In a first for ACSS, we had a videographer create a short (less than 8 minutes) presentation of our members' Lobby Day activites. Lobby Day, when we meet face to face with legislators, is our most important event each year. Experience the day, from planning sessions, conversations with legislators and personal testimonies on the value of Lobby Day and ACSS, in this new format.Note: We're also on YouTube!

The Sacramento Bee Capitol Alert reports this morning that the California Citizens Compensation Commission will meet today at 10 a.m. at Sacramento City Hall to review the salaries of legislators and constitutional officers. Legislators $116,208, not including per diem, each year. The posting suggests legislators won't get a raise -- but will they get a cut? UPDATE: The commission was one vote short of cutting legislators' and constitutional officers' pay by 10 percent.

The two bills ACSS is sponsoring passed their first hurdle Tuesday with approval of the Assembly Committee on Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security. Chapter 503 member Carlos Chavez testified on behalf of ACSS. The bills now move to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. If they are successful there, they will move to the full Assembly and then to the Senate.

AB 843 (Marty Block) would delete the requirement that a disciplined managerial employee in an adverse action has the burden of proof, and AB 1161 (Joan Buchanan) would, with some exceptions, require an adverse action against a managerial employee be filed within one year of the discovery of cause for discipline instead of three years.

Photo: Carlos Chavez, left, and Assembly Marty Perez share congratulations on the bills' successful passage.

An editorial today in The Sacramento Bee calls the bonuses CalPERS and CalSTRS awarded their top executives "difficult to defend." The two agencies have lost over $100 billion in the last 18 months, yet paid out $7 million in bonuses. "What exactly is being rewarded here," the piece asks.

CalPERS has announced a new pilot health care option that could lower state workers' health care costs and plans to use reserves to offset PPO premiums for two months. The pilot program is an integrated health care model to be tested in the Sacramento region beginning January 2010. Under the PPO program, CalPERS will use $265 million of excess reserves to offset member and employer contributions for two months. The plan is subject to approval of a technical change in state law.

State Worker columnist Jon Ortiz explores the holdup of the SEIU contract bill in the Assembly. Is it payback for the SEIU State Councl's opposition to Proposition 1A or business as usual? Or is the bill, as SEIU Local 1000 contends, still on track?

We have been asked by a member to post this furlough information on the blog so it is up front rather than only on the furlough page. We're happy to comply: After getting some good news from DPA recently -- that excluded employees may take their furlough time in one-hour increments -- the news from our April 7 DPA meet and confer kind of burst our bubble: Contrary to what we had previously been made to understand, excluded employees are not eligible to replace the two holidays the governor cut with floating holidays (which SEIU has negotiated). (Click on the headline to continue reading.)

According to The Sacramento Bee, Assembly aides have been granted raises despite the state's budget shortfall. Thirty-three of the staffers made more than $100,000. Speaker Karen Bass said the Assembly had reduced other spending to offer the pay increases. Some of the aides, the article said, have not had pay increases in several years. The Senate continues a pay freeze.

According to today's State Worker blog, the SEIU contract bill may not be acted on until after the May 19 elections. The bill, AB 964, is scheduled for a hearing tomorrow in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, then moves to the Assembly floor. As of now, it doesn't have the Republican votes to move on to the Senate. If the bill fails, the negotiations begin again.

In a press release, Gov. Schwarzenegger announced a resolution to authorize the Employment Development Department to begin hiring 1,150 new staff to speed up services and benefits to the unemployed. The new employees would answer phones in call centers in seven areas of the state. This hiring is in addition to the 850 people EDD is currently in the process of hiring through increased federal funding.

The Public Policy Institute of California has issued a report that presents a grim picture of the state's future ability to meet its demand for college-educated workers. One reason is that thousands of baby boomers are set to retire. The report projects the size of the "education skills gap" to be 1 million fewer college graduates than the state needs by 2025. (The state Department of Personnel Administration has projected that nearly half the state's supervisors and managers and 75 percent of its top management could retire in the next five years). The PPIC is offering a free program on "Closing the Gap: Meeting California's Need for College Graduates" at the CSAC Conference Center at lunchtime on April 29. (The links offer other related resources.)

