Senators Get OK to Live on Donations During Budget Impasse : Legislature: Counsel’s opinion alarms watchdogs. But lawmakers say they need money while pay is withheld.

Imagine the National Rifle Assn. helping to pay a state senator’s rent, the California Medical Assn. chipping in to buy groceries, and the Assn. of California Insurance Cos. putting up money to help with the utilities.

Under such a scenario, critics say, legislators ultimately may find themselves beholden to the private interests that put up cash to help pay their bills.

Yet a new opinion by the legislative counsel’s office has advised senators that it is legal for them to dip into their campaign contributions from these and other sources to cover living expenses during the current budget stalemate.

The opinion says that, as long as senators are denied their $109 per diem expense checks, they can turn to campaign funds to temporarily cover the costs of being in Sacramento on legislative business.

The opinion follows a stand taken by the Senate Rules Committee to withhold senators’ salary and expense paychecks for each day that passes without adoption of a state budget.

It also seems to fly in the face of what Senate leader and Rules Committee Chairman Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward) sought to show with that action: that the senators were willing to sacrifice with others inconvenienced by a late budget.

But not all senators could afford the symbolic gesture, said state Sen. Charles M. Calderon (D-Whittier), who said he asked for the legal opinion on behalf of colleagues who approached him.

“There were several who were worried, depending on how long the budget process goes on, about paying for their rent and utilities so they could be up here,” Calderon said Monday, noting that Southern California legislators have to maintain two residences.

Having gotten a raise in the past year, senators now earn $72,000, the highest state legislative salary in the nation, in addition to the $103 per diem and other perks, such as a state car to drive while in Sacramento. In December, a second raise--to $75,600--kicks in.

Calderon said he did not regard the opinion as a big deal because, as he read it, senators were required to eventually repay campaign accounts once their per diem checks start coming in again. All senators will be paid retroactively once a budget is approved and signed by Gov. Pete Wilson. Assembly members, however, never asked that their pay be withheld and are still receiving checks.

Bion M. Gregory of the legislative counsel’s office would not comment on the opinion, refusing even to confirm its existence.

“We’re prohibited by law from discussing any work we do for the members,” Gregory said.

Ruth Holton of Common Cause, an organization that advocates political reform, said the opinion harks back to the days when legislators used slush funds from political contributors to subsidize their lifestyles.

“Frankly, I’m astounded that the legislative counsel is saying they are allowed to use campaign funds for this purpose,” Holton said.

Calderon brushed aside the criticism. “I don’t believe that’s the case because eventually the campaign account will have to be reimbursed,” he said. “So we are really talking about a short-term process that will allow lawmakers to be up here to debate the issues and vote the issues.”

Lockyer, who apparently was unaware of Calderon’s request, declined to react to the development, saying through a spokesman, “I have absolutely no plans to do anything except live on my meager savings as long as the budget is pending.”