HARRISBURG - State lawmakers received more than $2 million for their lodging and meals during fiscal 2012-13, with the bulk of the taxpayer-funded reimbursements not requiring any receipts for how they spent the money, a Sunday Times analysis of records found.
A breakdown of that amount shows about $1.8 million spent for per diems - daily allowances for lodging and meals that are tax-free and require no receipts for how the money is spent - and nearly $200,000 going for reimbursement of actual expenses for lodging and meals which require receipts.
The delegation of 30 lawmakers who represent 12 counties in Northeast Pennsylvania is about evenly split between those who submit expense receipts and those who collect per diems. Those counties are Bradford, Carbon, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Northumberland, Pike, Schuylkill, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming.
Four area senators collected per diems mainly on session days and submitted expenses for non-session days.
A number of lawmakers are putting brief notations in public records explaining what per diems and expenses are for especially on days the Legislature is not in session. Lawmakers do this to show how an expense relates to legislative activity, Senate Chief Clerk Russell Faber said.
Over the years, per diems have become controversial and sometimes are fodder in political campaigns because they are paid automatically without much accounting. Examples of their abuse have surfaced in recent years such as collecting a per diem and expensing meals on the same day.
A political activist said the core problem with per diems is the lack of independent oversight.
"There's a need to offset legitimate expenses incurred by legislators," said Eric Epstein, co-founder of RocktheCapital.com, who has analyzed legislative spending since the 2005 legislative pay raise controversy. "However, too often per diems are tax-free bonuses that legislators can access without oversight."
Per diems are to cover a lawmaker's expenses for lodging and meals while being away from home at the Capitol to attend sessions and committee meetings or to attend a committee meeting in another part of the state. The federal government sets per diem rates for lodging and meals in cities.
A Pennsylvania lawmaker can get $51 for meals for a day, while a low-income family of four in Pennsylvania receives less than $2.50 through food stamps per meal, assuming they eat three meals a day.
Senators received reimbursements of about $5,700 on average, while House members averaged about $8,500. By comparison, Meals on Wheels could serve 120 senior citizens for two weeks for about $8,500.
Statewide, per diems and lodging and meal expenses for the 203 House lawmakers totaled $1.8 million during fiscal 2012-13, while per diems and respective expenses for the 50 senators totaled $285,000, according to a Right to Know Law request filed by the Times-Tribune with House and Senate chief clerk offices.
The Senate breakdown was $224,000 in per diems; $61,000 in expenses. The Senate doesn't have a time limit for paying expenses, so in some cases expenses incurred in fiscal 2011-12 were reimbursed in fiscal 2012-13.
The House breakdown was more than $1.6 million in per diems, $130,000 in expenses.
Legislative spending totaled $307 million in fiscal 2012-13. A lawmaker's base salary was $82,206 in 2012 and $83,202 in 2013.
The amount of individual per diems and expenses collected can vary depending on whether a lawmaker is in leadership, leads a committee or sits on a committee that meets more frequently, such as Appropriations, which holds hearings on the state budget each February and March. Other factors include whether a lawmaker stayed overnight because of the driving distance or in what city a committee meeting is.
Unconstitutional?
Critics say per diems violate Article 11, Section 8 of the state Constitution stating lawmakers shall receive salary and mileage for sessions and no other compensation.
A per diem is an unvouchered expense for which no accounting exists, said activist Gene Stilp of Taxpayers and Ratepayers United.
"It becomes a stealth salary that's not provided for in the Constitution," he said.
"The Legislature should be subject to independent oversight and an auditor that reviews expenses, gifts and per diems," Epstein said.
Sen. John Yudichak, D-14, Nanticoke, suggested a state constitutional convention would be the best way to resolve issues concerning legislative expenses. House passage of a proposed constitutional amendment to reduce the size of the General Assembly could be the catalyst for such a convention, he added.
Yudichak submits receipts for expenses and has introduced bills in the past to end per diems. He said the IRS rules are so open-ended that the public feels there's a lack of accountability with per diems.
Rep. Sid Michaels Kavulich, D-114, Taylor, said submitting receipts for expense is the method he's most comfortable with. He said his food expenses are low because he eats light.
Cases of per diem abuse have made headlines in recent years.
During the 2010 trial that led to a state corruption conviction for former Rep. Michael Veon, testimony was presented that Veon billed taxpayers $22,000 for meals after nighttime basketball games with other lawmakers and still collected his full per diem. Veon was acquitted on the specific charge of per diem abuse by a jury.
The Sunday Times published a story in 2010 about a practice, permissible under House rules, where some lawmakers collected lodging per diems while staying at properties they owned in the Harrisburg area.
NEPA expenses
The current expense records give an idea of the ebb and flow of legislative activity.
Rep. Phyllis Mundy, D-120, Kingston, spent the most of the Northeast Pennsylvania delegation with per diems totaling $16,344.
She collected 11 per diems totaling $1,749 while participating in House Appropriations Committee hearings last winter on Gov. Tom Corbett's state budget proposal. Mundy attended because of her role as Democratic minority chairwoman of the House Finance Committee. Efforts to reach Mundy for comment were unsuccessful.
Sen. John Blake, D-22, Archbald, spent the least of the Northeast delegation. He received one $181 expense for overnight lodging in November 2012 when he spoke at the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work. Blake submits expenses just for overnight hotel stays, mileage and tolls, aide Luc Miron said
Yudichak submitted expenses for meetings related to Hazleton General Hospital, gang task force legislation, a Senate Bioscience Forum in Scranton and the West Wyoming gas compressor station.
The House records include expenses for former Lackawanna County Reps. Ed Staback, Kevin Murphy and Ken Smith who left office a year ago.
Murphy collected per diems for three days spent closing his Capitol office in October 2012.
The records include expenses for Reps. Frank Farina, D-115, Jessup; Marty Flynn, D-113, Scranton, and Kevin Haggerty, D-112, Dunmore, who took office last January.
Haggerty submitted a $108 lodging expense last February connected to a meeting with the president of Villanova University. A Villanova alumni, Haggerty said that meeting laid the groundwork for a Villanova day at the Capitol on Nov. 12 where participating students spent time with lawmakers.
Farina had a $50 overnight lodging expense last March in Renovo. He attended a state Game Commission event on the bear population. Farina is a member of the House Game and Fisheries Committee.
Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-121, Wilkes-Barre, collected $968 in per diems for four days while attending the 2012 National Conference of State Legislatures in Chicago. The per diem rate for each day was $242 - reflecting the per diem rate for Chicago.
Pashinski said he participated in conference sessions on health care and voter identification.
"There is an exchange of ideas that really opens up your eyes," he said.
Rep. Mario Scavello, R-176, Mount Pocono, stopped collecting per diems at the end of April 2013, and started submitting receipts for expenses after that.
Kavulich and Reps. Lynda Schlegel Culver, R-108, Rockefeller Township, and Kurt Masser, R-107, Ralpho Township, post monthly expenses on their websites. Their tallies include office expenses not covered by per diems. Kavulich spent $420 on lodging last October. Culver said she doesn't take reimbursement for meals.