SACRAMENTO – State Senator Patricia Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa) announced this week that she is adopting cost-cutting measures in recognition of the state’s budget crisis.

Wiggins, who represents California’s Second Senate District, said she was returning her state-financed automobile and state-issued gasoline credit card because “it is the right thing to do at a time when the people of California are being asked, or forced, to make financial sacrifices during very difficult economic times.”

The state pays up to 90 percent of the monthly cost for legislators to lease a vehicle, or $350, whichever is less. While some lawmakers lease more expensive cars, Wiggins has driven a 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid, for which she has paid an extra $34 a month above the amount paid by the state.

Legislators also use a state-issued card to pay for gasoline, which Wiggins said she will no longer need.

The annual cost for legislators’ vehicle leases, gasoline and repairs is a little over $1 million, a fraction of the state’s current $24 billion deficit.

In addition, Wiggins said she would be forgoing about 20 percent of the daily per diem that legislators receive to cover the cost of living expenses while they are working in Sacramento. On average, per diem totals approximately $35,000 a year.

Wiggins said that “it makes no sense to ask millions of Californians to accept cutbacks in pay or services without cutting back ourselves, and these are the kinds of steps we can take to share in the sacrifices that we are asking so many others to make.”

Finally, Wiggins also was among those advocating that senators accept voluntary reductions in their own salaries.

Senate President Pro-Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) announced June 16 that he was encouraging his colleagues to make voluntary pay cuts of 5 percent. Wiggins has moved to reduce her own pay by 5 percent, effective June 1.

The Second Senate District includes portions or all of Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.