Harris v. Bloodgood

Opinion

DALSIMER, J.

We must here interpret the provisions of Government Code

1

section 69894.1 in light of the holding of

Olson

v.

Cory

(1980) 27 Cal.3d 532 [178 Cal.Rptr. 568, 636 P.2d 532].

Plaintiffs and appellants are now or have been commissioners either of the Los Angeles Superior Court or of the various judicial districts in

[480]

the County of Los Angeles. Appellants held office between January 1, 1977, and the first Monday of January 1981, though not necessarily for all of that period.

2

The monthly salaries of appellants are fixed by statute. Superior court commissioners are paid according to section 69894.1, which provided prior to January 1, 1977, in pertinent part: “Whenever the compensation of superior court judges is adjusted, the flat-rate salaries for court commissioners and senior referees shall be adjusted to maintain the salary relationship of 80 percent of the annual compensation of superior court judges.” (Stats. 1974, ch. 1400, § 1, p. 3063; Stats. 1974, ch. 1311, § 5, p. 2864.) Municipal court commissioners of the Los Angeles City Judicial District are paid by authority of section 72701, which provides in pertinent part as follows: “Each commissioner ... shall receive a monthly salary in the same sum as is paid the Court Commissioners of the Superior Court of the County of Los Angeles.” Effective January 1, 1977, section 69894.1 was amended to increase the salary relationship of commissioners to 85 percent of the compensation of judges. (Stats. 1976, ch. 1482, § 2, p. 6619.)

Section 68203, which provided for adjustment of judges’ salaries in relationship to the California consumer price index, was amended in 1976 to maintain judicial salaries at their then current levels for 22 months, and thereafter to limit prospective increases to 5 percent. (Stats. 1976, ch. 1183, § 4, pp. 5287-5288.) In