Posted: 03/28/2014 09:59:11 AM PDT
Updated: 03/28/2014 10:19:33 AM PDT
SACRAMENTO -- The state Senate this morning plans to vote to suspend all three lawmakers caught up in high profile corruption cases.
Current law mandates that those disgraced elected officials -- Sens. Leland Yee, D-Sacramento, Ronald Calderon, D-Montebello, and Roderick Wright, D-Inglewood -- receive pay while suspended.
But Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, also will also introduce a constitutional amendment that would give the Legislature power to suspend its members and not have to pay their salaries.
To win approval, constitutional amendments require support from two-thirds of lawmakers in both houses of the Legislature, and not enough members are here today to hold that vote. It's expected to take place early next week.
The developments this morning come two days after Yee was indicted on charges stemming from a 4-year-long FBI sting operation that range from wire fraud to illegal gun running. At a press conference on Wednesday, Steinberg called the allegations against Yee 'stunning' and 'surreal.'
Before Yee's indictment, Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, had urged Steinberg to consider suspending or expelling Calderon and Wright, but Steinberg refused. Those lawmakers are currently taking paid leaves of absence.
Lawmakers who are suspended by their colleagues cannot participate in any votes or use their offices. They cannot even set foot on the floor of the Assembly or Senate floors, though they are allowed to enter the Capitol, which is a public building.
When lawmakers take voluntary leaves of absence, they can decide to end that leave and return to their duties in Sacramento at any time. Lawmakers who are suspended can only return when the body that voted to remove them votes to do so.
Contact Jessica Calefati at 916-441-2101. Follow her at Twitter.com/calefati. Read the Political Blotter at IBAbuzz.com/politics.
Posted by Unknown on Friday, March 28, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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