Forget the cab fare. Intoxicated California lawmakers now can hitch a ride home at the expense of their taxpayers.
In view of four lawmakers arrested over the last five years for driving under the influence, the state has hired two part-time employees who will man a 24-hour car service for senators too drunk to drive home.
“We’re not going to provide comment, because it’s a security issue,” Anthony Reyes, spokesman for the office of Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, told the Sacramento Bee.
Senate records disclose the two “special services assistants,” who will act as designated drivers for the legislators, are each paid more than $2,500 per month.
Members received plastic cards with the car service’s number written in big, bold letters across the center against a photo of the Capitol Dome. “California State Senate” spans the top of the card, highlighted by a red banner. If their two personal drivers are unavailable, an “emergency” number for Senate Chief Sergeant-at-Arms Debbie Manning is printed across the bottom.
Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, told the Sacramento Bee, “The answer is not in providing them drivers. The answer is in showing some restraint.”
“They get all these perks,” he said. “Perhaps at the end of session, when things run late, there could be some temporary allocation made so legislators can get to the airport. But on an ongoing basis, this makes no sense.”
The California Assembly also provides transportation services, but these do not serve lawmakers overnight.
Debra Gravert, chief administrative officer for the Assembly Rules Committee, told the Sacramento Bee that assembly employees “do not work past 1 a.m.” She added that if they needed a ride home prior to the next day, they would “have to call a cab or an Uber or a family member.”
