Legislators double salaries with expense checks

Bonna de la Cruz of The (Nashville) Tennessean analyzed state data to find that "twenty-seven Midstate lawmakers double their salaries or better by collecting state expense checks whether they incur the expenses or not. The expense checks - which are taxed by the IRS as income because they are not linked to any documented cost - add as much as $28,000 to the $16,500 official salary paid to legislators."