In Texas, the special legislative session began yesterday with lawmakers returning to Austin to try to hash out various lingering issues from the contentious regular session. You might be wondering how much the 30-day special session will cost Texas taxpayers.
According to The Texas Tribune,the answer is over a million dollars. The largest expense goes toward what’s known as the “per diem.” That’s the amount of money per day each lawmaker is given for expenses while visiting Austin. The per diem for Texas legislators currently sits at $190 per day per lawmaker.
There are 182 lawmakers in the legislature, and $190 times 182 lawmakers times 30 days works out to $1 million dollars and change. That, of course, doesn’t include the cost of paying various other clerks and employees who must return to the capitol.