The California Supreme Court unanimously agreed on Friday to uphold the revised Senate districts drawn by an independent citizens commission for use in the June primary and November general election.

A Republican-backed initiative attempting to throw out the maps drafted by the non-partisan California Citizens Redistricting Commission (CCRC) is expected to qualify for the November ballot. Opponents of the public commission filed the lawsuit, arguing that the independently redrawn Senate map should not be used until the ballot measure challenge passed before voters.

Acting CCRC Chairman Peter Yao – a registered L.A. County Republican – called the high court’s decision to uphold the redrawn districts “a great victory for the people of California.”

Read more on the participatory democratic efforts of the CCRC: http://wedrawthelines.ca.gov/

The Association of California State Supervisors (ACSS) met with the Department of Mental Health (DMH) on Friday, January 13, 2012, to discuss the Department’s transition plan to become the Department of State Hospitals (DSH).

ACSS continues to raises concerns over the impact of decreasing staff ratios on the safety of patients and staff.  DMH stated that the changes will enhance safety of both staff and patients because staff is being redirected back to the units.  However, ACSS believes simply showing on paper that added staff will be assigned to the units will not necessarily result in greater safety.

Read more about the work we're doing for excluded employees at DMH after the jump.

Attacks on your earned pension are heating up.

At a public hearing this week, opponents of the “hybrid” pension shift proposed by Governor Brown primarily highlighted the volatile, risky nature of defined contribution schemes.

“The 401k experiment hasn’t worked,” said SEIU spokesperson Terry Brennand. “Look at your own 401k? Are you ready to retire?”

Read more and watch KGO-TV's story on the hearing after the jump.

The Association of California State Supervisors (ACSS) met with the Department of Mental Health (DMH) on Friday, January 13, 2012, to discuss the Department’s transition plan to become the Department of State Hospitals (DSH).

DMH stated that the Department is initiating layoffs; specifically DMH will be submitting a proposed layoff plan to DPA with in the next 30 days.  The layoff plan includes the elimination of those excluded employee positions already identified in the cost savings measures provided to ACSS. DMH stated that there are vacancies currently at Coalinga State Hospital and Salinas Valley Psychiatric Program, which may be filled by voluntary transfer to help mitigate layoffs. 

Read more about what ACSS is doing to preserve excluded employee rights at DMH after the jump.

The Association of California State Supervisors (ACSS) met with the Department of Mental Health (DMH) on Friday, January 13, 2012, to discuss the Department’s transition plan to become the Department of State Hospitals (DSH). 

Prior to the meeting, DMH provided a list of cost savings measures that the Department would be implementing to address the fact that the Department is operating above their allocated budget.  DMH was very clear that the DMH budget has not been cut, but that they must address the operational deficit.

During the meeting ACSS provided a viable efficiency measure to reduce cost: Specifically, reevaluating housing of patients based on patients’ needs to allow for staff and resources to be allocated more efficiently.  Read more after the jump.

Need an official ACSS shirt for Lobby Day?

Register now for our upcoming Lobby Day and we'll purchase one for you if you need it.

You must be a current ACSS member to register.

Get registered now!
www.ACSSonline.org/LobbyDay

CNN's Money Magazine is looking to feature an ACSS member who meets certain criteria in a "financial makeover" story in which they will work with a financial planner to overcome economic difficulties that have resulted from state budget cuts.

Members must meet the following criteria:

* Annual household income between $100k and $250k
* Currently employed as a state worker
* Between 40-69 years old
* Your financial plans have been negatively impacted by furloughs, pay cuts, the possibility of pension cuts, etc.
* You must be comfortable with your real name, photograph, and financial details being published

If you meet the above criteria, email ACSS at kglidden@calcsea.org with the subject "Financial Makeover", include your full name, age, household salary range, and describe in 100 words or less how state budget cuts have impacted your current or future financial outlook.

Emails must be received no later than Thursday, January 26th.

