California lawmakers grilled state officials Wednesday over $75 million spent for vehicles, furniture and conferences last year while the state was slashing school, health and social service programs.

The purchases by key public agencies came during one of the worst fiscal crises in state history.

"We've got to answer to our constituents – and they're screaming at us," Assemblyman Tom Berryhill, R-Modesto, said of state spending.

Wednesday's three-hour hearing by the Assembly Accountability and Administrative Review Committee targeted $43.4 million spent for vehicles last year, $29.4 million for furniture, and $2.2 million for conferences or meetings.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last year ordered departments to cut spending for contracts or purchases by 15 percent, and not to buy non-emergency vehicles.

Testifying Wednesday, a parade of state officials justified their purchases, offering differing explanations but the same message: No money was wasted, all purchases were justified, and the cuts required by Schwarzenegger were made.

Lawmakers were stymied at interpreting the mountain of purchases, in part, because the database from which it was acquired did not cover prior years. They could not tell whether more or less had been spent.

Nonetheless, a strong message of fiscal accountability was sent, they said.

"They need to realize that to the general public and to us, the Legislature, they sound a little tone deaf," Assemblyman Hector De La Torre, a South Gate Democrat who chairs the committee, said of the millions spent for seemingly routine items.

Schwarzenegger applauded Wednesday's hearing, saying that if a violation of his executive order is found, action will be taken.

"Whenever there is waste, we have to go detect it and get rid of this waste," he said.

Typical of Wednesday's grilling was a demand by legislators to know why the state Department of Parks and Recreation spent $5.2 million to buy 199 cars in the first quarter of 2009. The year before, Schwarzenegger proposed closing 48 parks. That was rejected, but by mid-2009, he had proposed closing nearly all parks.

Michael Harris, deputy director of parks, noted that the vehicle purchases were necessary in managing hundreds of thousands of park acres and serving millions of visitors. The vehicle orders were made in advance and could have been rescinded if park closures were imminent, he added.

Officials of other state agencies testified that various purchases were made in consolidating offices to save money, or in canceling contracts and assuming new duties, or because of unforeseen circumstances such as the discovery of mold, or because aging vehicles required replacement.

Department of Education officials were asked about $945,000 listed as spent for conferences last year. They noted that the figure included $197,258 for a conference that was canceled. The state was reimbursed from registration fees for the other three conferences listed, officials said.

The Department of Transportation was asked about a single-engine plane it bought for nearly $1 million. Mike Miles, operations director, said the plane is needed for inspections of public airports and other required aerial duties. It will replace one that is more than 40 years old, and, because of the fiscal crisis, delivery is not planned until 2010-11.

Department of General Services officials said that statewide the 1,273 vehicles purchased by state agencies in 2009 paled in comparison to the 3,558 purchased the prior year. Savings exceeded $45 million, they said.

Jim Butler, DGS chief procurement officer, said that 129 state leases were renegotiated last year, for $57 million in long-term savings. Contracting costs were cut by more than $2 billion, he said.

The Assembly committee ultimately approved recommendations to enhance online reporting of state purchases, to push agencies to keep vehicles longer before replacing them, to examine what job functions truly require workers to take a state car home, and to encourage use of colleges or other public buildings, not private hotels, for state conferences.

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Call Jim Sanders, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5538. Torey Van Oot of The Bee Capitol Bureau contributed to this report.

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