A full 30-day session amounts to about $1 million in per diem payments to lawmakers, which are meant to cover their expenses in Austin.
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But in all those instances, the special sessions were more spaced out and the fourth one started in the following year. This series is also unique for including an historic impeachment trial in the Senate, which acquitted Attorney Generalin September — an event that added 10 more grueling days of work in the Capitol for the upper chamber.
That amounts to an additional $17,238 in per diem that each lawmaker was paid beyond the $30,940 they get in for the regular session. Abbott has openly said that if lawmakers do not pass vouchers during the fourth special session, he will use it as an issue against recalcitrant members of his party in the primary.
For Democrats, the knock on the special session streak is simple: With his push for school vouchers, Abbott is trying to get lawmakers to do something they just do not want to do. A test vote on the issue earlier this year turned up 24 House Republicans still opposed to it.
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