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            <td nowrap height="65" width="620" colspan="3" valign="top" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><span class="text"><u><font color="#660000" size="4"><span style="font-size:20px;line-height:24px;">California lawmakers get free gasoline<br></span></font></u><font face="Georgia" color="#660000" size="2"><span style="font-size:12px;line-height:14px;">The Associated Press<br>By Don Thompson<br>Published on Friday, September 26, 2008<br soft></span></font></span></td>
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            <td nowrap height="350" width="360" rowspan="4" valign="top" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><span class="text"><font face="Times New Roman" size="2"><span style="font-size:12px;line-height:14px;">SACRAMENTO, Calif. &nbsp;&#8212; California lawmakers enjoy a perk not <br soft>available to their colleagues in any other state: unchecked use of gasoline <br soft>charge cards that stick taxpayers with the bill.<br><br>Through the first seven months of the year, California taxpayers have <br soft>spent $220,000 to pay for lawmakers&#8217; gasoline, according to a review of <br soft>records requested by The Associated Press. That includes July, when <br soft>lawmakers already were past their deadline to approve a budget and the <br soft>state faced a $15.2 billion deficit.<br><br>California is unique in giving legislators free rein on transportation <br soft>spending, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In <br soft>most other states, lawmakers must submit the same kind of mileage-<br soft>expense forms used by companies to reimburse employees for their <br soft>business travel.<br><br>&#8220;You have to prove what you&#8217;re using it for,&#8221; said Morgan Cullin, a <br soft>Denver-based researcher for the bipartisan national organization.<br><br>On top of free gas, California lawmakers also get state-issued vehicles, <br soft>another perk that most states avoid.<br><br>The fuel cards given to lawmakers are supposed to be &#8220;for legislative <br soft>purposes,&#8221; but there is no way to check if they use it for public business <br soft>or private travel.<br soft></span></font></span></td>
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            <td nowrap height="154" width="240" valign="top" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><span class="text"><b><font face="Times New Roman" size="2"><span style="font-size:12px;line-height:14px;">California could save money by reimbursing <br soft>legislators for each mile they drive on <br soft>official business instead of handing them a <br soft>taxpayer-funded car and gasoline charge <br soft>card. The practice of giving legislators both <br soft>began about 50 years ago, when gas was <br soft>cheap and part-time lawmakers earned little. <br soft>Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn&#8217;t use a <br soft>state-issued gas card. As governor, his <br soft>transportation is provided by the California <br soft>Highway Patrol.<br soft></span></font></b></span></td>
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            <td nowrap height="1022" width="620" colspan="3" valign="top" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><span class="text"><font face="Times New Roman" size="2"><span style="font-size:12px;line-height:14px;">Lawmakers pull up to the pump, swipe the gas card and never see the bill, which is sent directly to legislative committees and <br soft>paid with tax dollars.<br><br>&#8220;I trust them,&#8221; said Jon Waldie, chief administrative officer for the Assembly Rules Committee.<br><br>The charge cards also can be used for incidental purchases such as snacks, drinks, windshield wipers or even oil changes. <br soft>Legislative officers said there is no way to know how much lawmakers are spending on such items, but most payments are for <br soft>fuel.<br><br>Robert Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles, said use of the charge cards should be <br soft>scrutinized more closely or scrapped altogether.<br><br>&#8220;There should be a random audit done of the use of the car and other expenses by an outside auditor,&#8221; said Stern, the former <br soft>general counsel of the California Fair Political Practices Commission. &#8220;If everybody knows there is no oversight, they&#8217;re going <br soft>to slip a little bit.&#8221;<br><br>He said California could save money by reimbursing legislators for each mile they drive on official business instead of handing <br soft>them a taxpayer-funded car and gasoline charge card. The practice of giving legislators both began about 50 years ago, when gas <br soft>was cheap and part-time lawmakers earned little.<br><br>&#8220;Now they&#8217;re paid a lot, and they still get the perk,&#8221; Stern said.<br><br>California lawmakers make $116,208 a year plus $170 for daily expenses. The Assembly speaker and president pro tem of the <br soft>Senate make $133,639 annually.<br><br>Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn&#8217;t use a state-issued gas card. As governor, his transportation is provided by the California <br soft>Highway Patrol.<br><br>Lawmakers are on pace to set an annual record for gasoline charges, billing taxpayers nearly $40,000 more through July than <br soft>during the same seven-month period last year.<br><br>Of California&#8217;s 120 lawmakers, 21 charged more than $3,000 to their gasoline cards from January through July. Of those, 13 are <br soft>Republicans, who preached about fiscal austerity during this summer&#8217;s record-long budget impasse.<br><br>Among lawmakers who charged taxpayers more than $3,000 for their gasoline in the first seven months of the year, 13 were <br soft>Assembly members and eight were senators. The big spenders included legislators representing both rural and urban districts, <br soft>near the state capital and far away.<br><br>The biggest gas guzzler was Assemblyman Guy Houston, a Republican who charged taxpayers $5,140. Houston said he uses his <br soft>state-issued Toyota Highlander hybrid to commute 180 miles roundtrip on most days from his home in the eastern San <br soft>Francisco Bay area to Sacramento.<br><br>&#8220;I&#8217;m one of those who lives just far enough away to where it takes a lot of gas and a lot of mileage to get home, but close enough <br soft>where I get to go home and see my family,&#8221; Houston said. &#8220;In six years, I haven&#8217;t cost the state one plane flight, but I do have to <br soft>use a lot of gas.&#8221;<br><br>Some lawmakers get yet another perk. Twenty-five senators have access to a second car leased through the state Department of <br soft>General Services.<br><br>Most of the senators who use second vehicles live in Southern California or the lower Central Valley, far from the state capital. <br soft>The second car is for their use around Sacramento; the other car is typically driven within lawmakers&#8217; home districts.<br><br>Senators fill the leased cars at state gas pumps, costing taxpayers $9,535 this year in addition to what they charged on their <br soft>individual fuel cards.<br><br>Other states reimburse lawmakers by the mile and only for specific trips.<br><br>In Florida, state lawmakers must complete forms listing each trip&#8217;s mileage, purpose, date and place the travel occurred.<br><br>Florida&#8217;s 160 lawmakers were reimbursed $197,748 through July at 44 cents per mile, which includes not only gasoline but <br soft>vehicle maintenance. That works out to $1,236 for each member, but they were using their private vehicles and not state-issued <br soft>ones as in California.<br><br>California taxpayers spent $1,874 for each of the state&#8217;s 120 lawmakers for fuel alone, or $638 more per lawmaker than Florida.<br><br>During the same period, mileage reimbursements were higher for lawmakers in three other large states &#8212; Michigan, Texas and <br soft>New York. But those payments were for lawmakers&#8217; use of their own vehicles and covered their costs for gasoline and wear and <br soft>tear.<br><br><br></span></font><i><font face="Times New Roman" size="2"><span style="font-size:12px;line-height:14px;">(source: &nbsp;</span></font></i><a href="http://www.thetrucker.com/News/Stories/2008/9/26/Californialawmakersgetfreegasoline.aspx" target="_blank"><i><font face="Times New Roman" size="2"><span style="font-size:12px;line-height:14px;">The Trucker .com</span></font></i></a><i><font face="Times New Roman" size="2"><span style="font-size:12px;line-height:14px;">)<br><br>-fs-<br soft></span></font></i></span></td>
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