SACRAMENTO -- Pay for California's top elected officials will be slashed by 18% next month, one year earlier than expected, to abide by an opinion Thursday from Attorney General Jerry Brown.
Just in time for the holiday season, lawmakers will have their salaries cut by $20,917 annually while California's 12 top state officials will see reductions of at least $28,644 apiece.
Lawmakers will see their salaries drop from $116,208 to $95,291. Pay for statewide constitutional officers will range, after the cut, from $173,987 for the governor to $130,490 for the lieutenant governor, the secretary of state and members of the Board of Equalization.
"There are legal scholars that might quibble, but I think the vast majority of Californians would give Jerry Brown a standing ovation," said John Pitney Jr., professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, through a spokesman, applauded the cuts.
"The governor doesn't take a salary, and everyone in his administration has taken a 14% pay cut," said Aaron McLear, press secretary. "He believes the Legislature, just like everyone else in state government, ought to be cutting back." Brown concluded that a pay cut approved in May by the state's independent salary-setting commission is not barred by the state Constitution from taking effect mid-term. The reductions are expected to save the state about $2.9 million a year.
Brown did not address another key issue: Whether the pay panel had the authority to approve, as it did in July, a separate 18% cut in lawmakers' benefits, including their car allowance and $173 per diem for living expenses in Sacramento.
That cut also is planned for next month.
Controller John Chiang will reduce his salary and that of other elected officials on Dec.7, spokeswoman Hallye Jordan said.
"We were awaiting the opinion of the state's top attorney, and we will abide by his opinion," Jordan said.
Chiang will continue to wait for guidance from Brown on the issues of per diem and legislative benefits, Jordan said.
State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner voluntarily cut his pay by 18% in June. Michelle Steel of the Board of Equalization has taken a 5% cut. Thirty-seven of the 40 senators and 32 of the 79 current Assembly members also have requested cuts, most of them by 5%, records show.
Assembly Member Juan Arambula, I-Fresno, supports Brown's opinion. Arambula already has turned in his state-issued car and earlier this year took a voluntary 5% pay cut.
He said he was "disappointed that other members did not come forward to make a symbolic statement that they wanted to lead by example and share some of the pain that everybody else is feeling."
Assembly Member Connie Conway, R-Tulare, said she expected the cut and has been stashing money away to prepare. She added: "If we want everyone else to sacrifice, then we should too."
Charles Murray, chairman of the seven-member pay commission, said that Brown's opinion coincides with the desire of most voters.
"We represent the average Californian," he said. "He or she knows someone out of work or on furlough, and to have representatives in office block their salary cut would be ludicrous."
Nobody talked publicly Thursday of attempting to block the pay cut, although there were hints of disagreement with Brown's opinion.
Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, in a written statement, said that Assembly members "are no strangers to stepping up in these tough times."
"We will obviously follow the law and the Constitution -- as every state agency has the duty to do, including the compensation commission," she said.
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