Panel Gives Legislators Pay Raises

Despite angry protests by a long parade of public witnesses, a voter-approved salary commission Friday unanimously granted substantial pay raises to statewide elected officials and all members of the Legislature.

The governor’s annual salary will rise from $102,000 to $120,000. Legislators will receive an increase from $40,816 to $52,500--a 28.6% jump. Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) and Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) will get 20% more, or a total of $63,000. Minority leaders will get 10% more than their rank and file colleagues.

Gov.-elect Pete Wilson urged the commission in a letter to grant an even larger legislative pay raise to attract more qualified and dedicated men and women to serve. The seven-member commission was not swayed and declared that the raises would remain unchanged from preliminary figures announced at a Nov. 15 meeting .

The commission, which was set up by voters when they approved Proposition 112 last June as part of an ethics reform package, has final authority to set salaries. The raises take effect Monday.

The action was expected to generate political fallout, coming in the wake of reports that the state is facing an estimated $5 billion-plus budget shortfall in the current and coming fiscal years. The commission Friday sat through several hours of mostly hostile testimony from the public objecting to the increases.

Commission Chairman Claude S. Brinegar warned the audience of about 150 in a hearing room near the Capitol that he would order the removal of vocal protesters if they interrupted the proceedings. “You didn’t listen to anything we said,” one woman shouted as she left the hearing room after the commission’s vote.

The ruling comes less than a month after voters approved Proposition 140, which imposes term limits on statewide elected officials, requires up to a 50% reduction in legislative operating expenses, and eliminates lawmakers’ state pensions.

Brinegar, secretary of transportation in the Richard M. Nixon Administration and now a vice chairman of Union Oil Co., seemed to anticipate further controversy when he commented before the vote: “As a citizen of California, I am well aware of the current state budget situation. However, I believe that Proposition 112 intended for the commission to make long-term (salary) decisions in an atmosphere that is not unduly impacted by events in the political arena.

“I recognize that our decisions will offend some who believe we are being too generous, as well as some who believe the opposite to be true, although the latter generally have been less vocal.”

The vote came after the commission was berated by a long list of critics.

Harvey Rosenfeld, a leader of the Voter Revolt group that sponsored the Proposition 103 insurance initiative, called the pay raise vote an “obscene gesture,” saying: “There is not enough money in the state treasury to pay elected state officials to be honest and ethical. The message of Proposition 140 was that the people do not want professional politicians.

“It is an obscene gesture to consider raising the salaries of state officials at this time. I ask you to cut back or at least freeze their salaries until they get us out of the fiscal crunch that we now face.”

Ted Costa, of People’s Advocate Inc., told the commission that the vote should be put off “until hell freezes over.”

Janice Makris, who identified herself as an employee in the state treasurer’s office, charged that the lawmakers’ pay raises were undeserved. “If the Legislature doesn’t like it, let them quit and find another job,” Makris said. The audience cheered.

Ralph Morrell, a self-appointed legislative crusader, declared: “Sacramento is not a swamp; it is a cesspool.”

Not all witnesses opposed the pay raises. Former legislative analyst A. Alan Post said he favored an even higher salary for legislators because Proposition l40 has made lawmaking “a dead-end job.”

“You have to make many sacrifices to be a legislator,” Post said. “It is hard on families, health and freedom.”

A spokesman for the state Chamber of Commerce, Fred Main, testified that all legislative salaries should be about $60,000 to attract the best candidates.

Ruth Holton of Common Cause said that her group agreed with the recommended legislative pay raise, but objected to $120,000 for the governor because it would boost outgoing Gov. George Deukmejian’s pension by $21,000, bringing his total annual pension to $72,000.

Deukmejian has been receiving $85,000 annually. Wilson, even without the commission’s ruling, would have received $102,000 at the start of his term in January because of prior legislation. The commission’s action added $18,000 to the new governor’s salary.

Wilson, who campaigned for the term limits that lawmakers bitterly opposed, appeared to be extending another goodwill gesture to legislators in urging the commission to grant them even higher salaries. Earlier, Wilson made a courtesy call on Assembly Speaker Brown, one of the Legislature’s most vocal critics of the term limit initiative.

Other salary decisions effective Monday will raise the attorney general’s pay from $77,500 to $102,000, superintendent of public instruction from $72,500 to $102,000, and the lieutenant governor, state controller, treasurer and secretary of state from $72,500 to $90,000. The salaries for state insurance commissioner and members of the State Board of Equalization will remain at $95,052. The pensions of statewide officeholders receiving raises will increase as a result of the commission’s action.

Brinegar indicated that the commission may take another look at legislative salaries. “Maybe we did come down too low on the Legislature, but that’s an issue I’d like to put off until next year,” he said.

Members of the Legislature, in addition to their base salary, receive about $20,000 yearly in living expenses while in session and other fringe benefits.

PROPOSED PAY HIKES

Here are increases in annual pay for legislators and state elected officials approved Friday by the state Citizens Compensation Commission:

Governor: $85,000 current, $120,000 approved (was to be $102,000 at start of new term)

Lieutenant governor: $72,500 current; $90,000 approved

Attorney general: $77,500 current; $102,000 approved

Controller: $72,500 current; $90,000 approved

Treasurer: $72,500 current; $90,000 approved

Secretary of state: $72,500 current; $90,000 approved

Superintendent of public instruction: $72,500 current; $102,000 approved

Insurance commissioner: $95,052 current; $95,052 approved

Board of Equalization members: $95,052 current; $95,052 approved

Assembly Speaker and state Senate president pro tem: $40,816 current; $63,000 approved

State legislators: $40,816 current; $52,500 approved