Everything You've Always Wanted to Know About the Pennsylvania Legislature

The Times-Tribune is running a three-part series about the Pennsylvania Legislature, the most expensive state legislature in the country.

The first story, "Pennsylvania Legislature's growing girth," was published Sunday.

A few gems from Robert Swift, the newspaper's Harrisburg bureau chief:

In addition to salary (the fourth-highest in the nation), House lawmakers receive an average $11,349 toward health insurance, an average $5,351 for prescription drugs with a co-pay, dental and vision benefits and a number of per-diem payments. Pensions and life and disability insurance benefits also count as individual benefits.

Support costs for House lawmakers include a $20,000 office expense account, a $7,800 vehicle expense reimbursement and $4,000 postage account. House lawmakers can use a car from the state government’s fleet of more than 16,000 or be reimbursed for driving their own cars.

Senators receive an average $13,791 toward health insurance and dental and vision benefits. Since 2007, senators pay 1 percent of their salary to participate in the health care plan. They receive per diems, pensions and life and long-term care insurance as well.

Support costs for senators, who have larger constituencies, include a $25,000 expense account and $26,500 postage account. They can use a state car or claim mileage, currently at 55 cents a mile.

House and Senate lawmakers can claim a $143 per diem to cover costs of lodging and meals. The per diem amount fluctuates annually based on federal guidelines. Estimates of total annual per-diem costs are in the $2 million range. House members can claim per diems for voting and nonvoting session days, attending committee meetings, the day after the last weekday of a session and for overnight stays.

Swift also examines the perpetual debate of whether serving in the Pennsylvania Legislature is a part-time job:

Despite the Legislature's full-time status, Pennsylvania lawmakers don't put in a five-day workweek at the Capitol. The Senate is scheduled to be in session 54 days scattered through the end of June; the House has scheduled 50 days.

Lawmakers also spend time in their districts engaged in "constituent work," a wide-ranging category of activity without a common definition. It can run the gamut from handling driver's license and vehicle registration applications to guiding major economic-development projects. A key part of their job is making the rounds of civic events in their districts on nights and weekends.

Read the full story, along with a sidebar on the history of legislative corruption, at the newspaper's Web site.

The second part of the series, a look at how difficult it is a bill to make it through the Legislature, is in today's edition of the newspaper.