California lawmakers will permanently forfeit their pay starting June 16 if they fail to pass a balanced budget by that date, state Controller John Chiang said.
Chiang, a Democrat, said a ballot measure approved by voters in November clearly calls for lawmakers to lose their salary and reimbursements for expenses from June 16 until a balanced budget is sent to the governor. Lawyers for the Legislature have said that a budget bill approved in March may have met the requirement, though it didn’t erase what is now a $10 billion deficit.
“Presenting the governor with a balanced budget by the constitutional deadline is the most-important, if not most- difficult, job of the California Legislature,” Chiang said today in a statement.
Governor Jerry Brown, also a Democrat, and Republican lawmakers are at an impasse over how to fill the gap. Last year, the fiscal 2011 spending plan was a record 100 days late amid a similar deficit stalemate with then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Brown wants the Legislature to approve asking voters to extend more than $9 billion of expiring tax increases to offset cuts to schools and public safety.
California lawmakers earn $95,291 a year. Legislative leaders make as much as $109,584.
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