California Legislators Lose Pay in Budget Jam

By VAUHINI VARA

California Controller John Chiang said Tuesday he would withhold legislators' pay for failing to meet a June 15 deadline for a balanced budget, dialing up pressure on Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers to close the state's remaining $9.6 billion deficit.

Mr. Chiang said a budget passed last week by state legislators and vetoed by Mr. Brown was short by $1.9 billion. Under the terms of an initiative passed last year by voters, legislators' pay is to be withheld for every day that they don't pass a balanced budget after the constitutional deadline of June 15.

"The numbers simply did not add up, and the legislature will forfeit their pay until a balanced budget is sent to the governor," Mr. Chiang said in a statement.

Lawmakers' monthly paycheck is due June 30. Pay will be withheld as of June 16 until a budget is passed.

The controller's move came amid a political impasse threatening to leave the nation's most populous state without a budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1. That could harm California's ability to pay bills and borrow money, potentially endangering the state's economic recovery.

The budget stalemate has placed California's credit rating is "at a crossroad," said Standard and Poor's analyst Gabriel Petek in a research note Tuesday. He added that a further delay could result in a cash crisis or the passage of a budget "that relies on as-yet unrealized sources of revenue, additional payment deferrals or legally questionable maneuvers."

California legislators were the highest paid in the U.S. as of last year, with an annual salary of $95,291, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. That works out to a loss in salary of $261 a day. They will also lose a per diem of $142.

"The controller has made his determination," Mr. Brown said in a statement. "We should all work together to pass a solid budget."

The legislature can pass a budget with a simple majority, but raising taxes requires approval by two-thirds of legislators, which would require at least four Republican votes. Mr. Brown is still negotiating with a handful of Republicans to extend some tax increases scheduled to expire. When he failed to strike a deal by last week, Democratic legislators crafted and passed an alternate plan without the proposed tax-increase extensions.

While some legislators said they supported Mr. Chiang's move to withhold their pay, others opposed it. "I believe he was wrong," said State Assembly Speaker John Perez in a statement. He said the legislature passed a budget "reflecting all the options available to close the deficit without new revenues and without cuts so deep as to cost the state jobs and jeopardize our economic recovery."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304070104576399973797850288.html

I wish the same could happen here.

Our Baba here don't even know he have the power to ask Senators to cut short their break to deliberate and approve his list of ministers.

And to imagine, legislature are planning a fresh increase of their salaries and allowances, I feel like