The legislative session costs $50,000 a day.
To put it another way, $1 milion a month (figuring $50,000 a day for five days a week).
Those figures represent the added expense of having part-time legislative assistants at work, typing and printing bills, paying lawmakers' subsistence and travel, and a host of other costs related to making laws, said George Hall, the legislative services officer.
During session, all lawmakers receive a per diem of $104 per day. They also receive a roundrip mileage reimbursement from home to Raleigh for one trip a week. It is a part-time legislature, after all.
Rank-and-file members are paid $13,951 per year. The speaker and senate leader make $38,151 a year.
Lawmakers had hoped to pack it in as early as next week. But Gov. Beverly Perdue's decision to scuttle a budget deal sent negotators back to the table. It's anyone's guess how long it will take to finish a budget, but lawmakers didn't sound optimistic.
The legislature's operating budget was approved at $59 million last year, although spending was slashed across all agencies. Hall said next year's budget would likely be between $51 million and $52 million.
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