Budget Ax Has Rumor Mill Working Overtime : Legislature: Staffs are trying to predict impact of Proposition 140. It slashes operating budget 48%.

State legislative staff members are facing a not-so-merry Christmas because of massive job layoffs or reduced salaries threatening to hit their ranks after voter approval of Proposition 140.

“Santa Claus is going to be pretty scarce around our house this year,” said one lawmaker’s aide, who is updating his resume and looking for prospective new employers.

Besides limiting the terms of elected state officials, one of the measure’s provisions seeks to slash lawmakers’ operating budgets--which means cutting staffs by almost 50%.

Just who among the Capitol’s 3,200 legislative employees must go or take a salary cut is up in the air. The deadline is seven months away and a legal challenge to Proposition 140 is expected to be filed early next year.

Legislative staffers are gossiping in Capitol corridors and coffee shops about plans that they hope will save their jobs--even at the expense of others. Those who work for lesser-known legislators and small committees argue that they should be spared and that cuts should fall on the larger staffs of legislative leaders and major committees.

Many agree that some longtime friendships are going to be ruined in the battle for survival. “Things could get real nasty before it’s over,” said one staffer, who declined to be identified.

Sponsored by Los Angeles County Supervisor Pete Schabarum, Proposition 140 calls for the Assembly-Senate’s $219-million operating budget to be slashed by up to 48%, to $114 million.

While vulnerable staffers wait to see where the ax will fall, rumors are flying and--although they are largely unsubstantiated--the concern that they are causing is real.

One unconfirmed report is that Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) feels that the 80-member Assembly should take a bigger staff “hit” than his 40-member upper house. This has caused a rumored rift with Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco)--all of which is officially denied.

On the brighter side for staffers, scuttlebutt has it that Gov.-elect Pete Wilson, who endorsed Proposition 140’s term limits, may be willing to make a “peace offering” to the Legislature and save jobs by assuming some of the required cuts within his office’s operating budget--again officially denied.

Already a casualty of Proposition 140 is the proposed construction of a multimillion-dollar legislative office building across the street from the state Capitol.

The real anxiety rests with the many assistants, consultants, secretaries, bill researchers and district office personnel who are employed by lawmakers. Many remember that they donated money and time to the anti-140 campaign.

“Some people definitely are upset over the passage of the initiative,” said Bob Forsythe, press secretary to Roberti. “A number of them are putting together their resumes and seeking work in other places. And there are lots of rumors going around that range from the logical to fantasy.”

For now, the Senate is assuming that a large number of upper house staffers are going to lose their jobs.

“We are probably going to have to reduce the number of Senate employees by a substantial amount,” said Cliff Berg, executive officer of the Rules Committee. “I would say about 35% to 50%, somewhere in that neighborhood. . . . We also have sent a memo to individual senators asking them for their ideas.”

The memo says that the Rules Committee hopes to implement a plan to meet Proposition 140 requirements by early February.

The Assembly is taking a more conservative approach. The day after the November election, Speaker Brown told lower house employees: “Don’t worry until after the holidays. Go ahead and try to have a good Thanksgiving and Christmas. We’ve got ‘til July. Everything will be done to mitigate any personal hardships on individuals.”

Speaker Brown also asked Bob Connelly, executive officer of the Assembly Rules Committee, to explore alternatives to satisfying the requirements of Proposition 140.

Connelly is looking into proposals such as moving some legislative employees into protected Civil Service status, a “golden handshake” early retirement program, a four-day workweek, a 20% across-the-board pay cut, a freeze on replacing workers who leave legislative service and canceling some state leases for office space.

“We also could lay off a lot of people,” he said, “but that is a last resort. We will look at all other options first before layoffs.”

Staffers who work for majority Democrats are more optimistic than those who work for minority Republicans. If it comes down to members of the Legislature having to decide who stays and who goes, Democrats will be calling most of the shots on key committees. Democrats outnumber Republicans 48 to 32 in the Assembly and 25 to 13 in the Senate.

Another idea being circulated envisions Speaker Brown pressuring lobbyists to create jobs on their staffs for top legislative aides--who would continue working for the Speaker. Connelly called this a “ridiculous” idea because it would be a flagrant violation of state law.

A third plan would shift the sergeants-at-arms--whose duties include running personal errands for lawmakers--to the jurisdiction of the General Services Administration, the state’s housekeeping agency. Connelly said this would not save any money because the GSA would charge the Legislature for providing the sergeants.

Connelly noted that next year the Legislature must deal with a new Administration, an expected $4 billion budget shortfall and reapportionment.

“That’s a recipe for extreme stress if there ever was one,” he said.