An attempt to freeze state elected officials' salaries when California is battling budget deficits got a frosty reception last Wednesday from a Senate committee. The Rules Committee voted 3-1 to reject a constitutional amendment that would bar the Citizens Compensation Commission from handing out raises to the governor, legislators and other state elected officers in any year in which the legislative analyst determines there is a deficit. The measure would also stipulate that the commission has the power to reduce officials' salaries as well as grant raises or impose pay freezes. The author, Senator Abel Maldonado, a Santa Maria Republican, said the amendment was a common sense measure that basically says if the state doesn't have money then we in the Legislature shouldn't take a pay raise. "It's really tying our salaries to the financial health of the state," he said. "Every other business has to evaluate finances before granting raises. I'm asking the same thing for the California Legislature." But Republican Senator Jim Battin said the threat of a pay freeze or pay cut could give legislators the "perverse incentive" to support tax increases to balance the budget. "That is when you get bad action on an incentive that shouldn't be there," he said. Another opponent, Democratic Senator Gil Cedillo of Los Angeles, said the commission considers the state's financial picture in determining whether to grant raises. Not all legislators have outside income to supplement their state salaries, and they can't look forward to getting a state pension when they retire, he said. That benefit was eliminated when California voters approved term limits in 1990.