ACSS members have asked us if they can take the Columbus Day holiday this year. Excluded employees -- supervisors, managers, confidentials and exempts -- will not be entitled to take Columbus Day off as a holiday and must report to work as usual or use leave credits for time off. Without bargaining rights, supervisors are subject to the governor's executive order, which was adopted as law, eliminating Columbus Day and Lincoln's Birthday as state holidays. DPA has posted this policy on its Web site. If you have questions about your specific situation, please contact your human resources department or your labor relations officer.

A citizens group is proposing an initiative that would cut legislative sessions to a maximum of 95 days and reduce lawmakers' pay by at least 50 percent. The Legislature was part time until 1966. In 2008, legislators were in session for all but a six-week period.

If you want to enroll in a CalPERS health program, change your health plan or add family members to your plan, you must do so during the annual open enrollment period, which ends Oct. 9. The CalPERS Web site contains information on choices. Overall premium increases this year have been held to 4.3 percent, the lowest increase in more than a decade. Benefits and co-payments will not change.

SEIU Local 1000 has posted a memo urging its members to stay home on Columbus Day, Oct. 12. The rationale: With no new contract, the previous contract remains in effect, and that contract gives SEIU members Columbus Day off. The DPA counters the memo by saying employees who take Columbus Day off must get permission and use leave. A KCRA.com new story is here. The State Worker blog report is here.

By extending seasonal and weekday closures and reducing maintenance, among other cost-cutting measures, the governor's office has determined it will not have to close any state parks completely. One hundred parks had been slated for closure. In a follow-up report, The Sacramento Bee writes that crime in state parks is soaring and could get worse with the proposed cuts.

The Sacramento Bee State Worker blog links to the brief SEIU Local 1000 filed to overturn a Sacramento Superior Court judge's ruling that the governor's furlough order is legal.

From this morning's State Worker blog: The state's gross payroll shrank in February, compared to February 2008, by nearly $62 million. And good news for SCIF employees, including ACSS members: Now that a judge has ruled SCIF workers are exempt from furloughs, employees will receive back pay with interest.

In her speech formally announcing her candidacy for governor Tuesday, Meg Whitman called the state bureaucracy "selfish and arrogant." She promised to cut 40,000 state workers from the payroll and crack down on their "overly generous benefits." To read readers' comments on the speech, open The State Worker blog here.

Reminder: Ballots for the CalPERS election must be returned by Oct. 2. Our pensions are under attack. For a CalPERS press release on the election, click here.

On Affiliate Day, ACSS completed the first step in its effort to strategize the organization’s future. President Arlene Espinoza characterizes the planning project with a question: “Where does ACSS go and grow?” The daylong workshop was led by Eric Douglas, president and CEO of Learning Resources Inc. of Sacramento. To read a report on Affiliate Day, click here.

The general consensus on this year’s General Council was that it was the best ever. It also may have been the shortest. With no more essential business to conduct, President Dave Hart adjourned Sunday night, eliminating the need to return on Labor Day.

Click here to read highlights of this year’s GC. For photos of GC, click here.

The Sacramento Bee is running a three-part series examinging the history of California's budget crisis since sales and state income taxes were first approved in the 1930s. Now a special commission and reform groups are set to propose radical changes in our tax laws, including overhauling the state constitution. Sunday part 1. Monday part 2. Tuesday part 3.

The state added 6,800 new employees in the first half of this year. Find out which agencies hired and link to the report in The State Worker blog.

From today's State Worker column: Public employees in 21 states are being or will be furloughed, but no other government entity has reduced employee pay as steeply as California. In addition, most other states negotiated furloughs with their unions. As a result, California now has 19 furlough lawsuits in the courts.

In the pension debate, "portraying government employees as the 'haves' and private sector employees as the 'have-nots' is a creative but inaccurate twist on historical reality," writes a columnist for the Tampa Bay Tribune. We need more defined pension benefit plans, not fewer, the writer says. (linked from The State Worker blog)

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass looks at the positives in this year's budget in a guest column in today's Sacramento Bee.

State consitutional officers say they're handling their shrinking budgets without furlough or layoffs, The Sacramento Bee reports. Some are asking: So were the furloughs necessary?

State employees enrolled in CalPERS' PPO health plans will pay no premiums for their health insurance during October and November. The premiums are being suspended so that CalPERS can pay down an excess of funds it has accumulated in its PPO plan reserves. Only PPO enrollees are affected and their health care coverage will continue uninterrupted.

