INDIANAPOLIS — In just a week, lawmakers will be back at the statehouse for a special session, and the price tag for that session — as well as the burden it could place on local clerks’ offices — could be steep.
When lawmakers are in session, they are paid for their time and travel expenses, and the length of the special session will ultimately determine the final cost.
"If it takes two weeks or so, it could be 250 to 300 thousand dollars easily,” Paul Helmke, a professor at the School of Public & Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, said. “If it's something they can do in one day or two days, you know, if they've got this all figured out ahead of time, it might only cost 3 thousand dollars a day or so."
Republicans would like to add to their 7-2 majority in the U.S. House by taking seats currently held by Reps. André Carson and Frank Mrvan. Mrvan’s seat is one Helmke says the GOP has tried to flip for years.
WATCH | Full story breaks down the upcoming special session
"One of the calculations that the republicans may be making is that getting the cost of a special session paid for by the taxpayers is a lot less than us trying to raise millions of dollars to buy Chicago TV ads,” Helmke said.
If the special session produces new legislative maps, the statewide voter registration system, or SVRS, will have to be updated as well.
"This is going to create such chaos for us and for the election boards across the state and it's going to be exorbitantly expensive for all of us,” Kate Sweeney Bell, the Democratic Marion County clerk, said.
Voter registration rolls must be updated by the time candidate filing starts on Jan. 7, which gives clerks’ offices limited time to make changes. The General Assembly has a maximum of 30 session days — or 40 calendar days — to complete the work of the special session.
