Sacramento, CA - Assembly Bill 11 by Assemblymember Hector De La Torre (D-South Gate) passed the Senate on Moday on a bipartisan vote of 28-5. The bill stems from his experience as a councilmember in the City of South Gate.

“While serving as a councilmember in South Gate, I witnessed a corrupt majority of the city council give themselves a big pay raise for serving on city commissions and committees,” said De La Torre. “State law dictated South Gate councilmember’s salary at $600 per month, but these corrupt officials created a committee in order to pay themselves $1,600 a month for their participation, a 266% increase over their base salary.”

An example of salary padding by councilmembers is the creation of Community Development Commissions (CDCs), which are simply a consolidation of housing authorities and redevelopment associations. However, many councilmembers have taken this opportunity to boost their pay. One extreme example is the City of Huntington Park, which awards its city councilmembers $1,950 per month for serving on their CDC. There are nine cities in Los Angeles County alone that pay their councilmembers $1,000 or more for serving on a CDC.

AB 11 establishes a specific CDC compensation of $150 per meeting, not to exceed two meetings per month. In addition to CDCS, under no circumstance can a city council pay itself more than $150 per month to sit on a city commission, committee, board, authority or similar body.

De La Torre also stated, “Our cities are facing tough budgets. With the money councilmembers are paying themselves for a part-time job, we can make our cities safer, our parks cleaner, and fix our streets.”