The California Budget Project this month has published two grim reports on California's economy, "More Californians Are Living in Poverty ... " (covering 2008) and " ... the State of Working California 2009." The conclusions probably won't surprise furloughed state workers: Poverty rates are higher, incomes are lower, more than 20 percent of people under age 65 do not have health insurance, and the 2009 numbers will probably be worse. A couple of solutions offered: More federal help in the form of more unemployment insurance benefits and health care reform.

Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg told Gov. Schwarzenegger in a letter that information the Legislature has gathered indicates the furloughs of state workers will cause California to lose millions of dollars. He suggested the governor approve the SEIU collective bargaining agreement, with one furlough day, and reach agreements with the other bargaining units. He also said he and Assembly Speaker Karen Bass will introduce a bill to reduce all furloughs by one day. For Steinberg's letter and the Legislature's findings, click here.

CalPERS will hold three retirement planning fairs for members in September: Sept. 17, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Kings Beach (8313 North Lake Blvd., Lake Tahoe); Sept. 25, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sept. 26, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., both at the Red Lion Hotel, 1830 Hilltop Drive, Redding. For more information, caontact Tod Bedrosian at tbedros765@aol.com.

Jerome Horton, a candidate ACSS actively supported, has been confirmed to fill a vacancy on the state Board of Equalization. He replaces Judy Chu, who was elected to Congress in July. Horton, a former member of ACSS, was an assemblyman and a 21-year employee of BOE. ACSS Director-at-Large Frank Ruffino and Junior Past President Olin King testified on Horton's behalf before the Senate Rules Committee and Ruffino later testified at the Assembly Rules Committee.

National Public Radio carried a segment Thursday that questioned whether furloughs save costs. "It is beginning to appear that a decline in spending, and therefore tax revenue, and the drop in efficiency associated with furloughs may offset their value," the segment reported. Nineteen states have imposed furloughs. California's furlough situation is featured, and the story mentions the spill that took more than 12 hours to clean up because it was a furlough Friday and Caltrans didn't have workers to respond.

The State Worker blog reports today that San Francisco Superior Court Judge Charlotte Wollard signed her decision ending the furlough for all State Compensation Insurance fund employees throughout California. The order allows the state controller to immediately the process to pay SCIF workers in full.

CSEA President Dave Hart, Vice President Donna Snodgrass and Secretary-Treasurer David Okumura were relected at General Council Sunday to three-year terms.

The State Worker blog reports this morning that San Francisco Superior Court Judge Charlotte Woolard tentatively ruled in favor of SEIU Local 1000, finding that state insurance code "exempt State Compensation Insurance Fund employees from the furlough." ACSS President Arlene Espinoza wrote a letter to the SCIF board demanding that any relief from furloughs be extended to its members, and the SCIF board supported ACSS' demand. The blog includes a link to the ruling and other resources.

Check out the California State Employees Association home page for information on General Council. The business agenda is here. General Council runs Thursday, Sept. 3, through Labor Day. Delegates to the council will be electing new officers and considering new resolutions.

We picked up this short item from today's State Worker blog: State workers in Utah have been working a compressed four-day workweek. They're still working 40 hours, and they haven't been furloughed. The change stems from the state's attempt to cut its energy bills. The result? A smashing success. Utah's energy use has dropped 13 percent, state workers are saving $6 million on their gas bills, and the state's greenhouse gas emissions are down by 12,000 metric tons, according to a report in Time magazine's Sept. 7 edition. Utah says it's getting calls about its 4-10 workweek from both the public and private sectors around the world.

Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters analyzes the issues and the angst over possible pension reform. He acknowledges current state employees cannot lose their present pension benefits.

State Worker columnist Jon Ortiz gives the specter of 7,000 state layoffs a new perspective in this morning's column. In the past, he says, announced layoffs resulted in few jobs actually being lost. Six years ago, 9,100 jobs were eliminated but -- through transfers, demotions, retirements and the like -- only 291 employees lost their jobs. The same thing is happening again, a Legislative Analyst Office spokesman said.

A Democratic senator has questioned whether the governor's furlough is cost-effective after the Franchise Tax Board and Board of Equalization acknowledged the furlough will cost the state $350 million in revenue, The Sacramento Bee reports. The report prompted one state worker, facing foreclosure, to comment, "The third furlough day is killing people." In a separate development, Sen. Dianne Feinstein asked the governor to stop the furloughs for state employees who review Social Security disability applications.

ACSS Secretary-Treasurer Terry Sutherland is quoted in State Worker columnist Jon Ortiz's article Sunday revealing that state retirements rose 13 percent in the first half of this year compared with the same period last year. Sutherland, a CPA with the Franchise Tax Board in the Bay Area, says that with the reduction in pay from the furloughs he will make more money as a retiree. "I just can't afford to subsidize my job any more," he says. He will retire in November.

