Last Updated 1:22 am PST Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A4

The final tally is in: Twenty-one California lawmakers turned down the $3,110-per-year salary increase that went into effect this month, the controller's office said Monday.

Though the pay hike officially began Dec. 3, legislators had until Monday to turn thumbs down in time for the increase never to appear on their paycheck.

The most recent legislators to decline the raise, which jumped annual salaries from $113,098 to $116,208, were Assembly members Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfield; Mark Leno, D-San Francisco; and Cathleen Galgiani, D-Stockton.  Ninety-eight of the Legislature's 119 members accepted the 2.75 percent raise, which was approved five months ago by an independent citizens commission created by voters through Proposition 112 in 1990.

Six state senators previously rejected the pay hike: Democrats Lou Correa of Santa Ana, Christine Kehoe of San Diego, and Alan Lowenthal of Long Beach; and Republicans Jeff Denham of Atwater, Abel Maldonado of Santa Maria, and Mark Wyland of Del Mar.

Assembly members declining the increase were Republicans John Benoit of Palm Desert, Ted Gaines of Roseville, Martin Garrick of Solana Beach, Alan Nakanishi of Lodi, Roger Niello of Fair Oaks, and Mimi Walters of Laguna Niguel; and Democrats Hector De La Torre of South Gate, Mike Eng of Monterey Park, Ed Hernandez of West Covina, Ted Lieu of Torrance, Nicole Parra of Hanford, and Anthony Portantino of La Cañada Flintridge.

– Jim Sanders, Bee Capitol Bureau