Do California lawmakers deserve a raise?

Would you like a $5,000 raise this year? Certainly members of the Legislature would. The difference between them and the vast majority of Californians is that they are actually going to get one. And that’s OK.

The higher salaries are a result of a 1990 ballot measure that wisely stripped lawmakers of the power to set their own pay. Proposition 112 established the California Citizens Compensation Commission, which sets salaries for state elected officials, and the adjustments aren’t always upward.

Members of the Assembly and the state Senate were paid $116,208 a year in 2007, with additional pay for leaders, plus payments to cover their Sacramento homes-away-from-home. But in the wake of the mortgage meltdown and the resulting state budget crisis, the commission required that lawmakers take an 18% cut, followed by another 5%. That left pay at $90,526. It was still a good salary — the nation’s highest for members of state legislatures — but substantially lower than it was pre-recession.

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Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown persuaded voters to adopt temporary tax increases, which cleared the state’s books for now. The commission then lifted pay back up — to $95,291. That’s not a bad living for anyone, but it still falls well short of pay at its peak six years ago.

When the commission raises annual salaries by some eyebrow-raising amount — say, $5,000 — it’s possible to think of a dozen reasons to long for some other setup. The commission system probably gives a bit too much power to the governor, who appoints panel members and has his salary, like other politicians’, set by them. Commissioners will deny it, but some seemed to be doing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s bidding in 2010 when they threatened an additional cut unless a budget was adopted. Also noteworthy is that this year’s salary decision is based in part on the arguably artificial budget cushion that voters created by taxing themselves only temporarily.

But any system to set politicians’ pay is going to have its downsides. The commission format avoids the appalling political self-dealing that regularly took place before 1990, while steering clear of the kinds of rewards and punishments for performance that are best made by voters. Californians should not begrudge their lawmakers their new raises. But they should also demand, in the coming legislative year, that lawmakers prove they are worth their pay.