Occasionally, during the Interim, I’ll clean out my “mailbox” in the House Offices at the Capitol.  (Please send all normal stamped mail correspondence to my home address.)  Of interest this month was the FY2008 Budget Summary from the Governor’s Office—I know…zzzzzzzzzzzz!

This comprehensive report on the final actions of the State Legislature related to the coming year’s budget is too broad to try to explain in this little ‘ol blog.  However, as I was reading/reviewing the report, something jumped out of the pages—the Operating and Capital Budget of the Legislature.

Have you ever wondered what it costs the taxpayers of this state to cover the cost of running the legislature?  For the year?  For a day?

First, we need to put a couple of figures into perspective.  This coming year’s (FY08) budget appropriated is $11.056 Billion (a 9.9% increase over FY07’s authorized budget).  FY07’s budget appropriated was $10.063 Billion, a change of 13.1% over the prior year’s actual budget of $8.899 Billion (FY06). [Page 22]

Second, the Legislative portion of the budget includes spending by the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Legislative Auditor General, Legislative Research and General Counsel (LRGC), Legislative Fiscal Analyst’s Office (LFA), Tax Review Commission, Constitutional Review Commission, and Legislative Printing (remember, we produce tons of paper—tons). [Page 121]

Last, 98% of appropriations for the Legislative budget section come from the General Fund, which is primarily funded through State Sales Tax dollars.

OK.  So, here’s the actual numbers:  The Senate’s appropriation is $2.1 Million (29 members), the House’s appropriation is $4.2 Million (75 members), Auditor General is $3.1 Million, LRGC is $7.1 Million (well deserved, best full-time, Award Winning, non-partisan staff in the Nation), LFA at $2.9 Million, and I told you we use a lot of paper…Legislative Printing at $800,000. [Page 121]  The Tax Review Commission runs about $50,000 and the Constitutional Review Commission comes in at $55,000. [Page 122]

There you have it.  Total appropriation for “Legislature” FY08 is $20,296,800.  [Page 122]

An “extra” day for Legislative business (Special Session…etc…) is assessed at $34,800 per day.  [Page 123]

I had no idea.

ps:  The Legislative portion of the FY07 budget was supplemented with (or will be supplemented with) an additional $396,800.  [Page 124]  Total FY08 Governor Operating Budget is $30,985,800. [Page 85].