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?

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.