State lawmakers sworn into office

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — State lawmakers officially began their next two-year session Monday as they were sworn in to a newly reshaped Legislature in which Democrats hold powerful supermajorities in both houses.

Lawmakers stood with family members on the floors of the state Senate and Assembly as members took the oath of office, breaking into applause, cheers and hugs.

Voters in November gave Democrats two-thirds majorities in the Assembly and Senate, enough to raise taxes if they choose without Republican support. They also approved Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax initiative, which will bring in about $6 billion a year from higher sales and income taxes on the wealthy.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, who was re-elected by senators to that leadership post Monday, said he still intends to work with Republicans, particularly Senate Minority Leader Bob Huff of Diamond Bar.

“I want to use this occasion to reach out the hand of friendship to you and our Republican colleagues and make it clear to you that we hope you join us governing this great state in a positive way,” Steinberg said after he was re-elected.

John Perez, D-Los Angeles, also was re-elected Assembly speaker, with a few Republican members saying “no” on the voice vote.

He praised returning Assembly members for working to restore the California economy, eliminating the state’s structural deficit, and passing mortgage and housing legislation to keep people in their homes. He said the California dream is “inexorably linked” to the notion of opportunity.

“For the middle-class Californians who have weathered a very difficult period of our history, we must deliver on that promise,” Perez said.

Monday’s events will be mostly ceremonial before the Legislature adjourns for the holidays, although some lawmakers will begin introducing bills to be taken up next year. How to address the $1.9 billion budget deficit — a far smaller gap than California is used to — will be taken up after lawmakers reconvene in January. Brown, a Democrat, also has said he plans to call a special session of the Legislature after the first of the year to address health care reforms.

Former Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom was among those sworn into the Assembly. He edged Betsy Butler for the newly-drawn 50th district.

Half the 40 senators are newly elected or re-elected, while the other half are in the middle of their four-year terms. There is one vacancy, with a special election scheduled Jan. 8 to replace state Sen. Doug La Malfa, R-Willows, who resigned his 4th Senate District seat in a successful bid for Congress.

Nearly half the 80 Assembly members will be new to the Legislature. A spokeswoman for Perez, Robin Swanson, said in the three races that officials consider too close for the races to be called, the current front-runners will be sworn in, including in Assembly District 36, which spans parts of Kern, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Democrat Steve Fox was being sworn in Monday, but Republican Ron Smith has said he will seek a recount.

It was unclear what would happen if the results were overturned and a member who had been sworn in was not elected, Swanson said.

“It’s a very serious day,” said Assembly Minority Leader Connie Conway, R-Tulare, who is entering her final two-year term. “I remember for me, I had my mom with me on the floor and you look around at the beautiful building, the history and the other Californians that got themselves elected to represent the people. It’s kind of a moving moment for some of us.”

Democrats will have enhanced power this session after voters gave them veto-proof supermajorities in both chambers for the first time in decades. The two-thirds majorities mean Democrats no longer need Republican votes to approve tax increases or place ballot measures before voters, and proposals already are surfacing to rewrite the state’s tax structure.

Two Senate Democrats, Mark Leno of San Francisco and Lois Wolk of Davis, said they plan to introduce constitutional amendments that would lower the vote threshold for school districts and some other local governments from the current two-thirds to 55 percent.

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano of San Francisco led his fellow Democrats in re-introducing a variation on a vetoed bill that would bar local law enforcement officers from detaining suspects for possible deportation unless they were charged with serious or violent crimes.

For the first time, new lawmakers will be able to serve 12 years in either the Assembly or the Senate, or a combination of both. That’s a voter-approved change from previous term limits, which limited legislators to eight years in the Senate and six in the Assembly.

Lawmakers, along with California’s statewide officeholders, also will be working for less pay starting Monday. The California Citizens Compensation Commission voted in May to reduce their salaries by 5 percent.

Even with the reduction, California lawmakers will remain the nation’s highest paid with a base salary of $90,525 a year. Unlike lawmakers in some other states, they do not receive pensions.

The salaries for the Assembly and Senate leaders will be cut to $104,105.

The governor’s $174,000 salary will drop to about $165,000. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $130,000 salary will fall to about $124,000, and Attorney General Kamala Harris will be paid less than $144,000, down from about $151,000.

Commissioners justified the action by pointing to years of state budget deficits, although voter approval of Brown’s tax initiative in November is expected to give the state an actual surplus a year from now. The independent panel previously reduced salaries for California’s statewide officeholders and its 120 legislators by 18 percent in 2009.