The Sacramento Bee's Jon Ortiz reports that CalPERS and CalSTRS, the nation's two largest pension funds, awarded millions of dollars in bonuses last year to their top executives despite losing billions.

A San Francisco Superior Court judge has ruled against the governor in a furlough suit, today's Sacramento Bee's State Worker column reports. The judge ruled against a furlough for employees of the State Compensation Insurance Fund. There's more on The State Worker blog. The "Capitol Alert" has a next-day take. You may need to scroll down to read blog items.

State Worker columnist Jon Ortiz reports in his blog today on the effects of SEIU's bargaining agreement on excluded employees (the agreement has not been approved by the Legislature). It confirms what we've written -- that supervisors in related bargaining units will get the one day furlough and meal/incidental per diem increase but will not get the reduced health care rate. DPA's summary of the agreement doesn't specifically state how the holiday cuts will affect excluded employees.

From The State Worker blog: In its bargaining negotiations, the California Association of Psychiatric Technicians was offered a one-day furlough but no help on health care costs or holiday or overtime cuts, the organization's representatives are reporting. The blog entry contains links to a CAPT flier and a related Sacramento Bee column by Dan Walters. Scroll down to find.

According to Sacramento Bee State Worker columnist Jon Ortiz, six of the seven constitutional officers and BOE will appeal last week's ruling that ordered them to comply with the governor's furlough order. Win or lose, the appeal postpones the furlough for the affected employees. A spokesman for Treasurer Bill Lockyear says he's "confident we'll prevail on appeal."

CalPERS will hold a public meeting May 13 to look at how its investments are allocated in view of the current market conditions. CalPERS' assets have shrunk from $239 billionto $175.1 billion, according to a Sacramento Bee report.

Many CalPERS retirees and beneficiaries saw slightly bigger benefits payments beginning with their April 1 payment. This is the result of new income tax withholding rates issued by the Internal Revenue Service, which may have ramifications when filing next year's income tax returns. For information, click on the headline above.

State Worker columnist Jon Ortiz reports in his Sacramento Bee blog today that Sacramento Superior Court Judge Patrick Marlette has affirmed his tentative ruling that Gov. Schwarzenegger's furlough order applies to employees of constitutional offices. The blog contains links to the order and a listing of how many employees are not SEIU members and, therefore, not subject to the reduced furlough when the SEIU contract is final.

The San Jose Mercury News reports that furloughing staff in a program to review disability claims is costing the state about $10 million a year. The agency is funded entirely by the federal government and the furlough has prolonged the time it takes to process claims. 

State Worker columnist Jon Ortiz reports that about 600 librarians and education consultants are voting this week on whether to split with SEIU and join another union or remain unrepresented. The ballots will be tallied April 30. At the end of the column: An Assembly resolution would repeal two rules in Social Security law and Assembly Joint Resolution 10 would repeal the public servant penalty.

Legislation to ban raises for state employees making more than $150,000 a year unanimously passed the Assembly's public employees committee Wednesday. The ban would be in effect for two years.

Sales tax in California will increase by a penny today as part of the governor's budget plan. The increase will continue until at least June 30, 2011. The Board of Equalization answers your questions. There's also a video.

State Controller John Chiang says California has enough money to get through the current fiscal year without borrowing, The Sacramento Bee Capitol Alert reports. Chiang cautions, however, that if voters fail to pass the ballot measures on May 19, the state could be back in the hole again by June.

According to today's Sacramento Bee, California will sustain $948 million in spending cuts and $1.8 billion in higher taxes after fiscal leaders announced Friday that the state will not receive enough federal budget relief to avoid those measures.

Sacramento Bee columnist Jon Ortiz reports in his blog that a few publications are calling for public employees to pay more of their pension costs. In "Sharing the Pain" in Government magazine, Girard Miller calls for new formulas in which retirees share the cost of increased pension benefits and increased health premium costs. The San Diego Union-Tribune editorial suggests agencies under CalPERS return to pre-1999 pension plans for new hires (in 1999, CalPERS increased the fretirement ormula to a 3 percent multiplier). And a (Los Angeles area) Daily Breeze editorial favors the riskier defined benefit contribution pension plans (such as 401(k)s).

