STATE LAWMAKERS DANCE THE PER DIEM HOKEY-POKEY.

Byline: Jon Matthews and Steven A. Capps The Sacramento Bee

It's 7:52 a.m. on Friday before the long Fourth of July weekend, and state Sen. John Lewis is engaged in one of the oddest rituals of the California political scene.

Lewis, a veteran Republican legislator from Orange County, has arrived outside the Capitol's Senate chambers for a Senate session - but it's definitely not the kind of session that voters, taxpayers and civics teachers might expect.

There will be no votes on bills, no debates, no banging gavel.

Rather, senators and Assembly members on Friday held a ``check-in session,'' where by merely setting foot in the Capitol, they kept the Legislature technically in session and continued their controversial flow of $121 in daily expense payments throughout the long holiday weekend.

``I'll be on a fairly early flight back to Orange County,'' Lewis said, adding that he would open his mail and do some other business first.

But when asked whether he was ``checking in'' at the Senate door to help keep senators' expense money flowing for the weekend, he laughed and said nothing.

The extra three days of expense money, called per diem, is worth $363 to individual legislators. For all 120 state legislators, that would be a total cost of $43,560 to the state, although several lawmakers don't take per diem and legislators with unexcused absences do not receive the payments.

Over an entire year, the per diem - which is usually tax free - can add up to $25,000 or more to most legislators' base salary of $99,000 per year.

Check-in sessions are nothing new in the Legislature, and they are routinely held midweek when committees are meeting.

But the Assembly and Senate in the past often made a point of actually meeting on the Fridays before long holiday weekends. This Friday, however, the chambers stood quiet and empty as legislators rushed in to ``check in,'' and often just as quickly rushed off to the airport. There are at least seven three-day, holiday weekends per year when the Legislature can, if it chooses, hold Friday ``check-in'' sessions.

Article IV of the state Constitution states that living expenses shall be provided members of the California Legislature seven days a week as long as the Legislature is not in recess for more than three days in a row.

Normally, the Legislature meets on Thursdays and returns on Mondays, meeting that three-day rule. But on three-day weekends - like this Independence Day holiday - the Legislature must be in session on Friday in order for legislators to draw expense money throughout the weekend.

Once a majority of members have checked in, which may take a few hours, a quorum is declared and, under the rules of the Legislature, the respective houses are declared ``in session'' - although members by then may be hundreds of miles away.

Hokey-pokey

What does it take for legislators to attend a check-in session?

Call it the legislative hokey-pokey - you put one foot in, you take one foot out.

``A member of the desk staff or a sergeant-at-arms has to physically see them in the building,'' explained Senate Sgt.-at-Arms Tony Beard Jr.

``We want them in the building, identified by some official source,'' added E. Dotson Wilson, chief clerk of the Assembly.

But that doesn't mean the legislators have to be in - or even near - the actual legislative chambers. On Friday, veteran Sen. Teresa Hughes, D-Inglewood, didn't even get out of her car. She drove into the Capitol basement parking area, identified herself to a Senate sergeant-at-arms, and was on her way.

Capitol staff calls such arrangements ``drive-throughs.''

Earlier Friday, Sen. Betty Karnette, D-Long Beach, breezed through the hallway outside the Senate chambers at top speed, declaring, ``I'm here, then I'm leaving.''

Several early-rising senators ``checked in'' as early as 5:30 a.m. and were on their way out of town.

Friday's check-in session in the Assembly was scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. A lone clerk sat with a check-in list waiting for members to arrive. At 7 a.m. sharp, Assemblyman Peter Frusetta, a Republican rancher from Hollister, was the first to arrive. Dressed in his normal working clothes - suit and tie, with a cowboy hat - Frusetta said a simple ``Good morning'' and was gone.

Others were not so formal. Assemblyman Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, showed up at 8:30 a.m. wearing shorts and a T-shirt, a gym bag draped over his shoulder.

Second homes

In fairness to legislators, several said on Friday that they need the expense money to maintain second homes in Sacramento, and that far from getting a three-day break, they will continue working at their legislative jobs once they fly or drive back to their home districts.

``Feel the weight of this,'' said Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl, D-Encino, as she lugged a briefcase that was stuffed to overflowing with take-home work.

``The interesting thing about the criticism of per diem is that there is this assumption that once we get on a plane and go back to our district, that we are not working. But of course, elected officials on July 4 are standing in 105-degree heat and speaking from bunting-draped platforms,'' Kuehl said, adding that she was scheduled to give a speech on women veterans.

Assemblyman Fred Keeley, D-Santa Cruz, also defended the check-in process.

``(Per diem) is part of the compensation package for members of the Legislature. It is that portion of the compensation package that relates to those days that members are on legislative business,'' he said.