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Here’s an Idea: Dock Lawmakers Pay |
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Guest Editorial
San Jose Mercury News Editorial
Elected state officials don’t deserve a penny more in pay.
 That should be obvious, with the state facing at least an $8 billion
budget deficit, the governor proposing 10 percent spending cuts and
legislators sitting on their hands when not pointing fingers.
But a pay cut? That was proposed this week by at least two of the
seven-member California Citizens Compensation Commission, and it’s an
intriguing idea. Let’s make it an incentive to get the budget passed on
time.
If lawmakers have a budget ready by the start of the fiscal year on July 1, as they’re supposed to, they keep full pay. But for every month’s delay, knock off 1 percent. It’s only fair. The delays aren’t just a problem on paper. They create real hardships, forcing the furlough of some state workers and leaving health clinics, school districts and community colleges unpaid for essential work.
After three months of no budget, lawmakers would have lost the 2.75 percent raise they got last year. By November, voters can finish the job by booting them from office.
Rolling back pay would be legal, according to research provided this week to the commission. It’s just a question of how to do it.
Voters created the commission in 1990 to set the pay level of legislators, the Board of Equalization and eight statewide elected officials.
Between 2001 and 2004, it didn’t raise anyone’s pay. The next year, it gave legislators a 12 percent raise; in 2006, an 18 percent raise for the governor and constitutional officers, plus 2 percent for legislators; and last year, an undeserved 2.75 percent more for lawmakers, who now earn $116,208, plus thousands more in per diem payments that are easily padded with make-work.
The prospect of a pay cut won’t faze Gov. Schwarzenegger, who turns back his paycheck every year. But hitting lawmakers where it hurts may be just what it takes to move warring Republicans and Democrats closer together in common cause - and get the state’s business done on time. (More San Jose Mercury news and views at: www.mercurynews.com .) __
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