Panel considers 10% pay cut for state lawmakers

Months after California legislators had their pay and benefits cut 18%, the head of a state panel that sets salaries proposed Tuesday that elected officials lose 10% more in response to the continuing budget crisis.

The idea came from Charles Murray, chairman of the state’s Citizens Compensation Commission. The group, which is appointed by the governor, is scheduled to meet April 22 in Burbank to consider new cuts, which would also affect lawmakers’ car allowance, health benefits and daily living expenses.

Murray noted that the state still faces billions of dollars in red ink, many government workers are furloughed three days a month, and funding for schools, social programs and healthcare has been cut.

“We’re in the hole again, and it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to see everybody else is cutting back,” said Murray, who runs a Los Angeles insurance firm.

Commissioner Kathy Sands, the former mayor of Auburn, Calif., said she supports Murray’s bid to further cut elected officials’ pay. “This isn’t punitive,” she said. “A lot of people think they aren’t doing a good job, but I think a lot of them are doing a good job.”

The six-member commission angered many lawmakers when it voted last year to cut pay and per diem by 18%. A new 10% reduction would lower legislators’ salaries to $85,762, still the highest in the nation.

A fresh pay cut would also apply to other elected state officials, including the governor, although Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger does not accept a salary.

patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com