A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to update the salary and expense allowances for members of the general assembly to reflect salary increases granted to state employees since the last legislative compensation adjustment in 1994, and to change the per diem allowance from that for federal employees in 1993 to that in 2006.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  Effective upon convening of the 2009 Regular Session of the General Assembly, G.S. 120‑3 reads as rewritten:
"§ 120‑3.  Pay of members and officers of the General Assembly.
(a)	Members and certain officers of the General Assembly shall receive annual salaries and expense allowances, both payable monthly, as follows:
Office	Salary	Expense Allowance
Speaker	$52,257	$1,935.00
President Pro Tempore	52,257	1,935.00
Speaker Pro Tempore	30,716	1,181.00
Deputy President Pro Tempore	30,716	1,181.00
Majority and Minority Leaders	24,651	963.00
All other members	20,648	827.00

	(c)	The salary and expense allowances provided in this section are in addition to any per diem compensation and any subsistence and travel allowance authorized by any other law with respect to any regular or extra session of the General Assembly, and service on any State board, agency, commission, standing committee and study commission."
SECTION 2.  Effective upon convening of the 2009 Regular Session of the General Assembly, G.S. 120‑3.1(a)(3) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	In addition to compensation for their services, members of the General Assembly shall be paid the following allowances:
…
(3)	A subsistence allowance for meals and lodging at a daily rate of one hundred thirty‑four dollars ($134.00) while the General Assembly is in session and, except as otherwise provided in this subdivision, while the General Assembly is not in session when, with the approval of the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the case of Representatives or the President Pro Tempore of the Senate in case of Senators, the member is:
a.	Traveling as a representative of the General Assembly or of its committees or commissions, or
b.	Otherwise in the service of the State.
A member who is authorized to travel, whether in or out of session, within the United States outside North Carolina, may elect to receive, in lieu of the amount provided in the preceding paragraph, a subsistence allowance of twenty‑six dollars ($26.00) a day for meals, plus actual expenses for lodging when evidenced by a receipt satisfactory to the Legislative Services Officer, the latter not to exceed the maximum per diem rate for federal employees traveling to the same place, as set out at  General Services Administration Per Diem Bulletin 07‑1, August 3, 2006 (71 Federal Register 43772‑43772, August 2, 2006) and at  General Services Administration Per Diem Bulletin 07‑2, November 22, 2006 (71 Federal Register 70394, December 4, 2006)."
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective upon convening of the 2009 Regular Session of the General Assembly.