State senators will band together and pay the chamber’s student and legislative aides for last week’s two snow days — leaving the House looking like Scrooge holding too tightly to his purse strings.
The issue has simmered over the past few days, as the state’s 236 lawmakers acknowledged they would be paid despite the Legislature being closed. Most of them, including rural lawmakers who temporarily live near Capitol grounds during the session, stuck close to their offices during the storm because of the traffic debacle on nearby interstates.
Legislative lawyers, however, had nixed paying for the interns and aides because they had not worked on-site.
Senate President Pro Tem David Shafer, R-Duluth, said Wednesday the legal conclusion produced a bipartisan compromise: The Senate’s leadership — both Republican and Democratic — agreed to pool private money from members to fill the gap.
The deal affects only Senate aides, which include college students who work at a reduced hourly rate during the session for the experience. Members are waiting for a final tally of the cost, which is expected in the next few days.
The House seems unlikely to do the same.
While a spokesman for House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, praised their work, he said aides to House members would have to wait “to earn that pay through future work opportunities at the state Capitol.”
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