A Sacramento Bee editorial this morning supports greater scrutiny of the state's contracts with private vendors. Although the newspaper does not support doing away with outside contracting, it does support requiring contractors to report their reasons for issuing contracts (as proposed in AB 756, which SEIU supports). You can look up any state contract over $5,000.

CalPERS has sued Gov. Schwarzenegger and other state officials saying the furloughs are jeopardizing CalPERS' ability to service California's retirees. The suit claims furloughing CalPERS workers does not save the state money because employees are paid from internal sources. CalSTRS did not sue but did ask state Controller John Chiang for relief from the furloughs.

WhenState Worker columnist Jon Ortiz asked for specifics on the governor's layoff plans, he got more than he'd expected: A spreadsheet showed not 7,000 layoffs but as many as 12,000. Ortiz lists the reasons the governor would probably choose more layoffs over a fourth furlough day to cut more costs.

In a letter to California's congressional members, CalPERS is urging Congress to quickly overhaul the nation's health care system, The Sacramento Bee reports. Without reform, the letter, signed by CalPERS President Rob Feckner and CEO Anna Stausboll, said, "we will not be able to sustain our health care system." CalPERS is the nation's second-largest buyer of health care services. The CalPERS press release is here.

A Sacramento Bee editorial reports that a top CalPERS official is calling the state's pension plan costs "unsustainable."

Legislators will vote Thursday on a plan back by Gov. Schwarzenegger to reduce the state's inmate population by 27,300. Included in the package are proposals to reduce some property crimes to misdemeanors, placing low-level parolees on GPS monitoring and sending inform prisoners to medical facilities or house arrest. The move would save the state $1.2 billions, the Sacramento Bee article reports.

Gov. Schwarzenegger has revived his proposal to create a two-tier system for state retirement that would give lower benefits to new hires (current employees' retirement benefits would not change). With CalPERS and CalSTRS struggling financially, the governor may now gain a foothold for this idea, which has been consistently defeated in the past. At least 10 states have cut benefits for new hires, the Sacramento Bee article reports.

Associated Press reports this morning that, despite the budget crisis, at least 87 Assembly staff members and nine Senate staffers have received raises this year totaling well over half a million dollars. Some of the increases were more than 20 percent. In some cases, the increases were given to compensate for extra hours of work, spokespersons said.

State Controller John Chiang announced yesterday that California will not only stop using IOUs for payments beginning Sept. 4 but will also redeem IOUs with interest that day. The move will end a "shameful chapter in our state's history," he said.

State Controller John Chiang has announced he will stop issuing IOUs Sept. 4, a month earlier than previously projected. Ending the IOUs, Chiang said in a press release today, "does not bring an end to our fiscal challenges." The press release includes a link to a graph of California's cash outlook.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg will discuss his lawsuit against Gov. Schwarzenegger today at 2 p.m. at the Mission Neighborhood Health Center in San Francisco. Sen. Loni Hancock will also attend the talk.

Gov. Schwarzenegger's administration has spent $228,000 on furlough litigation so far, Jon Ortiz reports in his State Worker column this morning.

This time it isn't furloughs that will reduce your pay; it's increased withholding. ABC News10 in Sacramento reports that, as part of the budget, lawmakers are borrowing against against your withholding taxes to raise some $1.7 billion. You'll be repaid, but it's non-interest bearing. You can compensate by increasing your exemptions.

The delegates at the ACSS Delegate Assembly in July voted to reduce the dues for associate members to a flat rate of $15 a month. Previously, the dues were the same as active members' dues. The new dues rate takes effect 60 days from the date of this notice.

FromThe Sacramento Bee: Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg filed suit Monday to block Gov. Schwarzenegger's line-item vetoes. The suit seeks to stop Schwarzenegger and state Controller John Chiang from imposing cuts to state programs.

Here's some grist to add to your retirement advocacy mill: The State Worker blog today links to a study by the National Institute of Retirement Security that says pension income plays a critical role in reducing poverty and hardship for older Americans. The blog gives a link to the full study.

So state workers make too much money? State Worker columnist Jon Ortiz does the math. Bottom line: State workers haven't nearly kept up with inflation. Here's a quote: "(SEIU members') union wages now trail the CPI (consumer price index) by about 77 percent."

According to The Sacramento Bee Capitol Alert blog, the state Office of the Legislative Counsel has issued an opinion asserting most of Gov. Schwarzenegger's line-item budget vetoes were illegal. The Leg Counsel reached its conclusion in responding to a request from Assembly Speaker Karen Bass. The conclusion: The constitution allows the governor to veto only items of appropriation. The blog contains a link to the report.