OLYMPIA — The Legislature’s first overtime session this year tied the record for the most unproductive gathering of lawmakers in state history. That doesn’t mean it didn’t cost taxpayers.
Not a single bill passed through both chambers by the time the Legislature adjourned the 30-day session on Tuesday. Still, many lawmakers from both parties have continued claiming regular per diems totaling at least $77,000, according to an Associated Press review of records.
Those politicians are now back in Olympia for another special session because of squabbling over the budget, and they still have the option of collecting $90 per diems for every day until their work is complete. At the same time that legislators are adding to their overall compensation, agencies are preparing to send out notifications to state workers who may be temporarily laid off if no budget deal is reached.
Thornton Alberg, 47, a union leader who also supervises workers’ compensation claims managers, said a government shutdown may not just hurt government workers but could cause injured people to see a delay in their medical payments or benefits. Alberg said he didn’t even know how to feel about the fact that lawmakers were steadily claiming per diems through the process.