Pandemic per diems: $800,000 payout for delegates irks some
Like most white-collar Virginians, state delegates worked from home this year and skipped their usual travel, hotel stays and meals in Richmond.
Yet through this year’s legislative session, House members collectively racked up over $800,000 in per diem stipends that are typically used to cover those expenses. The payments have outraged critics who say lawmakers shouldn’t get them through a pandemic that has devastated budgets and upended many lives.
“Approving money for expenses when you have no or way fewer expenses?” Reddit user rmilhousnixon wrote last year in response to a post about the allowances. “Yeah, sorry this feels a lot like corruption.”
They have been a frequent source of partisan debate for the past year as lawmakers grapple to comply with social distancing guidelines set by public health officials to tamp down on the spread of the coronavirus.
House Republicans have said it’s wrong to accept the stipend while working virtually — Virginia Beach Del. Jason Miyares called it a “gross abuse of taxpayer money,” though a House spokeswoman said he took the payments. Three of his Republican colleagues — Kirk Cox, Nick Freitas and Bobby Orrock — have opted out of receiving them.
But their Democratic counterparts — who prefer the term “session expenses” — say the money is subject to income taxes this year, as opposed to years past when it was considered nontaxable reimbursement for most lawmakers.
“These session expense payments are in accordance with decadeslong precedent and established while the Republican
majorities were in control,” Kunal Atit, a spokesman for Democratic House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn, wrote in an emailed statement. “The payments to all members were subject to taxes as has long been the case for members residing within 50 miles of the Capitol to reflect the virtual nature of this Session.”
House delegates are paid an annual salary of $17,640. On top of that, they receive daily session expenses of $211 — money that, according to federal guidelines, is intended to cover lodging, meals and incidental expenses. U.S. General Services Administration rates show per diem expenses for Richmond as $145 for lodging and $66 for “meals and incidentals,” numbers that add up to the $211 lawmakers get each day.
In a normal year in Virginia, these payments are non-taxable for members who live more than 50 miles from the Capitol and taxable for members who live closer, the theory being that they can sleep at home. For virtual floor sessions, the payments are taxable because no travel is required, said Elizabeth Mancano, a spokeswoman for the clerk of the House.
Delegates also receive an office expense allowance of $1,250 per month year round, which is deposited into their bank accounts along with their regular monthly salary.
Mancano said the average delegate got $8,651 in per diem payments for the regular session and the special session that immediately followed.
Miyares, who had spoken against the per diem last year but collected it during the latest sessions, said it was because he decided to rent a room to stay in Richmond near his legislative office at the Pocahontas Building and the money went toward that.
House members also get daily payments of either $300 or $400 to attend certain meetings when the General Assembly isn’t in session.
Senators continued meeting in Richmond at makeshift chambers inside the Virginia Science Museum, though a few participated remotely via video chat. Those lawmakers have slightly higher annual salaries, $18,000, and senators who live outside 20 miles get a per diem at $211 each day. The rest get $74.
Neither chamber requires lawmakers to submit receipts to prove they incurred costs.