Note 11 — Chapter IV

The California house of representatives, consisting of eighty members, had in 1907 a total of 335 employees, with salaries ranging from $3 to $8 per day. The senate, composed of forty members, had 228 employees. Since then an amendment to the constitution of that state has been adopted, limiting to $500 per day the amount that may be expended by the legislature for clerical assistance. In some other states the number of employees of the legislature seems excessive, and restrictions similar to that now found in the constitution of California might not be out of place. Thus in 1903 there were 226 employees of the legislature of Illinois, 315 in Missouri, 299 in New York, and 225 in Oregon. The expense account of legislative employees in Illinois for the session of 1913 amounted to more than $95,000; the amount in New York was over $250,000; and in Wisconsin over $76,000. One of the arguments now being urged in some states in favor of a single-chamber legislature is that it would make possible a material reduction in the number of legislative employees and a corresponding diminution of expenses.