Records: Midnight Act 46 vote cost Vermont nearly $8K

Members of the Vermont House of Representatives racked up nearly $8,000 in extra costs on the two days surrounding a rare midnight-hour debate over school spending limits last month, according to public records.

Lawmakers met at 12:01 a.m. Jan. 30 — a Saturday — to resolve a procedural stalemate over changes to the school spending law known as Act 46. House Speaker Shap Smith, D-Morristown, scheduled the weekend session because he and other lawmakers wanted to pass the bill by the end of the month.

The House approved the bill and wrapped up the day's work in just over an hour, at 1:12 a.m.

Vermont's legislators are paid $693.74 for their work each week and do not receive extra pay. But because the debate spilled into the weekend, lawmakers were eligible for another night's lodging. They could also request an extra $74 allowance to cover Saturday's meals.

The state paid $7,272 for room stipends on Friday and Saturday and meal stipends on Saturday for 45 members of the House, according to expense reports provided by the Vermont Department of Finance and Management.

For most legislators, these were additional expenses compared to the prior week. But not all expenses were a direct result of the midnight session, lawmakers said.

Rep. Robert Forguites, D-Springfield, said his expense reports reflected erroneous charges that he offset the following week. And Rep. Timothy Corcoran, D-Bennington, also filed an expense report for lodging on Friday night, but was absent for the midnight session. He said the report reflected his normal four nights in an apartment each week. Excluding Forguites' additional charges and Corcoran's lodging expense, the total for the midnight session expenses would be about $6,968.

The midnight voting also incurred $769 in overtime pay, the majority of which went to Capitol Police Officers Leslie Dimick and Kurt Snyder and committee assistants. Other Statehouse staff earned compensatory time, according to state records.

Contact April Burbank at 802-660-1863 or aburbank@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AprilBurbank