Pay Cuts for State Legislators Challenged Again

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Not all lawmakers are pleased with the challenge.

"This is not the time to try to claw back missed compensation from previous employment," said Sen. Sam Blakeslee (R-San Luis Obispo). Blakeslee moved from the Assembly to the Senate after a special election this summer.  "If we’re going to earn back the respect of the public, we need to respect the decision of the Citizens Compensation Commission whether we agree with it or not."

The challenge comes as lawmakers already face dismal public approval ratings amid growing frustrations with how Sacramento has handled the state’s finances. The pay cuts were popular with voters, and an earlier legal attempt to restore the salaries was rebuffed by Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown.

Cedillo filed the latest claim as a first step toward a possible lawsuit that would seek to repeal the salary and benefit cuts and limit future decreases. It could also be settled if the state agrees to reimburse the elected officials.

Murray said his panel’s decision to cut salaries and benefits "was the right thing to do. ... It was a sharing of the burden which all other state employees had to bear when their pay was cut."

Cedillo, who was just elected to the Assembly after being termed out of the Senate, argues that the commission lacks the authority to reduce salaries and benefits for legislators in the middle of their terms. "We have a commission that apparently thinks they can do this. We don’t think that they can," said Robin Johansen, an attorney for Cedillo.

The pay cut reduced legislators' salaries from $116,208 to $95,291 effective Dec. 7, 2009.

"The commission had no authority to reduce per diem, automobile and other allowances for members of the Legislature because that authority is vested either in the Legislature itself or in other agencies," said the claim, dated Nov. 15 and released Tuesday by state officials.

The legal challenge would also affect reductions in the salaries approved last year for statewide elected officials including the governor, although Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger does not accept his $173,900 salary.

Last year, representatives of the Legislature filed a legal challenge on some of the same grounds with Brown, but his office responded that Murray’s panel had the power to cut officeholders' compensation  without waiting until after the next election.

The state claims board, which has paid out millions of dollars to settle other claims that people were injured by the state, is made up of the controller and two people appointed by the governor.

Murray said the board should reject Cedillo’s claim. "As far as I’m concerned, we had a very sound basis to do what we did," he said.