Pérez to call for cuts in Assembly budget

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New Assembly Speaker John Pérez (D-Los Angeles) will call for a 15% cut in the Assembly’s operating budget in a speech in Los Angeles on Friday.

The speaker’s office said the cuts were not expected to come from any layoffs or the elimination of Assembly jobs through attrition. Instead, Pérez’s office said the reductions would come from deferring purchases on items like new furniture or updating computer equipment.

Former Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) also made cuts in the Assembly budget, but came under fire when she announced more than $550,000 in raises for senior staff members. She initially defended the raises, saying she had cut $15 million out of the Assembly’s operating budget, but later rescinded them.

--Anthony York