Anti-outsourcing bill becomes state law

Brown signs contract transparency bill after push by members

After receiving 3,397 letters from Local 1000 members, Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law a bill that adds legislative muscle to our ongoing fight to protect jobs and prevent wasteful government spending.AB 906, authored by Assembly member Dr. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), increases public scrutiny of private vendor contracts that are out of control and receiving little oversight. 

“Local 1000 has been a strong advocate of the wise spending of taxpayer dollars. We have shown over and over that using state employees is a more effective and efficient use of those dollars. Using private contractors typically does not save the state money,” Local 1000 President Yvonne R. Walker said. “Now that AB 906 is law, the state will do a serious cost benefit analysis on the billions spent on private contractors.” 
Labor unions to be notified of proposed contracts

AB 906 requires that, when proposing contracts, state agencies must notify all civil service employee organizations capable of carrying out the work related to such contracts.

“We have a responsibility to taxpayers to not waste money on outsourcing jobs when California already has the most efficient civil service employees in the country,” Pan said.

The new law is another hallmark of years of effort by Local 1000 and our allies to force the state to be more accountable in the contracting out process, which is largely outside the public eye. Over the past five years, Local 1000 has challenged more than 100 state contracts before the State Personnel Board, winning 80 percent of those challenges. In many cases, those money-saving victories took jobs away from outside vendors and returned them to state employees.

Joint task force looks at contracting out of state work

In another victory in the fight against wasteful outsourcing, Local 1000’s new contract, ratified by our members in July, made permanent a joint Budget Solutions Task Force. The ongoing work of the task force – comprised of representatives of the state and Local 1000 – will achieve real savings for the state and protect state jobs by reviewing and analyzing private vendor contracts.