SB386: SB386 General Assembly; daily expense allowances for days of session where a call of the roll is not conducted; prohibit the payment

Georgia lawmakers currently receive a daily expense allowance (currently $75.00) for each day of a legislative session, covering costs like housing and meals. This bill changes the rules for when that money can be paid. It amends Georgia's law on legislative salary and allowances (O.C.G.A. § 28-1-8) to say that if the House or Senate suspends or skips a call of the roll on a day of session, no member of that chamber can receive the daily expense allowance for that day. The bill also spells out that a member is considered absent, and loses the daily allowance, if he or she is not present for the roll call and for all votes taken that day, except in cases covered by sickness or death provisions elsewhere in the law. It removes an outdated provision referencing a 1983 date that no longer serves any purpose, replacing it with updated language. The bill repeals conflicting laws but does not state a specific effective date beyond the standard process.

• Bars any member of the House or Senate from receiving a daily expense allowance on a day of session where that chamber does not conduct a roll call.
• Defines a member as absent, and therefore ineligible for that day's allowance, if not present for the roll call and all votes taken that day.
• Removes an obsolete provision tied to a January 10, 1983 date about payments to families of deceased members, folding its substance into current law.
• Keeps in place the existing rule that sick members and members on approved leave can still receive the allowance despite being absent.

Members of the Georgia House of Representatives and Senate, whose daily expense payments during legislative sessions would depend on whether a roll call happens and whether they are present for votes; also affects survivors of deceased members who receive unpaid allowances.

Lawmakers could lose a day's expense payment, currently $75.00, if their chamber skips a roll call or if they miss the roll call and votes that day. This ties legislator pay for expenses more directly to documented attendance and participation in floor votes.

• Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 28-1-8(b)(1) to prohibit a daily expense allowance for any day of session where a chamber does not conduct a call of the roll.
• Section 1 revises subsection (f) to define a member as absent from a day of session, and ineligible for the allowance, if not present for the roll call and all votes that day.
• Section 1 removes the obsolete subsection (g) reference to a pre-1983 payment rule for deceased members' families, since that date has long passed.
• Section 1 updates subsection (h) to clarify that death benefits are paid for the whole session regardless of whether a roll call occurred on any particular day.
• Section 2 repeals all laws and parts of laws in conflict with the Act.

1. 2026-01-13Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2. 2026-01-12Senate Hopper (Senate)

• Colton Moore (R, SD-053)Primary sponsor

• legislative pay
• General Assembly rules
• roll call votes
• government accountability