State Senate posts salary information online

The state Senate began voluntarily posting the salaries of all of its employees on its website Friday, even as Assembly officials said they still think the disclosure should be required by law.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) ordered the salaries to be posted as an alternative to legislation that would put the requirement into statute.

"Our view is the Legislature doesn't tell itself what to do by statute. It does it by rule," said Nathan Barankin, a spokesman for Steinberg, who has not let the legislation out of the Rules Committee for a vote.

But Assemblywoman Alyson Huber (D-El Dorado Hills) said her bill is still necessary because it is easier to change or ignore a house rule than a requirement in state law.

-- Patrick McGreevy in Sacramento