Legislative conference, event trips costs $98K since session

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - The Louisiana Legislature has spent at least $98,000 for lawmakers to travel to conferences and meet with colleagues in other states since they wrapped up their legislative sessions this year.

Thirty-five of 105 House members and 13 of 39 senators traveled to Illinois, Kentucky, Oregon, Arkansas and elsewhere during the summer and fall.

Lawmakers went to meetings of the Southern Legislative Conference in Lexington, Kentucky; the National Conference of State Legislatures in Chicago; the Energy Council in New Orleans; the Southern Regional Education Board in Little Rock; and the National Conference of Insurance Legislators in Portland, Oregon, among others.

Data provided by the Legislature showed the trips cost the House $64,000 and the Senate $34,000 for items like airfare and hotel rooms and the daily per diem paid to lawmakers.