SACRAMENTO — Not content to drive most members of the Assembly and state Senate out of their jobs by 1996, backers of Proposition 140 want lawmakers to feel the bite of a dissatisfied electorate even more quickly.
One of two term-limit initiatives on the Nov. 6 ballot, Proposition 140 would immediately remove lawmakers from a retirement system that proponents describe as "overly generous" and "extravagant." Also, effective in July, the measure would slash the Legislature's operating budget by as much as half.
Proposition 140's term limits have gotten most of the attention--six years for Assembly members and eight years for state senators and most other state elected officials. But the other features are also riling incumbent officeholders and legislative staff members, who use terms like \o7 brutal \f7 and \o7 vindictive, Draconian \f7 and \o7 spiteful \f7 to describe the measure's impact and the motivation behind it.
But the principal sponsor of the initiative, Los Angeles County Supervisor Pete Schabarum, says his only objective is to scale down what he regards as an oversized government institution and turn it over to citizen-legislators.
Citing polls in support of limiting the benefits and terms of lawmakers, Schabarum has said repeatedly that people are "fed up" with legislative behavior and the attendant trappings of power.
To discourage those who seek office for its perks, Schabarum has said he deliberately took aim at "the extraordinary privileges and benefits that go with being a member of the Legislature."
Proposition 140 "is intended to take away an extraordinarily generous retirement system and, in so doing, eliminate a very dramatic motivation for folks to stick around," Schabarum said in testimony at a legislative hearing.
"If you don't know it, believe me," Schabarum told lawmakers, "a whole bunch of Californians are sick and tired of the money the Legislature is spending on itself."
Legislators themselves, however, were quick to point out that Schabarum's own salary and retirement benefits as an 18-year member of the County Board of Supervisors are far more lucrative than those for anyone who has served exclusively in the Legislature, whether active or retired.
And opponents contend that the proposed cut in the Legislature's operating budget would lead to massive layoffs and leave the lawmakers dependent for information on executive branch bureaucrats and lobbyists for special interests.
