Panel OKs Raises of Up to 15% for Top Legislators

SACRAMENTO —  A state commission that gave major raises to top California officials and legislators last year handed another 7.5% to 15% to the Legislature’s top six leaders Monday.

As of Dec. 6, the pay of Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles) and Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco) will jump from $99,000 to $113,850 a year, a raise of 15%.

The salaries of the Legislature’s four party floor leaders, two Democrats and two Republicans, will rise to $106,425 annually, an increase of 7.5%.

The 4-3 vote by the independent California Citizens Compensation Commission affects only the Legislature’s top six leaders and did not affect the $99,000-a-year pay of other members, already the highest paid in the country.

“With these [leadership] positions comes a lot of responsibility. It’s a fairness issue,” said Commissioner Thomas Dominguez, an Orange County Sheriff’s Department investigator.

Dominguez said the additional cash for the leaders, in effect, restored “differential pay” that was eliminated last year when the commission increased the pay of all legislators to $99,000. Previously, rank-and-file members were paid $78,624.

Commission Chairman Claude Brinegar, a retired oil company executive, opposed the increase, noting that in 1998 the panel eliminated the extra pay of legislative leaders “on purpose.”

“We did the correct thing when we discontinued the leadership pay,” Brinegar said. He insisted that no raises should occur until a study is made of expense allowances for legislators.

Another opponent, Commissioner Nicholas Bavaro of Modesto, a Republican activist and management consultant, said: “Our legislators and leaders are paid sufficiently. The salaries we have given them are sufficient.”

In addition to their salaries, legislators get $121 a day tax-free for living expenses. Typically during a nine-month session, that totals about $30,000.

The commission spurned a series of other pay proposals Monday, including one calling for a 20% increase for Villaraigosa and Burton and a 10% boost for the party floor leaders.

Villaraigosa, a father of four, said he will accept the approved raise. He said the commission merely restored a policy that recognizes the extra responsibilities of leadership with “modest” additional compensation.

Also entitled to the raise are Sens. Richard G. Polanco of Los Angeles, Senate Democratic floor leader; Ross Johnson of Irvine, GOP floor leader; Assemblymen Kevin Shelley of San Francisco, Assembly Democratic floor leader, and Rod Pacheco of Riverside, Assembly GOP floor leader. They did not return phone calls seeking comment.

One year ago, the commission ignited a firestorm when it met with only the barest of advance public notice and approved surprise salary raises ranging from 26% to 34%, including a boost for governor from $131,000 to $165,000 a year (Gov. Gray Davis accepts all but 5% of the new figure).

Public employees, who had not received a raise under Gov. Pete Wilson since 1995, generally supported those increases, which ranged from the governor and other constitutional offices to members of the Legislature.

They complained bitterly, however, that Wilson should not have been a recipient. They criticized Wilson for holding back raises to public employee unions.

Union officials, who recently reached short-term pay agreements with Davis but must renegotiate soon, reacted cautiously to the compensation commission’s Monday decision.

“We think people should be compensated for the work they do,” said Terry Kenny, president of the California State Employees Union. “We hope [legislative leaders] also look kindly on those state employees who serve . . . California and compensate them accordingly.”

In a separate action, the commission declined on a split vote to approve a regulation requiring it to give the public 30 days advance notice before a final vote on new salaries.

“I wish we had done that last year, but we didn’t,” Brinegar said. He said wider public notice would “provide some comfort in our relations with the outside world.”

Other commissioners countered that the commission’s meetings had been properly announced in advance last year, although they didn’t get much public exposure.

“If it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” said Commissioner Jim Green, a retired labor union officer.