Ethics-Salary Ballot Measure Clears Senate

SACRAMENTO — The Senate unanimously passed wide-ranging ethics legislation Thursday that would let voters decide whether to ban honorariums and limit gifts for lawmakers, while setting the stage for a legislative pay raise.

The proposed constitutional amendment, the centerpiece of the Senate’s proposal to upgrade the ethics of the Legislature, would limit legislators’ outside income, toughen conflict-of-interest rules and restrict lobbying by former top officials.

At the same time, the measure would offer legislators the hope of a substantial pay raise by setting up a commission to review whether their $40,816 annual salary and $88-a-day expense allowance amount to adequate compensation.

Under a Cloud

“We in the Senate are serious about passing major ethics reform,” said Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles), the author of the legislation. “There is a cloud right now hanging over our operations and it is incumbent upon every one of us to do everything we can to try to remove that cloud.”

The Legislature’s image has been seriously eroded during the last year--in part because of an ongoing FBI investigation into political corruption. So far, one legislator has been indicted--Sen. Joseph B. Montoya (D-Whittier) on extortion and racketeering charges. Montoya joined his colleagues in voting for Roberti’s measure.

The constitutional amendment, approved on a vote of 35 to 0, would be placed before the voters in June, 1990. It now goes to the Assembly, where legislators are attempting to reach agreement on their own package of ethics proposals that in some respects is tougher than the Senate version.

Leaders of both the Assembly and Senate have expressed optimism that the two houses can agree on a plan and adopt some form of ethics legislation before Sept. 15, when the Legislature adjourns for the year.

If approved by the Legislature and the voters, Roberti’s proposed constitutional amendment would:

Ban all honorariums for legislators and other elected state officials.

Limit gifts to $250 from a single source per year, with exceptions for gifts from family members and friends.

Prohibit elected state officials from receiving income from a lobbyist or an interest group that employs a lobbyist.

Enact separate legislation prohibiting former legislators from lobbying the Legislature for 12 months after leaving office and prohibiting former top executive branch officials from lobbying their former agencies for the same period.

Roberti moved Thursday to strengthen his proposal by requiring that the Legislature put teeth into its lax conflict-of-interest laws. Under current law, legislators are prohibited from voting on measures that affect their own financial interests, but there is no penalty for violations. Roberti’s amendment brings his proposal more in line with the Assembly plan.

In another area, he softened the measure with an amendment removing a limit on the amount of money legislators could earn in outside income. Under his original proposal, legislators would have been prohibited from receiving outside income totaling more than 30% of their salary.

The Senate leader also said he will amend his proposal to prohibit closed-door meetings of legislative bodies, except for discussions of personnel matters, security matters or pending litigation. Private meetings of the Democratic and Republican caucuses of each house also would be permitted.

“We think this legislation, while not perfect, moves a great deal forward in trying to address many of the issues that the public perceives--in most cases quite correctly--as ethical questions,” Roberti told his colleagues.

But it remains to be seen whether the voters care enough about questions of legislative ethics to pass a constitutional amendment that is likely to give legislators a hefty pay raise.

Backers of the plan argue that legislators have come to depend on honorariums and other outside income because they do not receive enough in salary and expense allowances to maintain residences in both the capital and their districts. Some legislators say their salary should be more in keeping with that of Superior Court judges, who receive $84,765 a year.

Roberti contended that it would be a “reform” to remove the Legislature’s power to set its own salary and put it in the hands of an outside commission appointed by the governor.