State Gets 1st Woman Legislative Analyst

Elizabeth G. Hill, 36, who began analyzing state budgets 10 years ago, was appointed legislative analyst Tuesday, becoming the Legislature’s top nonpartisan adviser on the budget and other fiscal matters.

Hill, who is eight months pregnant and will soon begin maternity leave, is the first woman to hold the $87,552-a-year post and only the fourth legislative analyst since the position was created in 1941.

Many in the Capitol consider the job to be the most important non-elective post in state government because of the enormous influence the analyst wields with the Legislature.

She succeeded William G. Hamm, who resigned Feb. 28. On Tuesday she immediately took control of the office, which has 90 employees and a budget of $6 million.

Hamm had held the analyst’s job since 1977 when he succeeded A. Alan Post, who had held the job for 27 years. The first analyst was Rolland Vandegrift.

Hill’s second child is due Sept. 19. She said she will work as long as possible, then take a maternity leave and plans to return to the office full time in January.

“I don’t really see any problems,” she said in reference to her career and her family, after being introduced at a press conference by Sen. Walter W. Stiern (D-Bakersfield), chairman of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, which made the appointment. “I am a confirmed career person,” she said.

Hill was chosen over three male finalists for the analyst’s job, including John Vickerman, who has been the acting analyst since Hamm left. Committee members winnowed the four from a list of 150 candidates developed during a nationwide search. The other two were a top budget officer for Chicago and an official with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Stiern confirmed reports circulating in the Capitol that members of the budget committee, composed of seven members each from the Senate and Assembly, were deeply divided between Vickerman and Hill. Stiern said committee members from the Senate supported the veteran Vickerman, 57, while members of the Assembly backed Hill. Once it was clear that Hill had enough votes, the committee made the appointment unanimous.

Stiern said one of the factors in the committee’s deciding on Hill was Vickerman’s age. He said the fact that Hill was considerably younger gave her “perhaps a little edge” because Vickerman was closer to retirement age.

Hill, who had risen to principal program analyst in her 10 years in the office, said she expected no difficulty in working with Vickerman, who held the No. 2 spot under Hamm. She said he will run the office when she takes her leave.

Vickerman said he would not comment on the selection process or Stiern’s comments. He described Hill as “a great lady.”

As legislative analyst, Hill will prepare the annual analysis of the governor’s state budget for the Legislature, a line-by-line critique that carries great weight with legislative budget writers. Another role of her office is to review all fiscal legislation.

Hill said she does not contemplate major changes in the office and will continue to emphasize the nonpartisan nature of the office and its role in advising the Legislature. She said she considered her strong suit to be her ability as a “communicator” who “can listen well.”

Hill holds an undergraduate degree from Stanford University, earned a master’s degree in public policy from the University of California at Berkeley in 1975 and in 1976 studied public transportation as a Fulbright scholar at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. Her husband, Larry Hill, is assistant dean of the School of Engineering at California State University, Sacramento.