Hill Removed From Senate Committees : Legislature: The state senator’s colleagues are pressuring him to quickly resign his seat. He was convicted last week of political corruption.

Sen. Frank Hill (R-Whittier), convicted last week of political corruption charges, was stripped of his committee assignments Monday by the Senate Rules Committee.

The action was aimed at pressuring Hill to resign his Senate seat swiftly and avoid a potential election year embarrassment for incumbent lawmakers.

The bipartisan 5-0 Rules Committee vote occurred as reports swept through the Capitol that Hill might seek to delay his departure until Sept. 12, when he is scheduled for sentencing on political corruption convictions.

Hill remained closeted and tight-lipped in his fifth-floor Capitol office but told a Times reporter that he had not decided when he would submit his resignation.

Hill was found guilty Thursday by a federal court jury of extortion, conspiracy and money laundering while serving as a state assemblyman in 1988. He accepted a $2,500 check from an undercover FBI agent who was investigating suspected corruption in the Legislature.

Outside of legislators, most elected state officials must resign their posts when they are convicted of a crime. However, the state Constitution leaves it up to the Legislature whether to expel a member.

Although the Rules Committee action fell short of initiating an expulsion proceeding against Hill, it clearly was intended as a message to Hill that he should resign before the issue erupts into a major election year embarrassment.

Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward), committee chairman, indicated that further action may be forthcoming, but he declined to elaborate pending consultation with the Legislature’s lawyer.

He said he expects that Hill, who served on the Senate Budget, Governmental Organization and Insurance committees, will resign and that it is merely a matter of timing when he will do so.

On Monday, Hill, a pragmatic conservative, reported to work as usual. But he remained in his office with aides, did not attend the Senate floor session and refused requests by reporters for interviews.

A reporter who spoke briefly with the 40-year-old lawmaker during a chance encounter asked him if he intends to remain on the Senate payroll until sentencing. “I haven’t made any decisions,” Hill said.

Earlier in the day, Lockyer told reporters that Hill contacted him after the jury verdicts last week and said he intends to remain on the Senate payroll but would not vote or participate in committee hearings or floor sessions.

By relieving Hill of his committee assignments, the Rules Committee guaranteed that he would not cast a vote in committee.

The last time the Senate dealt with a similar situation occurred four years ago when Sen. Joseph Montoya (D-Whittier), also convicted of political corruption, did not step down as quickly as other senators wished. To hurry things along, the Rules Committee stripped him of his committee chairmanships.

Lockyer said he believed that Hill wants a “brief chance to get his personal affairs in order and to attend to family obligations” before resigning.

On pressing Hill to leave, Lockyer said, senators find themselves in the difficult position of choosing between their “personal feelings for a well-liked colleague (and) our duties to the institution.”

Legislators believe that Hill, who is married and the father of three children, faces mounting legal costs and may want to keep his seat as long as possible to provide income to his family.

“If I were in his shoes, I’d want to stay as long as I could,” said Sen. Nicholas C. Petris (D-Oakland), a member of the Rules Committee.

But Ruth Holton, executive director of California Common Cause, said Hill should resign immediately. “He’s been convicted of a felony. It’s the only appropriate thing to do for the health of the institution,” she said.