Tennessee Senator Estimates August Special Session Cost Taxpayers $750K Just For Security

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The Tennessee Conservative Staff –

Tennessee’s special legislative session resulted in the passing of four bills but also came with a hefty price tag. One state senator says it cost around $750,000 just to provide security for the six-day event.

State Senator Heidi Campbell says the figure was confirmed via text by a representative from the Department of Safety and Homeland Security, based on the average daily pay rate for state troopers. It is estimated that nearly 500 troopers from across Tennessee came to work at the Capitol and the Cordell Hull Building.

Campbell says this figure does not include any overtime costs or the cost of housing officers who had to be brought in from beyond Nashville. She says the department has failed to be transparent about the actual expenses, refusing to give the exact number of troopers employed for the detail.

With some legislators questioning the added expense of so many troopers, Campbell worked up the number herself before requesting confirmation from the department, The Tennessee Lookout‘s Sam Stockard reports.

She noted that the average salary for a trooper ranged from $60,000 to $120,000 per year, so she took the average of that. The average daily rate in the state is $250, which she then multiplied by the estimated 500 troopers used.

Security detail was not the only expense involved with the called legislative session.

According to numbers provided by Office of Legislative Administration Director Connie Ridley, it cost the state $58,576 per day to stipends and mileage for lawmakers, coming to a total of $351,476 for the six-day session. 

House Speaker Cameron Sexton defended the extra security measures, despite the costs, stating that legislative members from both parties had voiced their concern about safety and said they did not feel safe as the regular session ended with crowds showing up in droves seeking legislation on gun control.

Sexton says that the extra security presence may be necessary in the next regular session as well, if protests continue to present a safety concern for legislators.