The California Budget Project has published an easy-to-read comparison of the budget proposals from the Assembly and the Senate.

From The State Worker blog: Two more unions have approved tentative employment contracts with Gov. Schwarzenegger. The Union of American Physicians and Dentists and the International Union of Operating Engineers both accepted higher pension contributions and reduced pension benefits for new hires. A different blog item discusses the impact of tentative contracts on a minimum wage order.

In a letter to the editor of The Sacramento Bee, state Controller John Chiang argues against imposing minimum wage on state employees. He says, in part, that "Reducing state salaries to the federal minimum wage ... will cost California billions of dollars in penalties and damages." Two problem areas: retirement contributions, which are based on employee pay; and overtime, which, when worked, entitles an employee to full pay for the month. Read Chiang's letter here.

If Controller John Chiang loses his appeal to overturn the 2008 court decision that he overstepped his bounds by refusing to issue minimum-wage checks, then what? The State Worker blog lays out one scenario: The court may not decide the argument on the feasibility of paying state workers minimum wage, leaving Chiang the opportunity for more action in the lower court and an argument to maintain the status quo.

A young writer for California Progress Report offers some good arguments against the pension reformers' stampede. "Cutting pensions would be like taking a shotgun, aiming it at our feet, and pulling the trigger," he writes. Good food for thought for your own pension discussions.

The state furloughs have ended, at least for now, but the specter of being paid federal minimum wage if a budget doesn't pass is still real. Arguments on the issue between Gov. Schwarzenegger and state Controller John Chiang were heard in appellate court yesterday. The judge did not indicate when he would make his ruling. Four unions have proposed guarantees their members won't be cut in tentative agreements.

ACSS President Arlene Espinoza is quoted in today's Sacramento Bee article looking at the leave time state employees have accumulated. Leave time is usually paid off when an employee retires. Espinoza, a DMV manager, pointed out that "managers' jobs often demand forgoing time off." The furloughs have increased the banked leave.

Friday was the last furlough day under Gov. Schwarzenegger's executive order, but the budget crisis remains. Can we be certain the furloughs won't return? Check out a forum on how some state workers feel about the furloughs expiring.

CalPERS yesterday approved an increase in health insurance premiums next year for its public employees of more than 9 percent. The pension plan blamed rising costs for hospital care, doctor visits and prescriptions. Last year, the average premium for a family was $13, 375 a year.The new costs are here. 

Today is the last day of furloughs under the governor's current executive order. However, the governor could order more furloughs in the case of another fiscal emergency. The total work time missed from furloughs so far? The Sacramento Bee calculates it as a month and a half.

Four state worker unions – CHP, Department of Forestry Firefighters, Association of Psychiatric Technicians and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees – have agreed to proposed contracts that would offer less generous pension benefits to new hires and hike all employee pension contributions. The move is predicted to save the state $72 million. The governor issued a press release on the agreements.

The State Worker blog reports that state Controller John Chiang intends to continue paying state workers their full salaries if the budget fails to pass by June 30.

The Department of Finance Bulletin for June points to a state economy that is improving and may have bottomed out. "A resurgent labor force" has "pulled discouraged people back into the labor market," the report says. The labor force expansion was the strongest one-month gain since March 1990.

From The State Worker: A state appeals court has agreed with the lower court's ruling that furloughing State Compensation Insurance Fund employees violated state insurance code. The original case was filed and won by SEIU Local 1000 and Gov. Schwarzenegger appealed. Story includes a link to the decision.

The State Worker column today posts a lengthy article from Politico analyzing the turning tide, even among Democrats, against public unions. The Politico piece covers several states but features California as "ground zero for pension fights."