California controller appeals ruling on lawmakers’ pay

SACRAMENTO — State Controller John Chiang on Monday appealed a recent court decision that said he lacked authority to dock legislators’ pay last year after he determined the budget they passed was not balanced.

Sacramento County Superior Court Judge David I. Brown ruled May 8 that the Legislature met its obligation to continue being paid when it sent the governor a bill that, “on its face,” proposed spending that did not exceed revenue.

California voters passed a law in 2010 allowing the Legislature to approve state budgets on a simple majority instead of a two-thirds vote. That measure also said lawmakers must give up their salary and daily expenses for each day the state goes beyond the deadline without a budget.

“The court’s decision did not reflect the will of the voters who passed Proposition 25,” said Jacob Roper, a spokesman for Chiang. “We believe there’s a strong case to be made on appeal.”

Last year, Chiang withheld $583,000 in pay during a 12-day budget dispute in which he argued that the budget, passed on the day it was due, was not balanced. His decision was challenged in a lawsuit by state Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) and Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles).

The court decision “did not address a basic problem with the Legislature’s case: that the controller has a duty to make only appropriated and valid payments,” Roper said.

“Without passage of a balanced budget by June 15, Proposition 25 suspends the appropriation of legislator salaries,” Roper added.

Pérez thinks the court got it right and that its decision will be affirmed by any future court ruling, according to John Vigna, his press secretary.

“We believe the judge’s ruling was very clear that this is fundamentally a question of the appropriate separation of powers with respect to the Legislature’s constitutional responsibility to pass the state budget,” Vigna said.

patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com