Indiana

Carpe Per Diem

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

It looks like the Indiana “Statehouse Stalemate”  will continue through Monday.   House Democratic leader Pat Bauer put out the following statement Friday afternoon…

“Our members will be staying in Urbana, Illinois, this weekend.  We will not be returning for the House floor session on Monday.  There has been no progress in negotiations.”

Depending on when the clock started, the House Democrats have been out all week, and as Republican Speaker Brian Bosma says costing the taxpayers $90,000.

While Democrats say they won’t come back until they get assurances about collective bargaining legislation and education reform it’s unlikely the Republicans will cave on either of those issues.   Where it will get interesting is what happens with the Democrats’ paychecks.

Although the Democrats say they are not taking per diem,  that doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t or haven’t been paid.   It is my understanding that lawmakers are paid in advance for their work in January and February.   There was more than  $6 million allotted for House salaries in the last budget and you can roughly assume that 40% of that goes to House Democrats.    So if they’ve already been paid and aren’t showing up for work,  will they pay that money back?

There’s also an issue of mileage.  Mileage is included in reimbursement costs so have any of them submitted mileage requests?

And what role, if any will State Auditor Tim Berry play in this?  Will he send Indiana Democrats a bill for their missed work?  Will he let us know if any lawmakers have reimbursed the state for time away?  The average Hoosier may not understand the intricacies of the the school funding formula or unemployment compensation, but they do know that if you don’t show up for work you shouldn’t get paid.   It just gets better and better as the days go by.

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on February 26, 2011 (boomark / email).