I just received the latest edition of the ‘Democracy Rising Pa News’ today, and I asked founder Tim Potts for permission to post it on “What If?” I feel sure that once you read what Tim has to say, you will agree that DR is a valuable tool for keeping tabs on our Pa. lawmakers. And a HUGE plus, everything is from a non-partisan view. Have a look….

Democracy Rising Pa.

Chester County voters elected Rep. Barbara McIlvaine-Smith, D-Chester, by just 28 votes in 2006. In the wake of the Pay Raise of 2005, she replaced Elinor Taylor, a Republican fixture who had beaten McIlvaine-Smith handily in 2004. This year, it was McIlvaine-Smith winning handily over her Republican opponent.Not surprisingly, McIlvaine-Smith campaigned on a platform that included openness and accountability as a way to restore the confidence of citizens. Since taking office, she has posted her monthly expenses on her web site, along with the rules she imposes on herself (because House rules are so feeble): no car lease, per diems only on days the House is in session, listing office expenses.

Now McIlvaine-Smith is taking aim at the annual COLA that lawmakers and other top state officials receive every December 1. McIlvaine-Smith announced last week that she will introduce legislation to repeal the automatic COLA.

“Here in Pennsylvania, retirees from our schools as well as state government were told that a COLA was out of the question for the coming year. Yet officials in all three branches of state government stand ready to receive a COLA,” McIlvaine Smith said in a news release. “Our constituents are losing their jobs and everyone is struggling to pay their bills. Thousands will not see their salaries or wages increased in the coming year, so why should we?”

Which lawmakers will co-sponsor McIlvaine-Smith’s proposal?Will the new House leadership welcome or oppose the proposal?

When people travel on business, they expect to be reimbursed for their reasonable expenses. For most of us, “reasonable” means the daily (per diem) rate the IRS allows for food and lodging in different locations. In Harrisburg, the current rate is $129 per day. We turn in our receipts to our employer, and we get reimbursed up to the IRS per diem limit. For most of us, if we have no receipts, we get no reimbursement. Or, if we are reimbursed without receipts, the reimbursement may be treated as income and we pay taxes on it. PA lawmakers are not like most of us.

They don’t actually have to be working to get per diems. Capitol watchers and lobbyists are accustomed to seeing lawmakers show up at committee meetings long enough for roll call, then leaving. For those few minutes, they get a full per diem.They don’t actually have to have expenses. Many lawmakers go home at night. Many share apartments. Some even buy houses in Harrisburg. Some stay in hotels. Their meals can be covered by lobbyists and their caucus leaders.They don’t actually have to turn in receipts. Such petty accountability, legislative leaders say, would be a waste of their valuable time.

You think it’s bad enough that lawmakers don’t have to play by the rules they make for the rest of us, but it gets worse. For the most part, lawmakers don’t pay local, state or federal taxes on per diems that give the average lawmaker an additional $25,000 a year. This is on top of their base salary of nearly $80,000.There is one exception. On days when the House is not in session and there are no committee meetings, they must pay taxes on those per diems.Lawmakers are only doing what the IRS allows. Congress has provided a special exemption for state lawmakers. This allows them to collect per diems, at 110% of the official IRS rate, without documentation and without paying federal taxes.This exemption also exists in state law, which allows for expense “reimbursements” without documentation. Something to keep in mind is that it makes sense to allow tax-free reimbursements for documented expenses. They don’t increase the employee’s income. They just make the employee whole. But it’s hard to see the sense of allowing lawmakers to get extra tax-free income for reimbursements that over-charge their employers, the taxpayers.It will be hard to listen to lawmakers tell us how sympathetic they are to taxpayers. To deal with our economic crisis, it’s likely that programs will be cut and taxes will go up. Meanwhile, lawmakers are taking tax-free income and sitting on a surplus estimated to be more than $250 million.

Questions:

Why can lawmakers collect per diems for days when the House is not in session and there are no committee meetings? When are the regular work days for which they don’t get paid twice?Why aren’t per diems unconstitutional since they are neither salary nor mileage?Which lawmakers and which caucus will take the lead to enact a law requiring documented expenses in exchange for per diems that are taxable at the state and local levels?Which caucus will be the first to write a check to the Treasury, returning taxpayers’ money to a place that can do some good, even if all Treasury does is save it?

Thanks to Tim for sharing this edition with us. You can sign up to receive future e-mailings at his web site, And tell ‘em Dale sent ya!!