Raise for Governor, Legislators Endorsed : Government: Panel that was established by Proposition 112 also plans to give extra pay to legislative leaders. Board leaders say they do not fear public outrage.

The annual salary of the governor of California would rise from $85,000 to $120,000, ordinary legislators would get an increase in base pay from $40,816 to $52,500, and for the first time legislative leaders would get a salary premium, according to tentative decisions made Thursday by a voter-approved salary commission.

The California Citizens Compensation Commission, five Republicans and two Democrats appointed by Gov. George Deukmejian, was given authority to set the salaries of elected state constitutional officers and legislators by Proposition 112, passed in the June primary.

Several weeks after two sparsely attended public hearings, the commission, under the chairmanship of Claude S. Brinegar, secretary of transportation in the Nixon Administration, acted unanimously and with little discussion.

Despite the recent passage of Proposition 140, indicating voter disapproval of legislators, Brinegar said, “I’m not worried about public outrage. Our assignment is to provide salaries that are fair and equitable. We looked at salaries in comparable jobs in other states and the cities and counties. We tried to say, ‘Here’s what fairness suggests,’ and not pay attention to the political atmosphere.”

Brinegar, now a vice chairman of Union Oil, said the commission will give the public a last chance to have its say at a hearing in Sacramento on Nov. 30, and at the conclusion of that meeting make its final salary rulings. What discussion there was Thursday in a Union Oil meeting room in downtown Los Angeles indicated that the tentative decisions are unlikely to change.

The new salaries will go into effect Dec. 3, and next July 1 the commission will set salaries for 1992. Slaries will then be updated annually.

According to the tentative decisions made Thursday, the attorney general’s annual salary will be increased from $77,500 to $102,000, the superintendent of public instruction’s from $72,500 to $102,000, and those of the state controller, treasurer, secretary of state and lieutenant governor from $72,500 to $90,000.

The post of insurance commissioner, which was an appointive job and has been changed to an elective position, was given no salary increase, nor were members of the State Board of Equalization. They will remain at an annual $95,052. The commission agreed that paying these officials more than the governor would be an anomaly.

As for legislative leaders, the commissioners tentatively decided that the Assembly Speaker and Senate president pro tem should get 20%, or $10,500, above the $52,500 given to ordinary legislators, while the majority and minority leaders in each chamber should be given 10%, or $5,250 more.

Legislators, in addition to a 29% raise, also will continue to receive benefits and expense allowances worth $25,000 to $35,000.

After praising Deukmejian, Assembly Speaker Willie L. Brown (D-San Francisco) and Senate President Pro Tem David Roberti (D-Los Angeles) for hard work, the commission tentatively gave those officials the largest percentage increases.

Deukmejian, however, would get the governor’s 41% increase only for the month of December, since he did not stand for reelection.

Commission member George Nesterczuk of Falls Church, Va., a management consultant and friend of Deukmejian’s executive secretary, Michael Frost, said he felt that since Proposition 140 eliminates pensions, it would be a good idea for the commission to compensate the legislators by giving them more in base pay.

Brinegar first expressed a mild reservation, but quickly agreed that if the courts later upset the pension provision of Proposition 140, the commission could readjust the salaries downward.

Generally, the commissioners were content to follow Brinegar’s lead. Only John R. Ohanesian, a vice president of St. John’s Hospital and Health Center in Santa Monica, and Steven F. Hayward, a director of a public policy research group at the Claremont Institute, expressed any uneasiness at starting off the commission’s work with sizable salary increases.

The commission staff provided the members with comparative charts showing that many city and county officials in California receive as much or more than California state officials would get under the new state salary schedules.

Lisa Foster, new executive director of California Common Cause, said that some of the proposed increases, particularly for the governor, were too high. Common Cause was instrumental in drafting Proposition 112, the ethics initiative that, among other things, set up the new commission.