Commission scrutinizes legislative pay, expenses

By Len Lazarick
Len@MarylandReporter.com

Members of the General Assembly are the nation's second-highest paid part-time lawmakers, bringing in $43,500 a year, but they haven't gotten a raise in four years.

A 9-member compensation commission began work this week on whether legislators will get a pay hike after the next election. The panel will also review pensions and expenses such as lodging and meals, with recommendations due Jan. 27.

The 51 pages of data legislative staff produced for the commission contained a number of telling statistics. For instance, 86 percent of the 188 lawmakers claim their full $42 daily meal per diem during the 90-day session without submitting receipts, though some senators and delegates attend receptions and committee dinners hosted by others.

“When a legislator is taken out to dinner, he pockets that money?” questioned commission member John Sprague, a former lobbyist appointed to the panel by Senate President Mike Miller.

Commission Member Robert Antonetti Jr., a Largo attorney appointed by the governor, asked if there was “any reason why there were no receipts."

Simon Powell, an analyst with the Department of Legislative Services who is staffing the commission, said he believed it decided receipts would be “cumbersome” and create “a lot of paperwork.”

Eighty percent of legislators --156 lawmakers -- are reimbursed for lodging for all 90 days the legislature is in session, most at the maximum rate of $126 a day, even though many live within commuting distance. Some of the hotels throw in free breakfast, Sprague noted.

State taxpayers this year paid $1.8 million for lodging and $439,000 for meals for the legislators. Total lawmaker salaries came to $7.9 million, with the presiding officers each making $13,000 more than the other members.

Miller defended the per diems and lodging arrangements.

“I don’t think people abuse” the meal or lodging per diem, Miller said. “These are elected officials. Nobody is going to be chintzy about meals.”

“I get invitations to four or five receptions a night, and I rarely eat or consume anything at these events,” Miller said. “Obviously you can’t drink or you’d be an alcoholic.”

“You’re not there to eat, you’re there to meet and greet, and you can’t talk with your mouth full,” Miller said.

He pointed out that some senators and delegates don’t go to any receptions on principle, and other members will go out to eat after they’ve attended a reception.  

House Speaker Michael Busch “is not going to weigh in on this issue” while the compensation commission is meeting, said his spokeswoman Alexandra Hughes.

Nine state legislatures meet year-round and have salaries ranging from $49,000 in New Jersey to $78,000 in Pennsylvania. The highest is $116,000 in California, where a typical state senator represents more people than most members of Congress.

Miller said he is not “crying for any salary increase because I’m blessed with adequate resources” from his law practice. But he is concerned with 41 members of the Assembly who have no other jobs, and haven’t had a pay raise.

Analyst Powell said workload was difficult to calculate, but in recent years the work during session has increased with more subcommittees meeting in the early mornings and evenings.

“It’s not fashionable to say, but these guys do work pretty hard,” Powell said.

The turnover rates of 26 to 27 percent after the last two elections suggests that pay is not a deterrent to serving in Annapolis. But $43,500 is “not enough to live comfortably in the state of Maryland,” Powell said.

After Hawaii, where the cost of living is higher, “we’re the highest paid part-time legislature” Sprague said. “If we gave them $5,000 more, would we get a better legislature?”

Any time a seat opens up, there are several candidates seeking to run, Sprague said.

“It must not be that unattractive to serve there,” he said.

The General Assembly Compensation Commission must come up with recommendations on pay by Jan. 27. Lawmakers will be able to accept or reduce the amount, but cannot increase it.

Chairman Sean Glynn, a Washington attorney who lives in Potomac, said Tuesday he hopes the panel can wrap up its work within “another two or three meetings.”

Glynn and four other members were appointed by Gov. Martin O'Malley, and two each were appointed by Speaker Busch and President Miller.

The commission will meet next Tuesday at 10 a.m. to review legislative pensions and take public testimony. It is meeting at the conference center of the University of Maryland University College in College Park.