NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A7289A
SPONSOR: Lalor TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the legislative law, in relation to
reducing travel expenses and per diems for members of the legislature
and eliminating per diems for members living less than one hundred twen-
ty-five miles from the capitol
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
Reduces travel expenses and per diems for members of the legislature to
one hundred dollars, eliminates per diems and travel expenses for
members living less than one hundred and twenty-five miles from the
capitol, and requires receipts for per diem and travel expenses.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Amends Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 5 of the legislative law, as
amended by section 1 of part M-1 of chapter 407 of the laws of 1999.
JUSTIFICATION:
Many New Yorkers have long daily commutes. But, unlike New York state
legislators, they are not reimbursed for travel expenses or with daily
per diems. When most employees travel for business, their employers
require receipts to account for each expense. New York state legislators
don't need to show any receipts for their travel, food, and lodging
expenses. That is outrageous and has led to a system rife with fraud and
abuse.
We need to eliminate travel and per diem reimbursements for legislators
who live within 125 miles of Albany. In addition, we can reduce the per
diem reimbursements to $100 per day and require receipts for reimburse-
ments. It's an open secret that legislators apply for more in reimburse-
ments than they actually spend while in Albany, pocketing the differ-
ence. Also, the legislature regularly holds short sessions ranging from
90 minutes to 4 hours each day for three consecutive days. Those
sessions could be combined into one long workday, but legislators
receive per diem reimbursement for each of those very short sessions. No
private business would waste money so wantonly. New York taxpayers
cannot continue to afford to pay for these unnecessary perks for legis-
lators.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Total savings for the state to be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This bill shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7289--A
2013-2014 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 10, 2013
___________
Introduced by M. of A. LALOR, McLAUGHLIN, BORELLI -- read once and
referred to the Committee on Governmental Operations -- committee
discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
to said committee
AN ACT to amend the legislative law, in relation to reducing travel
expenses and per diems for members of the legislature and eliminating
per diems for members living less than one hundred twenty-five miles
from the capitol
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 5 of the legislative law, as
2 amended by section 1 of part M-1 of chapter 407 of the laws of 1999, is
3 amended to read as follows:
4 2. Each member of the legislature living more than one hundred twen-
5 ty-five miles from the state capitol shall receive payment of actual and
6 necessary transportation expenses and a per diem equivalent to the most
7 recent federal per diem rates published by the General Services Adminis-
8 tration and set forth in 41 CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) Part 301,
9 App. A, while in travel status in the performance of his or her duties;
10 and such other reasonable expenses as may be necessary for the perform-
11 ance of the member's responsibilities as determined by the temporary
12 president of the senate or speaker of the assembly for their respective
13 houses, as documented with receipts, not to exceed one hundred dollars
14 per day. The per diem allowances, including partial per diem allowances,
15 shall be made pursuant to regulations promulgated by the temporary pres-
16 ident of the senate and the speaker of the assembly for their respective
17 houses, on audit and warrant of the comptroller on vouchers approved by
18 the temporary president of the senate or his or her designee and the
19 speaker of the assembly or his or her designee for their respective
20 houses.
21 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09653-04-3
