Election Section

Panel denies pay raises to Davis, state officials 

SACRAMENTO – There will be no pay raises for Gov. Gray Davis or state lawmakers this year. 

The California Citizens Compensation Commission voted Thursday to deny pay increases to lawmakers and state constitutional officers such as the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state and state treasurer. 

Commission members said they decided against raising state officials’ and lawmakers’ pay because of the slowing economy. They noted that the panel approved a 26 percent pay increase in 1998. 

Consumer activists had objected to any pay raise this year, citing the cost and uncertainty of California’s energy crisis. 

California officeholders are among the nation’s highest paid state officials. 

The governor currently earns $175,000 a year. Lawmakers make $99,000. 

Four of the commission’s seven members attended the annual meeting. The vote against pay raises was unanimous. 

State jobless rate inches up from three-decade low 

SACRAMENTO – California’s unemployment rate inched higher in March after hitting a three-decade low the month before. 

The state’s March jobless rate hit 4.7 percent, up from 4.5 percent in February, according to figures released Friday by the California Employment Development Department. 

Despite the rise, March’s unemployment still was less than a year earlier. Also, surveys of employers and households showed the number of jobs in the state hit an all-time high and a record 16.5 million Californians were working in March. 

The largest gains came in business services and restaurants and bars. 

The number of people unemployed in California in March reached 808,000 — 28,000 more than February but down 43,000 since March the year before. Of the unemployed, 535,300 were laid off, 70,500 left their jobs voluntarily and the rest were new entrants or returning entrants to the job market. 

Agency: Need for water system improvements shouldn’t hurt state’s credit 

SACRAMENTO – The need for $17.4 billion over 20 years to improve the state’s water systems likely will not affect California’s credit ratings, a rating agency said Thursday. 

A report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency states that $150.9 billion in improvements will be needed nationwide. 

California has the most costly improvement needs, followed by New York at $13.1 billion and Texas at $13 billion. 

Improvements are needed to maintain distribution and treatment facilities and to protect public health, the EPA report said. 

California’s improvement needs are mostly in large water systems that serve more than 50,000 customers — which will mean a lower cost per household, the report states. 

The credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s said California’s credit ratings will not change because the report does not call for any major repairs that the state did not already anticipate. 

Lawmakers want to thwart phone campaign attacks 

SACRAMENTO – Two state lawmakers want to make it illegal to place anonymous campaign phone calls, similar to attacks made in the waning days of the Los Angeles mayoral race. 

Senate Minority Leader Jim Brulte, R-Rancho Cucamonga, and Assemblyman Herb Wesson, D-Culver City, each are proposing separate bills to require political phone banks to identify the candidate or proposition they represent. 

The measures follow at least two incidents before the Los Angeles primary, held Tuesday, in which voters received misleading information from anonymous phone recordings. 

“It just runs contrary to our belief in fair play,” Brulte said. 

Similar bills introduced in 1996 and 1997 by Brulte never made it to the governor’s desk, but he said he hopes the recent incidents will help this time.