Legislature raises Juneau lodging stipend for session staff to $50 a day

Legislative staff who move to Juneau for the session will get $50 a day for lodging, up from $37.50, under a change the Alaska Legislative Council approved Wednesday.

That's about $1,500 a month. The council also set rules for 16 apartments that Juneau donors gave the Legislature this year. They're due to open for the session that begins Jan. 19, and staff can rent them, too, after lawmakers.

Renting one doesn't reduce a tenant's per diem or lodging stipend, according to the policy.

Staff can also share a rental car in Juneau with other staff, or use an approved car share, instead of shipping their own vehicle for session.

The new apartments have two bedrooms each and are in two fourplexes and an eightplex on Gold and Sixth streets. Renovations are on schedule, Executive Director Jessica Geary told the council. They join the Legislature's 33 Assembly Building Apartments under the same rules. Legislators get first pick by seniority, then staff by seniority. Applications for session housing close Nov. 15.

Geary will set 2027 rents for the new units. Rents will take into account a market study done every two years instead of every year. Legislators who keep an apartment between sessions must give notice if they won't be back, or risk losing their priority, and significant violations can cost a tenant future eligibility.

The stipend goes to staff eligible for relocation expenses, from their session hire date through the last day of session funding set by the House or Senate Rules chair. Staff based in Juneau during session don't get a daily per diem allowance. The increase matches money already in the fiscal 2027 budget, Joel Rogozinski, the Legislative Affairs Agency's finance manager, wrote in a memo on the changes, which came out of an agency work group this interim.

The amended travel policy caps the car-share or rental option at what shipping a car would have cost the agency. It also caps reimbursement for excess airline baggage or air cargo at $150 per move. The House and Senate Rules chairs can approve exceptions case by case. Both council votes were 8-0.

The council also put off until December an $8,580 increase for the company that manages the Assembly Building apartments, after Rep. Louise Stutes of Kodiak called the cost excessive.