It was a year of belt tightening and budget balancing at the Capitol in 2011, touched off by historic deficits and an election that gave Republicans control of both chambers of the Legislature for the first time in decades. But last year’s Legislature resembled its predecessors with respect to one point of abiding bipartisan accord: per diem payments.

Republican leaders at the Capitol are looking to reduce per diem and lodging reimbursements to legislators. In the Senate, legislators could see a $10 cut to their $96 per diem, and in the House, an approximately 25 percent trim for lodging reimbursements for rural legislators.

One of the best reads that surfaces in my email each week is the Taxpayers League’s "eUpdate." Mark Giga, the group’s communications director, writes with ...