Lawmakers claim $120 daily payments during special sessions

OLYMPIA — The price of state lawmakers’ failure to reach a budget deal has eclipsed $180,000 and is still climbing.

That’s what’s been paid to lawmakers in $120-a-day per diem payments and mileage reimbursements for the special session that ended last month.

But the 147 citizen legislators aren’t finished. Friday marked the eighth day of a second extra session, so the final total for those expenses could double before lawmakers pass a two-year spending plan and adjourn for the year.

Legislators earn $42,106 a year and are entitled to receive up to $120 more for each day in a regular or special legislative session to cover expenses such as food and lodging in Olympia. A lawmaker putting in for $120 for each of the regular session’s 103 days, for example, was reimbursed $12,360.

Under state law, per diem can be claimed for days during which lawmakers are “engaged in legislative business,” which can be interpreted widely to cover everything from a committee hearing to a town hall. Many lawmakers rent an apartment during the regular session and use per diem to cover their bills.

The Senate paid $56,400 in per diem for the special session that ran from April 29 through May 28. It also reimbursed lawmakers a total of $3,431 for mileage, according to information compiled by the secretary of the Senate.

The tab for the House, which has twice as many members, was $124,129, according to the chief clerk. Of that amount, $91,176 was in per diem and the rest for mileage.

If there is a silver lining for taxpayers, it’s that they won’t pay more for the extra sessions. Administrators for the House and Senate did not seek additional dollars and will absorb the costs out of existing budgets. That’s what the chambers did in 2013, too, when it took two extra sessions to get a budget approved.

Though the Legislature didn’t accomplish much in the first special session this year, Republican Sen. Kirk Pearson, of Monroe, kept busy.

He held three meetings of the Natural Resources Committee, which he chairs, and took part in numerous community events.

He wound up receiving $3,000 in per diem, covering 25 of the session’s 30 days, including Memorial Day, when no formal lawmaking was taking place at the Capitol. Pearson, who did not request mileage, received the most of any state lawmaker serving Snohomish County.

“Though I haven’t been in Olympia every day, I have been very busy,” Pearson said, citing his participation in Memorial Day events as an example. “I don’t think I’ve done anything illegal. I have just been an active senator.”

Every one of the county’s 21-member delegation claimed some amount of per diem.

Sen. Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor, collected the second-highest sum of senators, $1,560 for 13 days of work. She is chairwoman of the Higher Education Committee and, like Pearson, held a committee hearing during the extra session.

Sen. Maralyn Chase, D-Shoreline, received $1,200 for 10 days.

“I get paid when I come down,” she said. “I usually go down for three days a week for the committees and meetings. I will sleep in my office two nights.”

Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self, D-Mukilteo, collected $2,760 for 23 days, the most of any local House member.

Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, is next with 13 days and $1,560. He is chairman of the Capital Budget Committee and has been negotiating a new two-year construction budget.

Reps. Norma Smith, R-Clinton, and Derek Stanford, D-Bothell, each put in for 13 days and collected $1,320.

During the special sessions, most members request per diem only for those days they travel to Olympia, but a handful have sought payments for every day, including weekends.

Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com.

Who collected what

Here’s what lawmakers representing Snohomish County claimed for per diem during the first special session, which ran from April 29 through May 28. Accounting for House members is not yet complete. Those numbers reflect the period from April 29 through May 13.

Senate

Kirk Pearson (R): 25 days, $3,000

Barbara Bailey (R): 13 days, $1,560

Maralyn Chase (D): 10 days, $1,200

Steve Hobbs (D): 9 days, $1,080

Marko Liias (D): 10 days, $1,200

John McCoy (D): 6.5 days, $900

Rosemary McAuliffe (D): 2 days, $240

House

Lillian Ortiz-Self (D): 23 days, $2,760

Hans Dunshee (D): 13 days, $1,560

Norma Smith (R): 11 days, $1,320