Legislative UpdateMarch 2010
FURLOUGH LEGISLATION
SBX8 29—a bill that would exempt state workers from furloughs that work in positions funded by at least 95 percent by sources other than the General Fund, employees of the Franchise Tax Board and the Board of Equalization—passed the Assembly on a 70–7 bipartisan vote. Since the implementation of furloughs the state of California has lost about $1.6 billion in economic activity—around 10,400 jobs and nearly $280 million that would have been paid in federal and state taxes.
This bill is now on the Governor’s desk. Please ask your legislator to call the Governor’s office and urge him to sign the bill.
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CONTINUOUS APPROPRIATIONS
Assembly Bill 790 and Assembly Bill 1699, both authored by Assembly Member Ed Hernandez, are bills that will ensure state employees receive their full salary in the event a budget is not passed by June 15, 2010, by continuously appropriating employee payroll.
As the result of recent court decisions, if the state of California does not have a budget in place by June 15, 2010, state employees are subject to being paid the federal minimum wage required under the Fair Labor Standards Act. For most employees that amounts to a paltry $7.25. In a time when state employees are struggling with an approximate 15 percent pay cut and can barely make ends meet, subjecting them to live on minimum wage would be devastating and ultimately result in shattered lives. Local 1000 urges you to contact your legislator and ask that they support AB 790 and AB 1699.
AB 790 was heard on March 8, 2010 and was voted out of the Senate Public Employee Retirement Committee on a 4–1 vote to the Senate Appropriations Committee. The next hearing in the Senate Appropriations Committee is March 15, 2010.
AB 1699 is tentatively scheduled to be heard in the Assembly Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee on April 7, 2010.
GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER’S 2010-2011 BUDGET PROPOSALS
Governor Schwarzenegger 2010-2011 budget proposal provides a misguided plan to slash state employee compensation by 15 percent (5% pay reduction, 5% increase to PERS contribution and, another 5% pay cut if California does not receive additional federal stimulus funds). This pay cut would harm thousands of local families and eliminate $683 million in economic activity in the Sacramento region. The Governor disregards the collective bargaining process, saying it doesn’t work. Last year when the recession pushed the state into crisis, SEIU Local 1000 stepped up and negotiated a contract with the governor's representatives, which included a 5 percent pay cut, and would have saved the state more than $350 million annually and $1 billion if applied to all state workers. It was the Governor that broke his word and refused to sign the agreement he negotiated. In addition to the huge contract cost savings we agreed to, we offered recommendations for another $1 billion in annual savings. These include collecting unpaid corporate and income taxes, ending overpriced vendor contracts and implementing legally mandated prison reforms.
Please ask your legislator to support the collective bargaining process and require the Governor to follow the law.
Find your legislator and contact information here.
CONTRACTING OUT
Last year, a Local 1000 Research Department highlighted the billions of dollars the State of California spends on thousands of service contracts in the white paper,
Hidden Branch of Government [PDF]. The report also described the state’s deeply flawed ability to track how much is actually spent on each contract and how well each contract is performed. By our estimates, the state could save approximately $350 million annually by utilizing state workers to cut unnecessary and wasteful outsourcing in IT contracts, medical registry contracts and architectural and engineering contacts.
In the second year of the Legislature’s two year session, Local 1000 is sponsoring two bills that will enhance the ability to track the spending and performance of the state’s 13,600 personal services and consultant contracts.
AB 1899 (Eng) Transparency - The bill would require state agencies, the Department of General Services, and the office of the State Chief Information Officer to post audits and contracts to the state’s Reporting Transparency in Government Internet website. AB 1899 will be heard in the Assembly Business and Professions Committee on March 23, 2010.
AB 2494 (Blumenfield) Contracting Out – Requires a state agency to immediately discontinue a contract disapproved by action of the State Personnel Board and would prohibit the state agency from circumventing or disregarding the board’s action by entering another contract for the same or similar services or to continue the services that were the subject of the contract that was disapproved.
Ask you legislator to support AB 1899 and AB 2494.
Find your legislator and contact information here.
ASK NANCY
Want to learn how to write an effective letter to your legislator? Check out
the latest Ask Nancy column and get tips and a downloadable letter-writing template.
(Nancy Farias is Local 1000’s Legislative Director.)