The Legislature's top administrators have asked Attorney General Jerry Brown to decide whether pending 18 percent cuts to lawmakers' pay and benefits were legally approved by the California Citizens Compensation Commission.
Jon Waldie, chief administrative officer of the Assembly, and Greg Schmidt, chief executive officer of the Senate, suggest that the reductions were beyond the jurisdiction of the seven-member commission, which is appointed by the governor.
Citing the state's dire fiscal condition, the panel in May cut the pay for state officials by 18 percent beginning in December 2010 – after the next round of legislative elections. The cut will reduce the annual pay of a legislator from $116,208 to $95,291. Meanwhile, annual pay for legislative leaders will drop from $133,639 to $109,584.
A month later, the board voted to slash per-diem payments, car allowances and medical and other fringe benefits by 18 percent, effective in December of this year.
Nathan Barankin, spokesman for Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said Schmidt acted without consulting Steinberg because Schmidt is in charge of administering the payroll system in the upper house and "he wants to make sure he complies with the law."
Shannon Murphy, spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, said she does not know if Bass authorized the opinion request, but noted that Bass' chief of staff, Nolice Edwards, was aware of it.
"We respect the citizens compensation commission, but they have to follow the constitution," Murphy said in a statement. "Getting legal clarity about what they can truly do under the constitution is absolutely appropriate."
The letter from Waldie and Schmidt asks Brown to assess the legality of the cuts on a number of grounds "to provide us guidance."
The letter says the pay cut may have been illegal because it was based on the state's budget problems, which was not one of the criteria listed in the constitution at the time the commission acted. Voters approved Proposition 1F on May 19, which bans legislative pay raises in deficit years, but only after the state finance director issues a deficit estimate. That estimate was not made until after the commission acted on the pay cuts, the letter points out.
"Nobody's saying the commission can't reduce salaries, (but) the constitutional criteria has to be used," said Gus Demas, fiscal officer for the Assembly who advised Waldie on the opinion request.
Travel, per diem living expenses and vehicle leases, Waldie and Schmidt wrote, are not within the scope of the commission's power to reduce. "These are payment categories over which the commission has not previously claimed to have jurisdiction," the letter states.
Representatives of Brown's office and the compensation commission could not be reached for comment.
Call Bee Capitol Bureau Chief Dan Smith, (916) 321-5249.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.