NOTE: As provided in LFC policy, this report is intended for use by the standing finance committees of the legislature. The Legislative Finance Committee does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of the information in this report when used in any other situation.
| SPONSOR: | Eisenstadt | DATE TYPED: | 01/26/99 | HB | |||
| SHORT TITLE: | Legislative Per Diem & Mileage, CA | SB | SJR 2 | ||||
| ANALYST: | Burch | ||||||
| Recurring
or Non-Rec |
Fund
Affected | ||||
| FY99 | FY2000 | FY99 | FY2000 | ||
| Indeterminate* | Recurring | GF | |||
| $ 17.0 | Nonrecurring | GF | |||
*See Fiscal Implications section of this report.
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Duplicates/Conflicts with/Companion to/Relates to
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC files
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
The bill amends Article 4, Section 10 of the New Mexico Constitution to: 1) provide legislators per diem at the rate authorized by law for nonsalaried public officers ($75.00 per day) and mileage at the rate authorized by law (currently 0.25 cents per mile); and 2) compensate legislators a salary of no higher than that authorized by law for elected county commissioners in class A counties. The legislature is required to set the compensation in law.
Significant Issues
Currently, legislators receive per diem at the rate set by the internal revenue service (IRS) for the city of Santa Fe and mileage at the standard IRS rate. Legislators receive no other compensation.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
Effective January 1, 1999, elected Class A county commissioners may receive a maximum salary of $22,358 annually (Section 4-44-4 NMSA 1978). This would be the maximum salary that could be authorized for legislators. This translates to approximately $2.5 million if each legislator were given the maximum salary. However, there would be an offset from the reduction the per diem and mileage rates. The current statutory rate for nonsalaried public officers (Section 10-8-4 NMSA 1978) is $75.00 per day; the IRS rate for the last calendar year was:
January 1, 1998 to April 30, 1998 $125.00/day
May 1, 1998 to October 31, 1998 $164.00/day
November 1, 1998 to December 31, 1998 $125.00/day
January 1, 1999 to April 30, 1999 $124.00/day
Assuming legislative meetings were held evenly throughout the year, the average per diem paid for the 1998 calendar year was $145.00 per day. The reduction in the per diem rate to $75.00 per day translates to approximately a 48 percent reduction in legislative per diem costs. (NOTE: The reduction is 40 percent from $125.00 per day and 54 percent from $165.00 per day.)
The current mileage rate provided by law is 0.25 cents a mile; the standard IRS mileage rate is 0.325 per mile. The reduction in the mileage rate paid to legislators translates to approximately 23 percent.
Finally, the Secretary of State reports that it costs $17.0 to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot.
DKB/njw