§31.1. Salary for members; expense allowance; mileage allowance

A. In addition to the per diem and all other allowances provided by law for members of the Legislature of Louisiana, each member of the legislature, except the president and the president pro tempore of the Senate and the speaker and the speaker pro tempore of the House of Representatives, shall be paid a salary in the full sum of sixteen thousand eight hundred dollars per annum.

B.(1) The salary provided for in this Section for the individual members shall be withdrawn from the treasury on the warrant of the presiding officer of each house on the state treasurer. The warrants shall be paid out of the general fund and the treasurer is hereby required to pay the warrants by preference over other warrants, except warrants for the salaries of constitutional officers, which shall be concurrent with the warrants provided for in this Section.

(2) The funds so drawn shall be deposited in the name of the House of Representatives, or the Senate, as the case may be, in an approved bank located in this state, selected by the presiding officer of each house. Payment of the salary to the persons entitled thereto shall be made by individual check, signed, in the case of the House of Representatives, by the presiding officer of the House and, in the case of the Senate, signed by the president of the Senate. Facsimile signatures may be used.

C.(1) In addition to the per diem and salary and all other allowances provided by law for members of the Legislature of Louisiana, each member shall be paid a mileage allowance for trips to and from the capitol during sessions of the legislature, regardless of the method of transportation, equal to the rate established as the standard mileage rate for business travel for purposes of Section 162(a) of Title 26 of the United States Code. Such mileage allowance shall be paid for a number of trips not to exceed the number of calendar weeks, or fraction thereof, of the session.

(2) During the interim between sessions each member shall also be paid, for actual attendance at meetings of legislative committees of which he is a member, a mileage allowance at the rate provided in Paragraph (1) of this Subsection for actual travel to and from the site of such meetings. Mileage allowance for legislative committee meetings shall be paid only upon the filing by the member with the respective presiding officer of a voucher for each such meeting. The legislature or either house may, by appropriate resolution, provide that no mileage allowance shall be paid in the case of particular committees or particular meetings.

D. In lieu of the mileage allowance provided in Subsection C of this Section, both during sessions and during the interim between sessions, any legislator may be reimbursed the actual cost paid by the legislator for a commercial coach fare airline ticket, either one way or round trip, for any trip for which the mileage allowance is otherwise authorized pursuant to Subsection C of this Section if the distance of travel one way by the most direct route by land is in excess of one hundred miles. Such reimbursement shall be paid only upon the filing by the legislator with the respective presiding officer of a voucher for each such trip, whether during session or during the interim.

E. In addition to the salary, compensation, and all other allowances provided by law for members of the legislature, each member of the legislature shall be paid a monthly expense allowance, as referred to in R.S. 11:403(10), in the amount of five hundred dollars per month for expenses in connection with the holding or conduct of their office. Warrants for the payment of such allowance shall be in accordance with, and subject to, Subsection B of this Section.

Added by Acts 1952, No. 11, §§1 to 3. Amended by Acts 1960, No. 349, §1; Acts 1969, No. 11, §7; Acts 1975, No. 14, §1, eff. July 18, 1975; Acts 1976, No. 4, §1, eff. June 16, 1976; Acts 1976, No. 356, §1; Acts 1980, No. 42, §1, eff. June 5, 1980; Acts 1980, No. 684, §1; Acts 1984, No. 192, §1, eff. June 27, 1984; Acts 1992, No. 520, §1, eff. June 26, 1992; Acts 1993, No. 248, §1; Acts 1997, No. 1316, §1, eff. July 1, 1997; Acts 2012, No. 847, §1, eff. July 1, 2012; Acts 2013, No. 220, §8, eff. June 11, 2013.