STATE LEGISLATORS NOT EXACTLY CRYING POVERTY.

Byline: Jennifer Kerr Associated Press 

California's legislators are well-endowed with stocks and bonds, Taco Bells and bowling alleys, concrete and plastics, drapes and marble tiles, cattle and oranges, and lots and lots of property.

Republicans are richer than Democrats, senators wealthier than Assembly members, and old-timers have more than freshmen, according to reports filed with the state Fair Political Practices Commission.

And the 1997 crop of lawmakers is wealthier and has more outside income than its 1995 counterparts, according to a computer-assisted analysis of the reports by the Associated Press.

However, the reports, aimed at preventing potential conflicts of interest, actually reveal only shadowy estimates of lawmakers' holdings and outside income because of outdated reporting caps.

Elected officials each year must file Statements of Economic Interests with the FPPC, listing their investments, property, outside income and gifts. The reports don't include their primary residence, their state salaries and their state expense money.

However, lawmakers only have to check a box indicating a general amount. For investments and property, the levels are $1,000-$10,000, $10,001-$100,000 or more than $100,000. Thus a lawmaker checking the latter box could have an investment worth of $101,000 - or perhaps $10 million.

For outside income, the choices are $250-$1,000, $1,001-$10,000 and more than $10,000. A legislator getting money from, say, his law firm could check the latter box and be making $10,001 or several hundred thousand dollars.

Those thresholds haven't been changed since the Political Reform Act was passed in 1974, despite sizable inflation since then. And the Legislature has shown no interest in changing them.

A 1994 bill by Sen. Tom Hayden, D-Los Angeles, to add brackets up to $1 million-plus failed in the Senate. A bill by former Sen. Robert Beverly, R-Manhattan Beach, that would modestly increase most of the Political Reform Act's contribution and income thresholds was approved by the Senate but defeated in an Assembly committee last year.

No bills have been introduced this year to make any changes in the reporting levels on the Statements of Economic Interests.

Senators and Assembly members this year have average investments of $231,796, compared to $165,500 two years ago. The average for outside income this year is $14,128, compared to $12,600 in 1995.

The bulk of the investments are stocks, bonds, mutual funds and property. Many lawmakers also reported investments in the firms of their former occupation, such as lawyer, chiropractor or maker of plastic injection moldings. Several also are ranchers or farmers and still have extensive holdings. Some also listed trusts, some of them belonging to a spouse.

Republicans are, on average, richer than Democrats. Senate Republicans had investments averaging $365,563, with a median of $110,000. Assembly Republicans averaged $261,255, with a median of $111,000. Senate Democrats' average was $253,732, and the median was $102,000. Assembly Democrats averaged $147,634, with a median of $100,000.

The 40 senators had more investments than the 80 Assembly members. The average for the Senate was $295,021, with a median of $107,500. The Assembly average was $200,184, with a median of $100,000.

The 32 freshmen in the Assembly had an average of $146,664 in investments, with a median of $100,000. The other 48 Assembly members averaged $235,864, with a median of $105,500. In the Senate, the only newcomer, Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, reported $100,000 in investments, well below the Senate average and median.

Five senators and 17 Assembly members reported no investments.

Outside income reported was mainly from spouses' jobs, from property rentals and from old jobs. Seventeen Assembly members and 11 senators reported no outside income.