The Red Monkey

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Attorney General Jerry Brown has decided that an independent state pay commission can reduce the salaries of California elected officials during the middle of their terms in office.

His decision, issued Thursday, reverses a legal opinion his office issued last June in response to an inquiry from the California Citizens Compensation Commission.

It allows the Department of Personnel Administration to cut legislators’ base salaries from $116,000 a year to $95,000 starting Dec. 7. Salaries for the eight statewide constitutional officers and four members of Board of Equalization also will be cut.

Brown’s office previously said the cuts could not take effect until after elections in 2010 and 2012. A spokeswoman says the office switched direction after further review of the June decision.

 

The Associated Press

But do they have the brassies to actually cut their pay?