Governor Lee’s Special Session To Cost Tennessee Taxpayers Over $58K Per Day

Image Credit: capitol.tn.gov & Gov. Bill Lee / Facebook

The Tennessee Conservative [By Kelly M. Jackson] –

Tennessee’s Special Session, called by Governor Lee, that began yesterday (August 21st) will strap Tennessee taxpayers with a hefty $58,576 per day price tag.

Many may wonder what makes up the cost of those $58,000 + dollars per day. To follow is a more detailed breakdown of those costs.

Connie Ridley, who is the Director of the Office of Legislative Administration, said the cost for the legislature to meet in session one day is broken down by mileage and per diem costs per chamber. 

Each chamber has a different cost per diem based on the salary paid for those positions.

On the senate side the per diem cost is $7,989, and the mileage for those individuals can run about $6,137 dollars per day. This brings the costs on the Senate side to about $14,126 per day. 

The House of Representatives has a much more substantial price tag as it contains many more members than the Senate. The per diem cost for those members is just under $25,000 and mileage comes in around $19,547 per day. This makes for a grand total of $44,450 per day for The House. 

Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson anticipates that special session will last at a minimum of three days, which brings us to a grand total of $175,728.00 for all three days, and for each additional day, you are looking at $58,576.

On the General Assembly website, the special session is already scheduled out through Thursday of this week on the Senate side. At current, the House of Representatives schedule only shows them meeting through today (Tuesday, August 22nd). However, the schedules are subject to change.

According to Ridley, the funds will come out of the Executive Branch, because the official proclamation requires it, according to a report she said, “appropriations sufficient to pay the expenses of the extraordinary session,” the funding will “be provided by the Executive Branch for our costs.”. 

Ridley also said the rate of inflation has caused all the costs to go up significantly. 

According to reports, only 6 Republican representatives are in support of a motion to adjourn put forth by Representative Bryan Richey (R-D20-Maryville) those members were: Todd Warner (R-D92-Chapel Hill), Chris Hurt (R-D82-Halls), Kip Capley (R-D71-Summertown), Tim Hill (R-D3-Blountville), Susan Lynn (R-D57-Mt. Juliet), and Jody Barrett (R-D69-Dickson). 

We will continue to cover this story as it develops. But for now, Tennesseans are on the hook for at least 3 days, and nearly $176,000 dollars’ worth of additional costs. 

You can look for and read all bills that have been filed for this special session here. 

About the Author: Kelly Jackson is a recent escapee from corporate America, and a California refugee to Tennessee. Christ follower, Wife and Mom of three amazing teenagers. She has a BA in Comm from Point Loma Nazarene University, and has a background in law enforcement and human resources. Since the summer of 2020, she has spent any and all free time in the trenches with local grassroots orgs, including Mom’s for Liberty Williamson County and Tennessee Stands as a core member.  Outspoken advocate for parents rights, medical freedom, and individual liberty. Kelly can be reached at kelly@tennesseeconservativenews.com.