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Proposal would combine legislator reimbursement buckets and permit limited security expenses; staff ask for FTE for contracts
Summary
Director Howe proposed a bill draft to consolidate multiple legislator reimbursement accounts into a single per-legislator allowance (noting current primary constituent account is $3,000) and to allow limited security-related reimbursements; staff also asked for a full-time contracting specialist to replace a half-FTE workload now carried by an existing employee.
Director Howe told the subcommittee on Jan. 21 that staff intend to draft a bill authorizing the executive director to approve reimbursements within limits set by the Legislative Council and to simplify multiple accounts into a single allowance per legislator.
Howe described the current accounts: a constituent services primary account of $3,000 per legislator, a secondary constituent services account ranging from $0 to $4,000 depending on district size, and an educational expense account of $2,000 (authorized by the council in $50,000 increments twice for a total of $100,000). He said staff would propose combining those buckets so lawmakers have a single, flexible allowance and that the council would set the per-legislator amounts for each biennium.
Howe also proposed adding a narrowly defined reimbursable category for security items, saying legislators could use funds for subscription-based alarm services, a camera doorbell or similar home-security measures if needed: “I would propose adding a security expenses that would allow legislators to use some monies based, for security subscriptions like an alarm subscription or maybe to purchase a camera doorbell,” Howe said.
On staffing, Howe said Angie Carter has been doing the contracts work at roughly a half-FTE and staff want a dedicated, experienced contracts person (half to full FTE) to meet legislative timelines; he said the Department of Administration could help but might introduce delays. Representative Carlin asked whether time savings from streamlined reimbursements could be applied to procurement work; Howe said savings were modest and would not create a full FTE.
On public participation, Howe said staff propose sending messages from the public directly to legislators’ individual email accounts instead of a central portal; he warned that doing so removes staff ability to make hard copies of messages for the official record: “When it goes to the individual email address, there is no corresponding way for staff to make a hard copy.”
Members expressed support for the reimbursement consolidation concept and asked staff to circulate draft language when available; no formal action was taken at the meeting.
