaker and Senate president veto authority over representatives’ taxpayer-funded out-of-state travel. The House only reimburses for representatives’ travel to meetings for several groups, including the National Conference of State Legislatures, Council of State Government, Southern Legislative Conference and American Legislative Exchange Council, she said.
Carter said he followed the House’s rules in denying Love’s request for reimbursement, and his office consulted House Speaker Pro Tempore Darrin Williams, D-Little Rock, before he did so.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 02/09/2014