NOTE: Final selections of eligible members will be made by CNN Money.

Following last year's May budget revise, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) faced a plan to dismantle the department entirely, which would have resulted in the elimination of dozens of excluded employee positions.

Your ACSS was able to help save the OIG by working with our members in the department to illustrate to legislators the dire consequences that would result from the elimination of the OIG. Though we helped save the department, the OIG then faced budget cuts consistent with those affecting other state agencies.

In October of 2011 the OIG released a layoff plan to address those budget cuts, and your ACSS worked to reach the following agreement to protect excluded employee rights during the layoff process: http://bit.ly/A21m3D

In 2010, SCIF sent your ACSS a 3-year Office Consolidation plan.

Upon receiving the 2012 site-to-site schedule, your ACSS labor team noticed some discrepancies from the original plan. We have officially requested a meet and confer with SCIF to address those discrepancies.

SCIF noted at least one error in the 2012 schedule:

"I do want to point out one error: The Internal Audit move from Sacramento to Vacaville is listed for Jan. 6, 2012. This move ... has been moved back to sometime around mid-May. No definite date has been set to my knowledge."

If you have any concerns or questions regarding the consolidation schedule, please contact ACSS Senior Labor Relations Representative Nellie Lynn ASAP at nlynn@calcsea.org

Your ACSS labor team received this notice from SCIF regarding staffing reductions scheduled to take effect April 30, 2012.

To preserve your rights and address the concerns of our members, ACSS has officially requested a meet and confer with SCIF to discuss the layoff plan.

If you have any concerns or questions regarding the reductions, please contact ACSS Senior Labor Relations Representative Nellie Lynn ASAP at nlynn@calcsea.org

Your ACSS received notice of intent of the Department of Social Services (DSS) Community Care Licensing Division to reorganize the Adult and Senior Care Program.

Specifically staff currently assigned responsibilities only to Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly or only to Adult Community Care Facilities will now have a mixed assignment. The reorganization may impact the terms and conditions of employment for affected employees.

To preserve your rights and address the concerns of our members, ACSS requested a meet and confer with DSS to discuss the reorganization plan.

If you have any concerns or questions regarding the implementation of the reorganization, please contact ACSS Senior Labor Relations Representative Nellie Lynn ASAP at nlynn@calcsea.org

 The ACSS calendar is chock full of meetings, worksite visits, and other events that affect state supervisors, managers, and confidential employees.

Check it out now: www.ACSSonline.org/events

Bookmark the page, check back often, and spread the word to co-workers and friends.

Over the holidays you may have received two emails from ACSS that contained very similar--and dated--news items. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

We're testing out a new system to improve the speed with which we get important news in front of you, and our new service provider had some issues that caused the errors.

We're working to iron out the remaining bugs and hope to soon have a speedy, effective means of getting the information that matters delivered to you on a regular basis.

Stay tuned, and thanks for understanding.

This March supervisors, managers, and confidential employees from all over California will gather in Sacramento and march on the Capitol to fight against attacks on our livelihood.

Lobby Day is our chance to sit down with legislators and tell our stories. To tell those in power how their decisions affect us, and to tell them how they can better meet our needs and protect our careers. Lobby Day is our chance to work together to show California how important state supervisors, managers, and confidential employees truly are.

The more of us that show up, the more impactful our message will be. Don't be left behind. Get the facts and register to attend Lobby Day now!

Gov. Brown's 2012-2013 budget was released this week, and it includes several cuts that will directly impact state employees, first among them the elimination of another 3,000 state employee positions on top of the 15,000 positions cut in the 2011-2012 budget.

At a press conference covering the budget release, Director of Finance Ana Matosantos stated that "many" of the 3,000 positions to be cut will be within the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), and that the "goal is to redirect employees to facilities that have vacancies and minimize layoffs to the extent possible." According to the budget, CDCR's budget will be cut by $1.1 billion, or 18%. Read more after the jump.