Pa. state Rep. Harkins to curtail travel after report of $154,000 in mileage reimbursements

State Rep. Pat Harkins will no longer seek reimbursement for the miles he drives for in-district business, including meetings and work-related events in other parts of the state.

Harkins' decision follows a report by Harrisburg television station ABC27 News-WHTM that showed him being reimbursed $154,687 for mileage since 2018, including $26,114 in 2022.

"It is too high, I agree," Harkins, D-1st Dist., of Erie, told the Erie Times-News. "That's not why I'm there. And if I were to look at it as a person not knowing what I do, I would be outraged too."

The ABC27 News-WHTM report compared Harkins' travel reimbursement expenses to those of fellow Erie-area state representatives Ryan Bizzarro and Bob Merski, as well as state Sen. Dan Laughlin, and found that Harkins has been reimbursed three to four times as much for travel.

Harkins, who was been in office since 2007, said his other expenses, like office space, are in line with his colleagues.

However, committee assignments have required him to travel to all corners of the state, including his current assignment as chairman of the Gaming Oversight Committee, which oversees the state's casinos and is working on legislation to address skills-based video terminals.

"We're touring casinos and everything else, trying to find out what legislation works," he said. "We're working with stakeholders and trying to find out what their concerns are if we pass a piece of legislation that we could get through the House and the Senate."

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Harkins, then minority chairman of the House Labor Committee, said he would travel for meetings with companies about pandemic unemployment assistance.

"When I'm in district, I'll be in Pittsburgh or I'll go to Grove City to meet somebody halfway from Johnstown on an issue that deals with school district matters, or labor issues, or anything," he said, "but it's not like it's a fun drive. It's not like I'm just out to drive."

Harkins said he has to "learn to say no" to in-person meetings and that he will instead opt for video conferencing.

Harkins isn't violating any House rule, but he admits his mileage expenses are out of line compared to fellow lawmakers, even those who make the 600-plus-mile roundtrip between Erie and Harrisburg.

"If it was me looking at it from the outside, I'd say, what the heck? What's going on with that?" he said.

What Harkins no longer seeks reimbursement for, however, will be quickly made up starting Friday, when rank-and-file state legislators in both the House and Senate see their salary jump 3.5% to $106,422 from the current salary of $102,844, which was up 7.8% from the $95,432 they made in 2022. The pay raises for state lawmakers are tied to a 1995 law that based raises on increases in the Consumer Price Index.

Legislators also receive health care and a pension, in addition to reimbursements known as per diems for food and lodging while on official business.

Pennsylvania lawmakers receive some of the highest salaries and benefit packages in the nation, third only to California and New York.

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Matthew Rink can be reached at mrink@timesnews.com.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie lawmaker Harkins agrees with critics, his travel costs 'too high'