Yet another water pipe has burst and more mold has been found at the Board of Equalization headquarters in Sacramento, The Sacramento Bee reports. This time, the agency will move. The discovery forced the agency to put 275 people on paid leave last week.

The Sacramento Bee State Worker column reports today that all state workers, except SEIU members, who must work on Cesar Chavez Day, March 31, will work for straight time, not time and a half. SEIU's new contract provides for time and a half for its memvbrs. All state employees who work that day will be entitled to take another day off. The Bee reports the state will save $10 million to $20 million from the change.

The University of the Pacific forecasts a record-breaking unemployment rate of 12 percent in California by late this year. The rate won't improve to the single digits again until 2011, UOP says. The last unemployment record was 11 percent, set in the 1980s (reported by The Sacramento Bee).

More members than ever attended our "March on the Capitol" on St. Patrick's Day, March 17. We visited more than 80 legislators, who demonstrated a strong understanding of and concern for our issues. Now that Lobby Day was so successful, members need to continue their outreach by visiting their representatives in their district offices. Nearly all legislators work in their home offices on Friday. By scheduling an appointment at your legislator's local office, you can make sure you will speak face to face with him or her.

CalPERS, the nations' largest public pension fund, will begin a yearlong pilot project to electronically order prescriptions. The agency says e-prescribing "improves patient safety by ensuring that patients receive the right prescriptions and reduces cost." The physician would order the prescription on an automated data entry system that would transmit it to the pharmacy. For a Sacramento Bee story, click here.

With 91 percent approval, SEIU Local 1000 has ratified a new contract that reduces the furlough days to one per month for the union's 95,000 members. The contract now goes to the Legislature for approval and then to the governor's desk. Besides the reduced furlough, SEIU members will get two floating holidays to replace the two holidays Schwarzenegger cut and pay health insurance premiums at about the 2008 level. The contract does not cover other bargaining units or excluded employees; however, the vote result does provide a ray of sunshine for supervisors: ACSS has been working with DPA to make sure excluded employees get at least the same deal.

The Legislative Analyst's Office has published an analysis of Proposition 1A, the May 19 ballot measure that would require the state to make annual contributions to a budget reserve up to a minimum level. It also would limit the use of the reserve in "bad budget" years. Proposition 1A was placed on the ballot as part of the budget negotiations. The analysis also discusses Proposition 1B, which would -- IF Proposition 1A is approved -- allocate general fund revenues to the Supplemental Education Payment Account.

A Sacramento Superior Court Judge has ruled that state Controller John Chiang did not have the right to defy Gov. Schwarzenegger's order to temporarily reduce state workers' pay to the federal minimum wage. The controller, the judge wrote, does not have the power to set pay and did not show that outdated technology would have prevented him from carrying out the order.

As the keynote speaker at an ACSS board meeting last year, DPA Director Dave Gilb warned that nearly half the state’s supervisors and managers could retire in the next five years. A Bureau of State Audits report released yesterday, and reported by The Sacramento Bee’s State Worker blog, confirms Gilb’s general predictions: Forty-two percent of the state’s leadership and more than 20 percent of its rank-and-file employees may retire in seven years. In the departments surveyed, nearly half the workers were 50 or older. Of even greater concern is that succession plans are just beginning. The blog contains a summary link; read the entire report (pdf) here.

According to The Sacramento Bee's State Worker column today, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association has filed a lawsuit against the governor contending the furloughs are an illegal pay cut. This suit differs from previously filed suits by contending the order can't be executed rather than challenging the governor's authority to issue it. The association says its members will not be able to take off their furlough time.

DPA Director Dave Gilb resonded to The Sacramento Bee's article on state hiring in a letter to the editor March 18. Some previously authorized positions were filled and some departments do not fall under the governor's budgetary control, Gilb said. To read the letter, click the headline above.

