“Because of the use of ‘prescribe’ the Legislature cannot delegate the authority granted to it by Article VI, section 19 of the Constitution.  Any attempt to make such a delegation would be constitutionally invalid.” 59 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. at 496; 61 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. at 388.  http://www.clrc.ca.gov/pub/1995/M95-77.pdf

Despite clear warning of the unconstitutionality of county payments to judges, the payments were made by LA County Supervisors and accepted by the judges.  (Not one judge is known to have refused a single payment.)

The illegality of the payments was made even more clear in the 1990 decision by the California Court of Appeal in County of Sonoma v. Workers' Compensation Appeals Board, 222 Cal.App.3d 1133, 1136-37, 272 Cal.Rptr. 297, 298 (Cal.Ct.App.1990):

We disagree with the position taken by the Judicial Council. Although the question is not before us, we note that the Government Code provision in question may well be unconstitutional.

In 1956, the Attorney General issued an opinion concluding that superior and municipal court judges and certain personnel of the superior courts were not county employees and were thus ineligible for county-sponsored health insurance. (27 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 338 (1956).) In 1976, the Attorney General issued another opinion, specifically stating that the version of Government Code section 53200.3 then in effect was unconstitutional, insofar as it ran afoul of the provision in California Constitution, article VI, section 19, which states that " he Legislature shall prescribe compensation for judges of courts of record. . . ." Citing the 1967 Judicial Council Report to the Governor and the Legislature on this provision and the opinion in County of Madera v. Superior Court, supra, 39 Cal. App. 3d at page 670, the Attorney General stated: "Because of the use of 'prescribe' the Legislature cannot delegate the authority granted to it by Article VI, section 19 of the Constitution. Any attempt to make such a delegation would be constitutionally invalid." (59 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 496, 497 (1976).) The opinion concluded that "that section [Gov. Code, § 53200.3] is an unconstitutional attempt on the part of the Legislature to delegate a nondelegable duty." (Id., at p. 501.)

Subsequently, the statute was amended by the Legislature to its present form, in an attempt to meet the concerns of the Attorney General. (Stats. 1977, ch. 106, § 1, pp. 537-538.) In 1978, the Attorney General issued another opinion on the statute, stating that the Legislature had failed to remove those deficiencies in the original section that had rendered it unconstitutional. (61 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 388, 390 (1978).)