BOISE, Idaho -- Another Idaho legislator will take a smaller per diem payment, after scrutiny last year showed he was getting thousands more per session to sleep on his Boise law office couch.
Nampa Sen. Curt McKenzie said Friday he'll take the $49 per-day payment that most southwestern Idaho lawmakers claim, not the $122 per diem he'd been receiving.
Previously, Sen. John McGee of Caldwell also told The Associated Press he'll claim $49 this session.
That's after the AP reported McKenzie claimed the larger amount to sleep on his office couch in 2011, while McGee got it to sleep at his parents' Boise home.
Their primary homes are less than 30 miles away.
The larger payment is designed to defray out-of-town lawmakers' housing costs, to keep public service from becoming a financial hardship.
