Drop in Gifts to State Lawmakers Reported : Legislature: Still, members took subsidized trips to Brazil, Finland and elsewhere, and one accepted $5,600 for his stay at the Betty Ford Center.

Although state legislators continued to accept sizable gifts of free travel, meals and personal items from special-interest groups last year, lawmakers generally reported taking fewer handouts than in previous years--another sign that public concern about political corruption and conflicts of interest is having an impact in the Capitol.

Lawmakers reported receiving $761,000 in gifts and speaking fees in 1989, according to their annual financial disclosure statements filed this week with the Fair Political Practices Commission.

The total includes $459,000 in gifts and $302,000 in honorariums for the 114 legislators who have thus far reported. This represents a 15% drop per member in gifts and a 56% drop per member in honorariums when compared to an average of the two previous years.

The gifts and speaking fees supplement the lawmakers’ annual salary of $40,816 plus a tax-free $88 per day expense allowance when they are in session.

Despite the overall drop in gifts and honorariums, a number of lawmakers reported taking all-expense-paid trips to foreign countries and throughout the United States. And in many cases, the travel was paid for by corporations and individuals who have business before the Legislature.

For example, seven legislators went on a free two-week trip to Brazil in November sponsored by the nonprofit California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy. Most of the costs--about $4,200 per person--were picked up by large corporations, including Chevron USA, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and Waste Management Inc.

Accompanying the legislators were two of the Capitol’s most influential lobbyists, former Democratic Assembly Speaker Pro Tem John T. Knox and ex-Assembly Republican Leader Paul Priolo of Santa Monica.

Knox denied that the trip was used to help his clients by lobbying legislators. And he complained that critics who might say otherwise “are ethicking themselves to death.”

“We were looking into environmental problems of the rain forest and global warming,” he said. “It was a very worthwhile trip and we received important information.”

Knox and Priolo are both officers of the nonprofit foundation, which has been given tax-exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service as an educational group.

The legislators who traveled to Brazil were Assembly members Sally Tanner (D-Baldwin Park), Bev Hansen (R-Santa Rosa), David G. Kelley (R-Hemet) and Patrick Johnston (D-Stockton); and Sens. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles), Bill Leonard (R-Big Bear) and Robert G. Beverly (R-Manhattan Beach).

The economic interest statements also show a number of other ways that special-interest groups helped lawmakers, including payments that assist a legislator with personal problems.

Sen. Bill Greene (D-Los Angeles), for example, reporting receiving $5,600 for his alcohol rehabilitation treatment at the Betty Ford Center in Palm Springs from a variety of sources, including $1,000 from the California Manufacturers Assn., $500 from Chevron USA, and $2,000 from Bill Bone, a Palm Desert land developer.

A spokesman for the Senate Rules Committee said that the senator’s health insurance plan did not cover treatment for alcoholism.

In another unusual instance, Assemblyman John R. Lewis (R-Orange) reported receiving $58,429 in contributions to his legal defense fund. The money went toward his defense against charges that he forged President Ronald Reagan’s signature on campaign letters during the 1986 campaign. The case was eventually thrown out by a state appellate court in January--a decision being appealed by prosecutors to the California Supreme Court.

Among the contributors to the fund were a number of trade groups, including the National Rifle Assn.’s Institute for Legislative Action, the Mortgage Brokers Institute, and the Assn. of California Life Insurance Companies. Lewis also received contributions for his defense from the campaign committees of several of his Assembly Republican colleagues, including Assembly Republican Leader Ross Johnson of La Habra.

Lewis also reported receiving more than $3,000 in wedding gifts in 1989.

Generally, the more important the legislator the higher the amount of gifts reported.

Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) reported receiving $19,537 in gifts in 1989, including a $9,661 trip to Italy paid for by Italian regional governments. Roberti was also one of six senators who traveled to Finland last year on a trip that was paid for in part by the government of Finland.

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) was given the use of the Zenith Insurance Co. aircraft last September--travel worth $4,900. He also reported receiving $2,501 from Batus Inc. for expenses on a trip that took the legislative leader to the Kentucky Derby last May.

But the lawmaker who reported receiving the most in gifts was Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles) with $20,715 in concert tickets, theater passes, golfing fees and other benefits.

The general drop in speaking fees and gifts reported by legislators this week is due in part to Proposition 73, which imposed a $1,000 limit on the amount of speaking fees that elected officials can accept from any one source.