By Jason Tolbert

With Razorback football kicking off next weekend, many Arkansas fans are preparing for the trip up the hill to see the game. However, several state legislators will be making the trip with taxpayers picking up their tab.

The Legislature sometimes conducts its meetings at off-site locations for various reasons. For example, last year the subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council with oversight of Arkansas prisons met at the Tucker Unit to tour the prison and hear reports from prison personnel. That type of off-site meeting makes sense.

However, another tradition that appears to be continuing this year is to schedule meetings in Northwest Arkansas that just happen to correspond with Arkansas Razorback football home games. The House and Senate Education Committee will be meeting in Fayetteville on Friday and in Bentonville on Saturday morning, preceding the Razorbacks’ home opener against Tennessee Tech. The meeting schedule leaves plenty of time to make kickoff.

Both the Higher Education subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council and the City, County, and Local Affairs Committee have meetings scheduled at the Fayetteville Public Library both on Friday afternoon, Sept. 23, and the following morning, just prior to the kickoff against Alabama at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

Sen. Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville, chairs the City, County, and Local Affairs Committee and defended having the meetings in Fayetteville which, she said was at her request. But she did admit that the football game was part of the motivation. She explained the reason for having the meetings in Fayetteville was to be close to the University of Arkansas for assistance in discussing the cost of textbooks and to tour the Fayetteville Public Library to see their use of green technology.

“Because the library closes early on Friday we decided to also meet Saturday morning since we might not get finished on Friday,” said Madison. “We are meeting early Saturday morning because there is a football game later in the day. I don’t go to football games, but a lot of people do and traffic can get pretty nasty. I am hoping a lot of legislators are planning to come to the game and will attend these important meetings.”

I am sure many legislators will take her up on this deal. Legislators will be reimbursed a per diem of $116 per day plus reimbursement for mileage. To sweeten the deal, if they attend both the scheduled meeting on Friday and Saturday morning, they get double the per diem. They can make the trip to Northwest Arkansas, attend the meetings on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, catch the game, and taxpayers will pay them $232 plus mileage.

This is certainly not a new practice. Last year, the Legislature held meetings in Northwest Arkansas on three separate football weekends. According to records from the Arkansas Bureau of Legislative Research, the total cost of having those meetings, including legislative reimbursements and staff travel, was just under $12,000. Legislators received, on average, about $300 for their weekend trip. The highest reimbursement in 2009 went to Sen. Gene Jeffress, D-Louann, who was reimbursed $915.10 to attend two committee meetings on Razorback weekends. The kicker — pun intended — is that he wasn’t a member of either committee. That’s not against legislative rules, but more than a little questionable.

With the current controversy involving the use of automobiles by elected officials and state employees, you would think the Legislature would shy away from this good old boy practice. But it appears, at least for now, that members will continue to enjoy their taxpayer-funded trips to Hogville.

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Jason Tolbert is an accountant and conservative political blogger. His blog — The Tolbert Report — is linked at ArkansasNews.com. His e-mail is jason@TolbertReport.com.