Cost of Missouri’s special legislative session detailed

Governor Eric Greitens called a special session Friday to take up Senate Bill 190.

A special session involves reconvening the entire legislature outside of the regular session to consider a typically time-sensitive bill.

The costs of such a session depend on several factors according to Chief Clerk of the Missouri House, Adam Crumbliss.

“I estimate that, depending on the specifics of any special session, it will cost between $50,000 and $100,000 for each week,” said Crumbliss. “We have worked to reduce this cost substantially by convening on as few days as possible while meeting the Constitutional requirements for passing a bill, and by using technical sessions to avoid calling in legislators on days that they would not be needed to conduct business.”

Senate Administrator Marga Hoelscher estimates special session costs for one day would be about $9,000, while one week would be about $28K.

The cost breakdown includes the following:

$113.60 per diem for each member $0.37 per day rate per mile travel reimbursement that is only in effect if session requires more than one week in a month Additional staffing costs (bringing session-only staff back into service) Additional operational costs (paper, janitorial service, etc.)

The special legislative session begins Monday at 4 p.m.