Senate Sends Governor Bill Boosting Legislators’ Pay 10%

The Senate on Thursday swiftly passed and sent to the governor a bill increasing the salaries of legislators by 10%--from $33,732 to $37,105 a year.

Sen. William Craven (R-Oceanside), Senate floor manager of the Assembly-passed proposal, took less than a minute to explain the bill’s contents. None of his colleagues asked any questions, and none sought to debate it.

The measure, by Assemblyman Louis J. Papan (D-Millbrae), was sent to Gov. George Deukmejian on a 34-3 vote. The opposition votes were cast by Republican Sens. Becky Morgan of Los Altos Hills, H.L. Richardson of Glendora and Edward R. Royce of Anaheim.

The Legislature received its most recent pay raise last Dec. 3. The proposed new salary increase would take effect Dec. 1 of next year, after the 1986 general election.

A law approved by the voters in 1966 gave the lawmakers the authority to increase their salaries by up to 5% a year. The Papan bill would provide a 10% increase for the 1987-88 session.

Politically sensitive legislative pay raise bills often are approved in the final hours of a legislative session in the hope that voters will hardly notice so that such proposals will not become campaign issues.

This time around, however, legislative leaders decided to try to defuse any potential voter backlash by getting the sensitive measure out of the way early in the session and long before the next general election.