199 California public employees earn $250,000 and up

The LA Times has continued their investigation into employee salaries and turned up 199 employees in Los Angeles County who are earning more than $250,000 annually.

A majority of those earning high salaries work in the medical field, but 31 of the public employees work in the public sector—mostly in emergency services. That is 31 employees whose work only reflects one county and they are earning more then the California governor, who banks $173,987.

Given the state of California’s budget, which was finally passed, is already a $10 billion shortfall for 2012, it is imperative that local salaries be disclosed to the public.

CA salary transparency bill stalls in senate

Almost every politician in California was ready to jump on the “Let’s bash Bell” bandwagon, but now that legislation calling for salary transparency is in the senate, political officials are balking. The latest legislation would require that both municipal employees post their salaries online and state level employees as well.

The California senators are considering addressing the issue with an internal rule, which would be more flexible and easily changed.

If the California legislature was so eager to expose municipal salaries, then they should also be comfortable placing the same transparency standards on themselves. The legislature should worry less about how it’ll reflect on their campaigns, and more about what is right for Californian constituents.