UPDATED: Harkey Says She'll Stay Out of Budget Spat

Whilesays she'll stay out of a spat between two of her colleagues over the release of lawmakers' office budgets, officials told the Sacramento Bee Friday that the Senate and Assembly "will release member-by-member spending records late this afternoon."

Harkey was responding to Anthony Portantino's (D-La Cañada Flintridge) attempt to mandate the Legislature to come into complete compliance with the California Public Records Act. A bill he floated Thursday would repeal the less-stringent Legislative Open Rights Act.

Currently, the State Legislature is the only government agency in California that exempts itself from the Public Records Act.

"Assembly leaders have hidden documents and expenditures from the public long enough. No more gimmicks, no more tricks and no more incomplete and misleading financial documents can be circulated or tolerated,” Portantino said in a prepared statement.

Allan Mansoor (R-Costa Mesa) and Jim Silva (R-Huntington Beach) have already released their budgets, according to the Orange County Register.

A snapshot of Harkey's budget is available on the California Common Sense website, which shows she spent $274,844 on staff salaries, including her own, in 2010.

A link to the Common Sense website is displayed on the homepage of Harkey's website, with the disclaimer: "the data supplied by the California Common Sense website is not an official state document, but provides a fair representation of each member's budget for 2010."

Before the Legislature announced its intention to release current office budget and spending records, Harkey had said that type of information would have to be retrieved from the Speaker and the Assembly Rules Committee. He did not address whether Harkey believes that information should be more easily accessible to the public.

Spokesman Gino Folchi did say that Harkey is "staying out of the budget fight between Portantino and [Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez]."

Portantino is locked in a public feud with Pérez, who recently slashed his office budget, saying Portantino was an extravagant spender.

Portantino rebutted the allegation and of all 80 members of the lower house. A majority of the house said they were exempt under the Legislative Open Rights Act; the Sacramento Bee and the Los Angeles Times have since sued to force disclosure.