Most California lawmakers take full pay despite state shortfall Most California lawmakers take full pay despite state shortfall Sacramento Bee | 6/8/9 | Jim Sanders
Nothing in California law says legislators have to sink with the ship of state – and a forced pay cut this year is unconstitutional, so sacrifice is a person-by-person decision. Most say no, state records show. Four of every five lawmakers are accepting full pay of $116,208 in a year of multibillion- dollar deficit, major program cuts and mandatory salary reductions for state workers. Larry Gerston, a political science professor at San Jose State University, said voters want lawmakers to look in the mirror as they tackle a $24.3 billion shortfall. "The perception is that legislators aren't doing their job," Gerston said. "Right or wrong, that's the perception. So take it one step further: If you're not doing your job, why am I paying you?" The Senate and Assembly are committed to reducing their operating expenses through June 2010, but they have no control over pay of their elected members, which is set by an independent commission. Besides salary, lawmakers are entitled to about $35,000 annually in tax-free per diem for living expenses, plus use of a leased vehicle, with gasoline and maintenance. Seventeen legislators have rejected the car and six have turned down per diem. Mark DiCamillo, Field Poll director, said lawmakers' record-low approval rating of 14 percent is due largely to public anger over the budget mess, not to lawmakers' decisions about sharing pain. But voters undoubtedly would applaud a voluntary pay cut, he said. "I think those are the kinds of measures that the public expects in this situation, with such a huge deficit," DiCamillo said. California's legislators are the nation's highest paid but make considerably less than many top officials of large cities, counties and school districts, records show. Upon leaving office, legislators receive no pension or health benefits. "The dirty little secret is, we're not fat cats," said Assemblyman Tom Berryhill, R-Modesto, who notes that lawmakers must maintain two residences and contends that cutting pay could discourage low- and modest-income residents from seeking office. Jaime Regalado, director of the Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles, said the $116,208 salary is reasonable and that state lawmakers should not be made scapegoats for a national recession. "When you go after a set of people that I think work very hard in almost impossible conditions, you're not going after the real problem," Regalado said. "Where does it end?" Voter passage of Proposition 112 nearly two decades ago created an independent panel of gubernatorial appointees to set salaries for lawmakers and constitutional officers. The commission voted last month to impose an 18 percent pay cut, which would drop legislators' salaries by $20,917 annually – from $116,208 to $95,291. But there's a catch: California's constitution allows state officeholders' salaries to rise – but not fall – in the middle of their terms, so the pay cut cannot be imposed until December 2010 for 100 lawmakers and 2012 for 20 others. Commission Chairman Chuck Murray said the panel will act June 19 on whether to trim lawmakers' fringe benefits as well, perhaps by capping them as a percentage of salary, he said. Murray said the commission has no control over per diem but is seeking a legal opinion on whether it can cut medical, dental and vision benefits as well as other perks of the job, such as the vehicle subsidy. Not yet resolved is whether cutting fringe benefits is subject to the same prohibition on taking effect in midterm, he said. Murray said targeting legislators for pay cuts is not punitive. "Absolutely not. But we don't have the money. There's nothing there." Three legislators immediately cut their salaries by the 18 percent approved by the pay commission – Assemblyman Mike Eng, D-Monterey Park; Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria; and Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach. Twenty-one other legislators have docked their pay by up to 10 percent, many of them by rejecting a 3 percent pay increase two years ago and retaining that commitment. "I wanted to lead by example," said Republican Sen. Jeff Denham of Merced. Assemblywoman Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfield, said that as a former school superintendent, "I never took a raise when I couldn't give one." "Although members of the Legislature are most deserving of their compensation, I have decided to reduce my salary in light of the severe budget deficit," Eng said in his letter to the state controller's office. Voluntarily docking their salaries could pay political dividends for lawmakers, some of whom won their seats in tight races, have their eyes set on higher office, are married to well-heeled spouses or have significant outside income. Maldonado, for example, received between $200,000 and $300,000 in business income last year and has partnership interests in two ventures valued at more than $1 million. Sen. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana, who won his Senate seat last year by a margin of less than two percentage points, bristles at the notion that he is courting votes by cutting his own pay. "If there are (colleagues) who say, 'Lou did it for political reasons,' I challenge them – take a 10 percent cut as well," Correa said. "Why don't you do it?" Assemblyman Paul Krekorian, D-Burbank, said finger-pointing and theatrics over lawmakers' salaries diverts attention from potentially huge cuts to health care, education and other services. If every legislator took no salary at all, the state would save only about $14 million, not even a dent in the current $24.3 billion shortfall. Legislators should pay more attention to the public's needs than to their own public image, said Krekorian, who has not cut his salary. "I think issues like this are being used in kind of a demagogic way to attack the Legislature when, in fact, I think it's misleading and the public deserves to really have a complete view of the crisis that we're facing," he said. The Assembly and Senate collectively have sent mixed signals about sharing pain. Both houses vow to divert millions of their own dollars to cash-strapped agencies. The Assembly is committed to cutting its budget by 10 percent this fiscal year – more than $15 million – and by 10 percent next year. The Senate is targeting a smaller cut this year, about 5 percent – or $5 million – rising to a 10 percent cut next year. But the Legislature, unlike other state agencies, has not imposed layoffs, staff salary cuts or forced furloughs. Pay hikes were granted recently to more than 120 employees serving the Assembly's Democratic and Republican caucuses. 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