SB 386: General Assembly; daily expense allowances for days of session where a call of the roll is not conducted; prohibit the payment

Under current Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 28-1-8), members of the General Assembly receive a daily expense allowance, currently $75, for each day of a regular or extraordinary session, mainly to cover housing and meal costs while conducting official business. This bill would change the rule so that if the House or Senate does not conduct a call of the roll on a given day to check who is present, no member of that chamber gets the daily allowance for that day. The bill also adds a rule that a member is considered absent, and loses the allowance, if they are not present for the roll call and for all votes taken that day. It removes an outdated provision about payments to the families of members who died in office before January 10, 1983, since that date has long passed, while keeping the current rule that pays a deceased member's unpaid allowance to their surviving spouse, children, or estate regardless of whether a roll call happened that day.

• Blocks payment of the daily expense allowance to all members of a chamber for any day of session where that chamber does not hold a roll call.
• Requires a member to be present for the roll call and for every vote that day to count as attending and to keep the allowance for that day.
• Removes an outdated rule about paying deceased members' unpaid allowances that only applied to deaths occurring before January 10, 1983.
• Clarifies that payments to a deceased member's survivors cover the full session regardless of whether roll calls happened on particular days.

Members of the Georgia House of Representatives and Senate, who would lose their daily expense allowance on days without a roll call or if they miss a roll call or vote, and the surviving spouses, children, or estates of members who die in office.

Lawmakers currently collect a daily allowance for session days even if their chamber does not formally track attendance through a roll call. This bill ties that payment directly to a roll call and full voting attendance, which could reduce the number of days members are paid for and encourage them to be present for votes.

• Section 1 amends O.C.G.A. § 28-1-8(b)(1) to bar the daily expense allowance for any day of session on which a chamber suspends or skips its roll call.
• Section 1 revises subsection (f) so a member is deemed absent, and denied the allowance, if not present for the roll call and all votes that day.
• Section 1 removes the prior exception allowing absent members to be paid 'by express leave of the house,' tightening the attendance standard.
• Section 1 strikes an obsolete subsection (g) that only applied to member deaths occurring before January 10, 1983.
• Section 1 revises subsection (h) to state that death benefit payments to survivors cover the whole session regardless of whether a roll call occurred on any particular day.
• Section 2 repeals conflicting laws.

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

• Colton Moore (R, SD-053)Patrocinador principal

• legislative pay
• General Assembly attendance
• roll call votes
• state lawmaker expenses