From pizza deliveries to catering services, Rhode Island lawmakers spent nearly $200,000 dining on taxpayer dollars while in session during the pandemic.
While this has been a common practice for decades in nearly every state, the price of the restaurant receipts may surprise you.
Spending records from the General Assembly from January 2020 through April 2021 obtained by the NBC10 I-Team show lawmakers spent $191,244 on food and beverages during that time and that $105,581 alone was spent on takeout and catering.
Some of the more popular eateries included Tommy’s Pizzeria, Gregg’s Restaurant and Angelo’s Pizza, but the biggest receipts came from Pranzi Catering.
The legislature spent $40,842 for food from Pranzi, with the average bill costing $408. The largest single receipt from the catering company was a $4,355 bill from February 2020.
One of the most expensive days for takeout was on July 1, 2020, when lawmakers spent $5,383 on food.
House Speaker Joe Shekarchi told us that type of spending is a rarity.
“That bill you’re talking about is not the typical average bill, it’s one of the end of session bills when we are here 12 to 14 hours a night,” he said, adding they fed about 75 people, including staffers.
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Shekarchi also argued that most of the restaurants they order from aren’t overly expensive.
“It’s Lemon Grass from Warwick. It's nothing out of the ordinary, and most of the time we are ordering from Gregg's or Chelo's," he said.
However, the I-Team learned in a span of nine months, the legislature spent nearly $41,000 at Pranzi with several $1,000 bills.
Shekarchi pointed out that unlike most states, Rhode Island lawmakers are part time and go straight from their full-time jobs for sessions that can last hours.
“We start in the afternoon. Some of the hearings start at 2 p.m. and go until 10, so we have to feed people,” he said. “I’m a diabetic so you have to eat at certain times. People have health issues.”
Lawmakers did tighten their belts over the past session, spending about $157,000 less in 2020 and part of 2021 compared to 2019.
When we asked Shekarchi whether he thinks taxpayers would be OK with the amount lawmakers spent on takeout and catering during the pandemic, Shekarchi responded: “I think they would. I think they understand that we are not lavish about it and we’re not using it for alcohol purposes.”