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This could have been much higher, but fewer than half the legislators chose to utilize aides for the short session.
Salary costs for temporary staff, including secretaries, clerks, doorkeepers etc., ran about $30,000. There was no estimate of the cost for a beefed-up roster of Capitol Police nor could a price tag be applied to the increased workload of the Division of Legislative Services, which prepares bills and resolutions for introduction.
A comparison of legislative costs in Virginia with other states puts the Old Dominion somewhere in the middle. In a few New England states, where yankee frugality still holds sway, legislative compensation is shockingly low. Much more generous pay awaits lawmakers in states such as New York, California and Florida.
Making laws is a matter of conducting the people’s business. And any business takes money. While the Virginia General Assembly doesn’t operate in the bargain basement, neither does it use taxpayer dollars to flaunt extravagence.
Actually, a special session can be less expensive than tacking the days or weeks onto the end of a regular session because support services are brought in only, as needed. Extending a regular session would almost certainly involve maintaining the full array of legislative machinery to the bitter end.
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