Editorial: Lawmakers: Carpe diem; end per diems

Taxpayers, who employ Pennsylvania legislators, should reimburse those employees for the expenses they incur while conducting the public business, just as a private employer should cover its employees’ work-related expenses.

But they should do so under a comparable system.

Private employers don’t simply provide employees with a flat-rate expense payment. They require receipts and cover what the employees actually spent.

Generations of state lawmakers, however, have treated supposed expense reimbursements as tax-free extra income. They collect flat-rate daily or “per diem” expense payments for each day that the Legislature is in session — currently $178 a day — regardless of whether they actually incur any expense. They also receive a mileage reimbursement of 58 cents per mile.

In 2021, Spotlight PA and The Caucus reported that the Legislature spent more than $200 million from 2017 through 2020 for food and lodging, transportation and office rent. Because of the flat expense payment rate and lack of receipts, the analysis estimated that at least $20 million “went directly into lawmakers’ pockets.”

Most state legislators do not have per diem payments, and Pennsylvania’s daily rate is higher than those that provide them.

Republican state Rep. Brett Miller of Columbia County has introduced a bill to eliminate per diems and require receipts for actual expenses.

“There are many people who, for instance, will submit for the per diem who will go out for dinner at a lobbyists’ dime — and yet they’ll collect the per diem as if they incurred that expense,” Miller said. “Same with hotels.”

Other lawmakers share apartments at far less cost than daily hotel lodging but collect daily per diems for lodging. In a few cases, lawmakers have purchased houses, partially rented them to others, and collected per diems for supposed lodging costs.

As Miller noted, it’s not just about the money but accountability. Taxpayers should reimburse lawmakers only for what they actually, legitimately spend.

— The Citizens’ Voice (Wilkes-Barre)