State legislators get healthy expense raises

01/11/2007

Lawmakers gave themselves a big bumps in their daily expense and housing allowances. DFL and GOP leaders defended the raises.


By Conrad Defiebre,
Star Tribune
Last update: January 10, 2007 – 9:06 PM


DFLers and Republicans in the Minnesota Legislature joined forces Wednesday to raise their major expense allowances, sparking complaints of elected representatives putting their own needs above those of the citizenry.

The Rules Committees of both the House and the Senate voted to increase maximum daily expense and housing allowances by factors of 17 percent to 100 percent, actions that require no further ratification by the full chambers or the governor. The potential combined cost is up to $800,000 a year, depending on how many legislators collect maximum amounts.

In the Senate, the daily expense allowance, known as per diem, goes from the $66 in effect since 2001 to $96. Legislators do not need to report specific expenses to collect per diem.

The maximum monthly apartment rent reimbursement for 28 senators who live at least 50 miles from the State Capitol, last raised in 2000, rises from $900 to $1,200.

The House, which set its housing allowance at $1,200 a month for 57 outstate representatives in 2005, effectively doubled the benefit Wednesday by making it payable all year instead of for only six months, as in the past.

The Senate has allowed year-round rent reimbursement for several years.

House members will get a smaller per diem increase, from $66 to $77. House Majority Leader Tony Sertich, DFL-Chisholm, said that matches the $11 boost Republicans approved when they were in the majority two years ago.

Senate leaders said their increases reflect inflation, are well below IRS expense guidelines and, in the words of Sen. Dennis Frederickson, R-New Ulm, "make it possible for citizens of ordinary income to come to St. Paul and serve in the Legislature."

But the changes drew a strong protest from David Strom, president of the Taxpayers League of Minnesota and a frequent critic of government spending. "The first people who are being taken care of this session are legislators, not the public," he said. "It sends a terrible signal to the rest of Minnesota about what their priorities are."

Salaries haven't budged

Strom noted, however, that at $31,140 a year, legislators do not have "the most lucrative job in the world." The salary was last raised -- by 5 percent -- in 1998.

Legislative salary adjustments require formal action by the House, Senate and governor. But expense allowances are set by the Rules Committees of both chambers and require no recorded votes on the floor.

"You do what makes sense for the institution, particularly for rural members who leave their families during the session," said Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller, DFL-Minneapolis. "This is a reasonable inflationary increase."

He said the Legislature should consider pay raises as well for other state government officials, especially members of the governor's Cabinet, whose maximum salary has stood at $114,288 a year since 1998.

In both committees, minority Republicans offered motions to raise the expense limits. After the Senate hikes were approved on a voice vote, Minority Leader David Senjem, R-Rochester, labeled them "not unreasonable" and "a nice adjustment making service in the Senate a little more economically reasonable."

Senjem, however, objected to a Pogemiller suggestion to make future increases in Senate expense allowances automatic based on the federal Consumer Price Index for the Twin Cities. Pogemiller didn't press the issue.

House GOP opposition

In the House, four Republicans -- Mark Buesgens, of Jordan, Erik Paulsen, of Eden Prairie, Kathy Tingelstad, of Andover, and Torrey Westrom, of Elbow Lake -- voted against the increases in a roll call that counted 22 ayes. Three other Republicans voted in favor.

Buesgens said the moves flouted provisions in the Minnesota Constitution that legislative compensation may be raised only by regular legislation and that increases may not take effect during the same House term in which they are enacted.

Rep. Loren Solberg, DFL-Grand Rapids, replied that expense payments are not compensation but reimbursement for out-of-pocket costs. "There's a big difference between living expenses and salary," he said.