Budget Fight Comes Back to Bite: State Controller Sued by Lawmakers for Docking Pay

When State Controller John Chiang decided to block legislators’ pay last year for offering up a flawed budget, critics of the much-maligned annual budget struggle probably couldn’t hide their glee. A provision of Proposition 25 stipulates that lawmakers must have their pay docked if they fail to deliver a balanced budget by June 15th, which is what happened last year. Chiang at the time said he was in his right to exercise discretion over what constituted a “balanced” budget.

However, Democratic legislative leaders are now disputing Chiang’s authority over their pay and have filed a lawsuit against the Controller. Why so long after the fact? Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez say they have been carefully reviewing if they have a case to make and are asking the court to rule whether or not pay can be docked this year if another budget dispute plays out. Taxpayers may not be so pleased to know that the legal costs are being covered by the Legislature’s operating budget, which is financed by tax dollars.

In a statement about the suit, Perez commented, “Let me be clear from the outset, both the pro tem and I have waived our claims for renumeration should this lawsuit succeed. This is fundamentally an issue of separation of powers."

The State Controller released a statement saying he welcome the legal challenge:

“I welcome the review of Propositions 25 and 58, which voters enacted to ensure on-time and balanced budgets. The issue before us is not the role of my office, but how to enact the will of the voters. It is noteworthy to point out that the Legislature's budget proposal was not only vetoed by the Governor for not being a 'balanced solution,' but it was determined by the Treasurer to not be financeable, and would have, within months of its passage, led to the issuance of IOUs.While nothing in the Constitution gives me the authority to judge the honesty, legitimacy or viability of a budget, it does clearly restrict my authority to issue pay to Legislators when they fail to enact a balanced budget by the Constitutional deadline of June 15."
 
You can read the full text of the lawsuit that was filed here. More about the lawsuit here.