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1999 SESSION

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HB 1488 General Assembly; legislative compensation, Adv. Comm. created.

Introduced by: Vincent F. Callahan, Jr. | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED:

General Assembly; legislative compensation; creation of a Citizens’ Advisory Commission on Legislative Compensation. Redefines and adjusts for inflation the amount received by legislators as salary and restructures the office expense allowance system to provide for greater accountability. Legislator’s salary is redefined to include a regular annual salary and additional salary for attending meetings between sessions of the legislature. Beginning in January 2000, the regular salary of the General Assembly members shall be increased to $26,000 and the additional salary shall be increased to a rate of $160 per day. Both amounts are set forth in the Code so that future proposed salary increases will have to be voted upon separately from the appropriation bill. Citizen members to committees and study groups will continue to receive a compensation allowance at a rate of $50 per day.

The bill also provides a separate office equipment expense allowance and an annual budgeted allowance for operating expenses of each member’s district office. An amount for equipment expenses is set at a maximum of $2,500 for a four-year period. Members are required to submit a voucher and accompanying receipts prior to receiving payment for equipment expenses. An allowance for operating expenses is set at a maximum of $1,500 per month for those members maintaining a separate legislative district office outside the General Assembly Building, or the member’s home or business, and $1,000 for those members who do not maintain a separate legislative office. Members must submit a declaration of need for reimbursement of office expenses and supplies with their Clerk prior to receiving the monthly allowance. The declaration shall consist of a budget for the coming year and (after the first year) an accounting of the expenses of the past year.

Finally, the bill requires the Joint Rules Committee to appoint, beginning in 2002, and every four years thereafter, a temporary Citizens’ Advisory Commission on Legislative Compensation to examine the salary, expenses, and benefits of members of the General Assembly and their administrative assistants and secretaries. The Commission shall report its recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly by December 1, after which it shall cease to exist until a new commission is appointed three years and seven months later.


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