Despite budget cuts and a hiring freeze, the state's work force has grown since June 2008 and not all part-time workers have been laid off.

Mac Taylor, California's legislative analyst, warns the plunging economy could open an $8 billion hole in the state's new budget. That deficit will worsen by $6 billion if voters reject the ballot measures on May 19.

Judge Patrick Marlette, the Sacramento Superior Court judge who ruled in the governor's favor on the furlough issue several weeks ago, has ruled in his favor again: Employees of constitutional offices are subject to the furlough. The tentative ruling could be made final as early as this afternoon. The ruling affects about 15,000 state workers. The passing of the budget didn't negate the need for the furloughs, the judge wrote.

State Worker columnist Jon Ortiz's "random observations" this week make a lot of sense. One of those observations was generated by ACSS' meet and confer with DPA. The point he makes: If the May 19 ballott propositions don't pass, state workes may be in a world of hurt.

Here, from Senior Labor Rep Bonnie Morris, are the highlights from the March 4 meet and confer with DPA.

State Controller John Chiang has begun releasing more than $2.8 billion in payments -- tax refunds and student aid included -- that were delayed because of the budget crisis. Payments are being made on a "first in, first out" basis.

Californians will vote on seven measures in the special election called for May 19. These measures were originally scheduled for the June 8, 2010, primary, but the Legislature and governor called the special election to address four of the budget provisions. Those are propositions: 1A, which would increase the amount of money put into the state's rainy day account and restrict withdrawal of funds; 1B, which would provide supplemental education payments to public school districts and community colleges beginning in 2011; 1C, one of the major components of the budget plan, which would allow the state to borrow $5 billion in the 2009-10 fiscal year from future lottery profits and potentially more in future years; and 1D, which would temporarily redirect a portion of First 5 program funds for budgetary savings. The deadline to register to vote in this election is May 4 (postmark date OK). For more information, see the Secretary of State's news release and the Legislative Analyst's analysis.

ACSS is the sponsor of two bills being considered in the Legislature this year. AB 1161, State Employee Adverse Actions: Change Statute of Limitations From Three Years to One Year for Excluded Employees, was authored by Joan Buchanan of Contra Costa and Alameda. The bill would change the notice requirement for adverse actions against managerial, supervisory and confidential state employees from three years to one year from the date of the misconduct. AB843, State Employee Adverse Actions: Change the "Burden of Proof" in Adverse Actions for Managerial Employees, would place the burden of proof in an adverse action on the employer, not the managerial employee. The author is Marty Block of San Diego. 

State Worker columnist Jon Ortiz tries to untangle the furlough "mess" in today's Sacramento Bee. First it was announced tomorrow would be the last designated furlough day; now the DPA has softened its language to say it's "working toward" having it be the last set furlough day.

The Sacramento Bee's State Worker columnist, Jon Ortiz, explains the effects of the change to "self-directed" furlough days in his online blog. For the full text of the entry, click the headline above. Excluded employees, who are still covered by the governor's order to take two furlough days, will take this Friday (March 6) as a furlough day but will be on a self-directing schedule thereafter.

Nearly two-thirds of likely voters in the upcoming May 19 election are unhappy with the budget, The Sacramento Bee Capitol Alert reports. The same poll shows initial support for the six items on the ballot. Other poll results: Eighteen percent say the Legislature is doing a good job and 38 percent approve of the job the governor is doing. The ballot measure to hold open primaries is favored by 58 percent.

A Sacramento Superior Court judge has tentatively ruled that state workers' pay can be cut to minimum wage when lawmakers miss the budget deadline. Another hearing is set for 1:30 p.m. today. The final ruling could come at that time or a few days later. Judges rarely change their tentative rulings.

Here is a pdf of the Legislative Analyst's analysis of the McCauley Public Pension Reform Act. To recap: Signatures are now being gathered to put an intiative on the ballot to allow public agencies to reduce their retirees' pensions. We urge you not to sign this petition! The LAO report concludes that any savings that might result from reducing pensions would likely be offset from increases in other costs.