Jun 14, 2007 8:12 am US/Central
Reality Check: Per Diem Pay At The Legislature
by Pat Kessler
(WCCO)
Minnesota's part-time lawmakers get a paycheck, but they also get daily expense payments, called per diem, adding thousands of dollars to their salaries and pensions.
There are no receipts and there are no questions asked.
It's TRUE. Members of the House get $77 a day and Senators get $96 a day during session, seven days a week, even when they are not at the Capitol.
IN FACT, lawmakers raised their per diem even before they passed a single bill this year. For the five-month session just ended, House members averaged more than $9,000 each in per diem, totaling more than $1 million.
In the Senate it's even higher with an average of almost $13,000 each in per diem.
It's all on top of their $31,000 salary.
Here's some of what you NEED TO KNOW. The top per diem taker in the House is Democratic House Speaker Margaret Kelliher, with more than $12,000.
That's NOT THE WHOLE STORY. In the Senate, at $96 a day, two-thirds of Minnesota Senators took the maximum amount of per diem they could, including Republican David Hann, who voted against the higher per diem, but took it anyway.
That's NOT THE WHOLE STORY. During this past session -- adding salary to their per diem pay hike -- Minnesota lawmakers took home an average of $42,000.
Lawmakers can claim per diem for the rest of the year too and it's only June.
That's Reality Check.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
