February 4, 2009
Your Legislature: Hard at Work or Hardly Working?

By Rep. Rick Sykes

The 124th Maine Legislature was sworn in on December 3, 2008. Since that time (as of February 3), the 188 members of the House and Senate have met for seven days.

The most important piece of legislation we have considered is the governor’s supplemental budget. That budget eliminated some state jobs, reduced General Purpose Aid to local schools by $27 million, took $56 million from the budget stabilization fund (the “rainy day fund”), reduced professional fees to hospital-based physicians for treating Medicaid patients, and pushed some expenses into the next fiscal year.

The total savings amounted to $166 million, which in theory will be enough to keep the state budget in balance through this fiscal year, which ends on June 30, 2009. A new biennial budget will take effect on July 1.

Passing that supplemental budget was the only “heavy lifting” the Legislature has accomplished. Other items on the legislative agenda each session day have involved referring bills to the appropriate committees, receiving communications from various departments and agencies, passing special sentiments for constituents, listening to the opening prayer, reciting the pledge of allegiance, singing the national anthem, welcoming the volunteer pages, recognizing the doctor of the day and listening to various announcements.

Incredibly, the average amount of time we have spent in the House chamber doing the people’s business is 46 minutes per day. The shortest time was 19 minutes on January 29, and the longest was 54 minutes on January 21.

If you every wonder where all the state’s money goes, keep in mind that each day the Legislature is in session costs the taxpayer $13,160. On session days, legislators are paid a per diem allowance of $75 to cover meals, mileage and housing. Multiply the number of legislators by $75 and you come up with the figure I cited. I don’t include the cost of legislative pay and benefits because those expenses are paid regardless of whether the Legislature is in session.

The question needs to be asked: Should we be spending $13,160 per day for a 46-minute work day? I think not. This is simply a waste of taxpayer money due to inefficient scheduling.

I realize some legislators will say they have committee meetings on the same days as when the House convenes. That’s true. But many legislators do not have committee work on those days. And on non-session days when legislative committees hold hearings or work sessions, all committee members in attendance receive $75 for that day, too.

Now, such a savings as $13,160 might seem rather trivial in a $6.1 billion budget, but every penny counts in these tough economic times. The Legislature needs to look under every stone, including its own.

As an example of what could be saved, I would point to the supplemental budget, which cut $10,000 from the funds for the National Alliance for Mental Illness. The actual cut took money from a crisis-intervention training program for police officers to help them deal with people experiencing mental illness issues. If the Legislature could have combined just two days, we could have funded that program.

It is time for legislative leaders to review and change the schedule to maximize every dollar the taxpayers send to Augusta to fund the Legislature, which is expected to cost $59 million over the next two years.

State Rep. Rick Sykes (R-Harrison), a fourth-term legislator, is the ranking Republican on the Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety

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