CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / SACRAMENTO

Weeks after she landed in hot water for trying to raise the salaries of legislative aides, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) announced Monday that she is cutting Assembly members’ operating budgets by 10%. Bass also ordered the shutdown of the Assembly’s special office in Washington by the end of June, placed a freeze on staff salaries and put a cap on new hires until the state’s fiscal problems are settled.

The base allowance for staff for each Assembly lawmaker will decrease from $292,000 to $263,000, for a total of $2.3 million in annual savings.

The announcement comes a week before the May 19 special election on budget-related ballot measures. Bass is among the biggest boosters of those propositions, which would raise about $6 billion toward balancing the 2009-10 budget.

Last month, Bass drew public criticism after The Times and other media reported that she was planning to boost salaries for 120 Assembly employees. Bass rescinded the pay hikes a day later.

-- Eric Bailey