Some lawmakers get yet another perk. Twenty-five senators have access to a second car leased through the state Department of General Services.

Most of the senators who use second vehicles live in Southern California or the lower Central Valley, far from the state capital. The second car is for their use around Sacramento; the other car is typically driven within lawmakers' home districts.

Senators fill the leased cars at state gas pumps, costing taxpayers $9,535 this year in addition to what they charged on their individual fuel cards.

Other states reimburse lawmakers by the mile and only for specific trips.

In Florida, state lawmakers must complete forms listing each trip's mileage, purpose, date and place the travel occurred.

Florida's 160 lawmakers were reimbursed $197,748 through July at 44 cents per mile, which includes not only gasoline but vehicle maintenance. That works out to $1,236 for each member, but they were using their private vehicles and not state-issued ones as in California.

California taxpayers spent $1,874 for each of the state's 120 lawmakers for fuel alone, or $638 more per lawmaker than Florida.

During the same period, mileage reimbursements were higher for lawmakers in three other large states — Michigan, Texas and New York. But those payments were for lawmakers' use of their own vehicles and covered their costs for gasoline and wear and tear.