JUNEAU -- Most work has stopped at the Alaska Capitol, but even though they're not doing much, Alaska's legislators are still getting paid.
Legislators get what's called "session per diem," currently set at $233 per day, for every day the Legislature is in session.
Because lawmakers haven't completed work on the budget, their chief duty, they're still in session while House Speaker Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, and Democratic leader Chris Tuck try to agree on a budget that can pass the House.
"Legislators are paid per diem for every day the Legislature is in session, and an extension of the regular session isn't treated any differently than the regular session," said Jessica Geary, accounting manager for the Legislative Affairs Agency.
"We feel guilty, too, about being paid a per diem for being here," said Senate President Kevin Meyer, R-Anchorage.
On an annualized basis, legislators' per diem would come out to more than $80,000 a year each, but last year the average legislator earned in the neighborhood of $22,000, though in years with longer sessions or multiple special sessions the amount has been much higher. The three legislators who live in Juneau year-round get less.
That per diem comes on top of legislators' base annual salary of $50,400.
The extended session means that the legislators are now collecting a total of about $13,000 extra each day. On Wednesday, a number of session-only legislative staff jobs ended, but many of those workers will be kept on as the session continues, further increasing costs, the agency said.
Senate President Kevin Meyer said the Senate completed its work on the budget and it wasn't his fault that there wasn't a deal, but there were good reasons for stopping work.
"A lot of mischief happens" in sessions' waning days, he said.
That's something he said happened Tuesday when the Senate voted to adopt a bill creating a children's day in June. Democrats tried to amend it -- or, as Meyer put it, "hijack" it.
They wanted to include the stalled "Erin's Law," a bill requiring Alaska schools to include sexual abuse prevention in their curriculum, in the children's day bill but were blocked by the majority.
On Wednesday, the Senate met for less than a minute, but Meyer said that if the extended session looks like it will be lengthy, work should resume.
"We still hope we are going to be done here shortly, but if it looks like we are not going to be, then we should be occupying our time better," Meyer said.
Around the Capitol, several suggestions were being made for how to use the time. Gov. Bill Walker suggested using the time to consider expansion of Medicaid, while Senate Minority Leader Berta Gardner, D-Anchorage, suggested Erin's Law.
Some superintendents who had earlier raised objections have dropped those objections, which could mean passage of the bill, she said.
"There's no reason we can't be working on that and get the bill through," Gardner said.
Rep. Les Gara, D-Anchorage, said a bill he introduced reforming the foster care system has been passed by all of its committees of referral and could get a floor vote in the extra time that's available.
A single committee meeting was held Wednesday, as Finance Committee co-chairs Sens. Anna MacKinnon, R-Eagle River and Pete Kelly of Fairbanks used the time to invite Legislative Finance Director David Teal to redo his presentation on the state's precarious fiscal situation.
In the ornate committee room, rows of seats labeled "reserved for legislators" sat mostly empty, but scattered around the room were half a dozen House and Senate members not on the committee who showed up to watch.