Prop. 140 May Close Budget, Fiscal Offices

The staffs of the legislative analyst and the auditor general--offices that assist the Legislature with budget and fiscal issues--were told Tuesday that their jobs will be eliminated unless the California Supreme Court halts implementation of Proposition 140 by July 1.

The termination notices were given about the time that the Legislature was asking the Supreme Court to delay a decision on the fiscal consequences of Proposition 140 pending a ruling on the measure’s constitutionality.

Along with imposing term limits on lawmakers, the measure, approved by voters in November, requires the Legislature to reduce its budget by about 40% before the start of the new budget year July 1.

John Findley, an attorney for the authors of Proposition 140, denounced the move by the Legislature as a legal trick designed to put pressure on the Supreme Court at the last moment. “It’s amazing the Legislature has waited this long to cry this particular form of wolf,” he said.

The termination notices were a necessary legal step for the Legislature’s attorney, Joseph Remcho, to argue that eliminating the two agencies would cause lawmakers irreparable harm. But state officials were taking the warning seriously.

They said that to meet the mandates of Proposition 140 by July 1, they were being forced to cut both agencies from the budget. The move would save $20 million.

Legislative analyst Elizabeth Hill, whose job would be wiped out along with the others, said she told her staff she was taking the threat “very seriously.”

“I had no choice but to give them notice,” said Hill, who manages a staff of 90 with an annual budget of about $8 million.

Acting Auditor General Kurt R. Sjoberg, who said he gave notice to his staff verbally Monday afternoon, said, “We are taking it seriously and my staff is taking it seriously.”

Both agencies are highly respected. The legislative analyst’s office is the chief budget adviser to the Legislature. Its staff members analyze the governor’s budget each year, write ballot summaries for the secretary of state and perform other chores. The auditor general’s office, with a staff of 160 and an annual budget of about $11 million, conducts independent audits of the executive and judicial branches of government for the Legislature.

Findley expressed skepticism over the Legislature’s actions. “They’ve slumbered on this case a long period of time,” he said. “Proposition 140 was adopted last November. Now they are telling the court there is an emergency--when it is the Legislature that has delayed so long.”

“This is a classic political ploy,” he said, noting that the two agencies targeted for elimination are probably the most respected in the Legislature. “This is like reducing the federal budget deficit by threatening to close the Washington Monument. You take your very best and desirable services and threaten to cut those.”

Findley said the Legislature ignored “pork barreling” by lawmakers “to extort from the court some sort of eleventh-hour action.”

Elimination of the two agencies would follow a controversial program in which lawmakers offered legislative employees so-called “golden handshakes” if they were to quit.

One senior budget adviser to the Legislature, who asked to remain anonymous, said that even if the court rules in the Legislature’s favor, the budget move may already have caused severe damage to both agencies.

“You’ve got to believe that many of the analysts, particularly those with families and mortgages, will have to take the threat seriously and start looking for other jobs,” he said.

Hill and Sjoberg briefed their employees on the situation after they heard from members of a budget conference committee that money for the agencies would be omitted from the 1991-92 budget that is now taking final shape.

The conference committee is also considering eliminating 30% of non-civil service positions under the control of Gov. Pete Wilson.

Remcho, in his petition to the Supreme Court, said that although the layoffs would take effect, the key deadline for budget action would come Saturday, when the Legislature is legally required to adopt the budget.

The petition said the Legislature waited to file the petition in the hope that the court would rule on Proposition 140 earlier. The petition also said that talks between lawmakers and Wilson about finding an alternative to eliminating the agencies had not worked out.