So far, bill for special session $480,000 LEGISLATURE: Bulk of the expense is per diem, which accounts for $14,000 a day.

The estimated cost of the Legislature's special session is about a half million dollars and growing as the budget deadlock goes past the two-week mark.
Legislative Affairs Agency Director Pam Varni said she won't have the exact figures until it's over. But Varni said special sessions of the Legislature have averaged $30,000 a day in recent years.
This special session is entering its 16th day. So that average would put the cost at about $480,000 so far, with no sign of when the impasse might break.
Varni said the biggest single expense is the per diem allowance legislators get when they're in session.
"That's the big expense and I think it's almost $14,000 a day out of that $30,000," Varni said.
Legislators are given per diem for lodging and meal expenses. The 57 legislators who aren't from Juneau get $232 a day. The three lawmakers from Juneau get $174 per day.
The money comes on top of the $50,400 annual salary that Alaska legislators receive. It's also in addition to the "business expense allowance" lawmakers get. That is meant for office supplies but legislators are allowed to do whatever they want with the money. Earlier this year legislators decided to double the amount they get to $16,000 for members of the House and $20,000 for senators.
Varni said the per-diem payment is automatic for every day the Legislature is in session. Legislators can ask not to receive it but Varni said she isn't aware of anyone doing so for this special session.
Legislators receive the per diem whether they're physically present in Juneau or not. It is not uncommon for a few lawmakers, sometimes more, to be excused each day of the session.
The Senate journal shows that 12 of the 20 senators were present for the floor session on Friday, April 22. Thirteen of the 20 were present on Friday, April 29. That doesn't mean the others were all gone from Juneau those days, but at least some were.
Monday was the first floor session that Anchorage Sen. Lesil McGuire has attended since April 20. McGuire had been excused to go to Anchorage to get her young son settled in school and delayed her return to attend his school play, according to the Senate majority. McGuire went to the House Finance Committee meeting in Anchorage on Friday and was also one of the speakers that day at the Renewable Energy Alaska Project's "Business of Clean Energy" conference.
The floor sessions are formalities at this point, with no bills for lawmakers to take up. The Senate's floor session on Monday (with 17 of 20 members present) lasted all of three minutes.
There's not much for most of the 60 members of the Legislature to do but wait while the majority leadership of the House and Senate talks over the issues behind closed doors. The main leaders of the House and Senate have remained in Juneau.
Gov. Sean Parnell left for Texas to meet with Anadarko and Exxon Mobil but said on his Facebook page that he participated in a Monday teleconference with House and Senate leaders. The governor's office said Parnell was returning to Alaska Monday night.
The main issue keeping lawmakers in special session is language the bipartisan Senate majority insists on having in the capital budget: If Parnell vetoes a single energy project, than none of the energy projects gets funded.
The Senate won't pass the capital budget to the House because the Republican-led House majority won't agree to the provision. Those House members argue it's not appropriate to link the energy projects and force Parnell to veto all or none.
Senators said they put the language in to protect the projects after Parnell threatened to cut the capital budget if lawmakers didn't agree to reduce oil taxes.
The Senate subsequently derailed Parnell's bill to cut oil taxes and that bill is not part of the special session.
Parnell has been saying over the past week he won't abuse his veto authority or "target anybody for their stand on a particular issue." But senators say they're unconvinced.
Senate leaders have said they're willing to drop the language if they can reach an agreement with Parnell on the size of the budget and what projects he'll spare
But Parnell turned down an invitation to meet with the entire Senate majority caucus and has refused to say what he may veto, saying the Senate just needs to pass a budget.

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