The Minnesota State Capitol during the stay-at-home days during the pandemic. If state senators still want to work from home, they shouldn’t be collecting per diem, writes Sen. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa. (Aaron Lavinsky, Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

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Do you know what your legislators are doing?

Are they showing up for work every day, doing the job you elected them to do? Or are they taking it easy at home, padding their salary with even more of your tax dollars without even changing out of their sweatpants?

Unfortunately, the latter just became a whole lot easier thanks to a rule change made by Minnesota Senate Democrats. Members will now be allowed to claim an extra $86 every day, year-round, from the comfort of their own homes.

It's called the per diem policy, and it is already one of the swampiest, most ripe-for-abuse policies the Legislature has. Senators and representatives are allowed to collect a per diem payment of $86 per day to cover costs, like meals, incurred while they are required to be at the State Capitol. That last part is key: You're supposed to be at work or on location for official business to claim the payment. There is already very little oversight of this policy, so legislators from both parties for years have had free rein to pad their salaries — and in turn, their pensions.

On Jan. 4 of this year, the Senate even reaffirmed its commitment to the in-person requirement for per diem payments. I offered a floor amendment to the Senate Rules that made it clear: You may not claim per diem for days worked from home. The amendment passed unanimously. Everyone knew it was the right thing to do. Yet barely six months later, Senate Democrat leadership abruptly removed the in-person requirement for per diem — against the expressed will of the Senate and the Minnesota Constitution — via an internal memo to legislators. There was no vote. No hearing or testimony. No transparency. Just a single leader making a huge decision for the entire Senate.

Allowing members to claim per diem from home feeds an already pervasive culture of institutional corruption that breeds public distrust. As stewards of taxpayer dollars, legislators have a duty to promote accountability, not undermine it.

There is no rational argument for allowing a per diem payment for remote work. Senators already receive a communications reimbursement of $200 every month to cover phone and internet costs, and we are provided a laptop to use. Anything else is an abuse of tax dollars.

Allowing senators to vote one way on the floor to show they value taxpayer dollars and won't abuse the system, then opening the door for abuse without putting them on the record in support of or opposed to the change, is the exact kind of backroom political cover we expect from a party with full control and no interest in oversight, integrity or transparency.

Even more opaque per diem payments further degrade an already broken system. While we can hope everyone will be responsible and do the right thing, that is simply not always the case. As James Madison warned in Federalist 51, "If men were angels, no government would be necessary." We must have boundaries in place to ensure legislators serve the public interest above all.

The right, responsible thing to do would be to reverse the new rule, not only because it defies Senate rules and the Constitution but because it is fundamentally wrong. We expect elected officials to model integrity. No "extra" payment is worth compromising public trust and confidence.

I wrote a letter to the Democratic Senate majority leader, Kari Dziedzic, asking her to reinstitute the in-person requirement for per diem. If you are concerned about corruption and transparency, I would encourage you to do the same.

Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, is a member of the Minnesota Senate.