The Lieutenant Governor of California is elected separately from the Governor, and may be from a different political party. Besides assuming the Governor's responsibilities if the Governor is unable to perform them, and serving as President of the State Senate (and casting a tie breaking vote once a decade or so), the Lieutenant Governor has a few responsibilities granted either by the State Constitution, the State Legislature, or the Governor.  Unlike many previous Lieutenant Governors, I would attempt to attend all of the scheduled meetings relating to these responsibilities, and amounting to about 50 days of commitments a year at various locations throughout the state.  The rest of the hours in the year should prove more than adequate for preparation, meeting travel, and follow-up, without requiring any additional staff dedicated to the Lieutenant Governor's office.  The Lieutenant Governor's current responsibilities are as follows:

Chair of the State Lands Commission.  This is the responsibility over which the Lieutenant Governor has the most authority and responsibility.  There are three members, with the Lieutenant Governor and Sate Controller serving as Chair in alternating years, and the third member being appointed by the Governor.  The Commission monitors and regulates all California state land holdings and navigable waterways, and (using its own dedicated staff) is responsible for a large amount of state revenue from various leases. I will be a strong advocate for preserving California's resources for the long term.  I remember getting tar on my feet at the beach in San Diego for years after the Santa Barbara oil spill.  Putting our marine resources, our tourist industry, and the long term enjoyment of the beach by millions of Californians at risk for the short term benefit of a few oil companies is simply not acceptable, and as a member of the State Lands Commission I will vote and advocate consistently against any new offshore oil drilling along our coast.  2009 Schedule:  9 half day meetings, on January 6 (Sacramento), January 29 (Santa Barbara), March 2 (Sacramento), April 9 (Sacramento), June 1 (Santa Monica), August 11 (Los Angeles), October 22 (Sacramento), November 16 (Sacramento), December 17 (San Diego).

Member of the Board of Regents of the University of California,   and the Board of Trustees | CSU.    As a Ph.D Scientist, I am qualified to sit as a peer on the Board of Regents of the University of California and the Board of Trustees of the California State University Systems, and advocate with the state legislature and the Governor for a strong and fiscally sound University System which can provide the educated work force, entrepreneurs and leaders of tomorrow which California needs for its long term success.  California needs to keep investing in its future through education, without unfairly burdening its students with unaffordable tuition increases.  2010 University of California Regents Schedule:  January 19-21, March 23-25, May 18-20, July 13-15, September 14-16, November 16-18.  2010 California State University Trustees Schedule:  January 26-27, March 16-17, May 11-12, July 13, September 21-22, November 9-10.

Member of the California Ocean Protection Council.  This council coordinates efforts to improve the protection and sound management of California's ocean and coastal resources.  As an avid user of the ocean and beaches along with the rest of my family, I will be a strong advocate to preserve our ocean environment for the long term enjoyment of our children, grandchildren, and all future generations.  2010 Meetings:  March 3 (Sacramento), June 24 (Santa Barbara), September 7-8 (San Francisco), November 4 (TBD).

Member of the California Emergency Council.  This council serves as the advisory body to the Governor of California in times of emergency, and meets at least once a year.  2009 Meeting:  September 30.

Chair of the California Commission for Economic Development.  This commission is supposed to hold quarterly meetings open to the public.  The last four 1/2 day meetings were on September 15, 2008, December 9, 2008, April 29, 2009 and August 6, 2009.  The organization is responsible for fostering economic growth in California. Apparently it hasn't been too successful during the past few years.  In my opinion the best way to foster economic growth in California is to stabilize state finances, provide a consistent and fair long term business climate, and to provide adequately for education.  The California Commission for Economic Development, set up by the legislature and providing a meeting place for certain members of industry to talk to certain members of the legislature, is unlikely to make a meaningful contribution to California's prosperity.
Historical Budget Information for the Office of California Lieutenant Governor can be found at http://www.dof.ca.gov/budget/historical.
Each year's adopted budget can be found in the Final Budget Summary document under Department 0750.

The adopted budget for the Lieutenant Governor's office for California fiscal years from 2003 until 2009 was as follows:

2003-2004:  $2,536,000
2004-2005:  $2,656,000
2005-2006:  $2,787,000
2006-2007:  $2,784,000
2007-2008:  $3,152,000
2008-2009:  $2,763,000

Breakdown by personnel hours and cost for the 2009-2010 budget proposed by the governor and passed by the legislature can be found at http://2009-10.archives.ebudget.ca.gov/StateAgencyBudgets/0010/0750/spr.html, and is shown in the following table:
Claims in the submitted candidate statement about fulfilling the Lieutenant Governor's limited responsibilities without the budgeted staff of 30 are based on the estimated positions for the office (29.7) in the above table from the original 2009-2010 California budget documents.  The Governor subsequently cut the budgeted number of positions using the line item veto.

Claims in the submitted candidate statement about saving California taxpayers ten million dollars over four years are based on estimated annual spending of $250,000 to cover the salary, fringe benefits, and travel of the Lieutenant Governor assuming no additional paid staff.  The sum of the budgets for the Lieutenant Governor's office for the four years from 2005-2009 is $2,787,000 (2005-2006) + $2,784,000 (2006-2007) + $3,152,000 (2007-2008) + $2,763,000 (2008-2009) = $11,486,000 (4 years). With reduced spending of $250,000 x 4 = $1,000,000 over 4 years, the saving is $10,486,000.  The actual budget for 2009-2010 and the proposed budget for 2010-2011 are significantly less than the previous average above $2.5 Million, reflecting the fact that the office has been vacant since January, 2010.