Second-day story: Jerry Brown, Democratic candidate for governor, told The Sacramento Bee editorial board yesterday that Republican Meg Whitman's proposals would benefit California's richest citizens. Her plan to eliminate the state capital gains tax would benefit only people making more than $500,000 a year, Brown said. About the budget, Brown said: "I think Meg Whitman doesn't understand it." Brown said he "will do my best to get the state working," no matter how many hours a week that required.

The three leaders of ACSS Republicans for Jerry Brown, along with PAC chairman Frank Ruffino and Chapter 513 president Arlene Ryan, met with the candidate Sept. 12 in San Diego. Brown sat with the ACSS contingent listening to their concerns and asking about their state jobs. He made it clear he opposes furloughs and wants to work with supervisors to resolve their issues. In the photo, from left: Sandy Dressel, Todd D'Braunstein, Brown, Ruffino and Jerry Fountain.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown has published his no-nonsense plan for managing California's budget and fixing the state's sluggish economy. Nowhere in its eight pages does he suggest furloughing state workers, reducing state workers' pay to minimum wage, laying off state workers or destroying their pension plan.

The CalPERS Benefits and Program Administration Committee is expected at today's meeting to consider increasing the cost of purchasing additional retirement service credit. The full board will take up the committee's recommendation tomorrow (Sept. 15) and, if the increase is approved, implement it as early as the following day, Sept. 15. CalPERS members who submit their applications for ARSC before the new rate is adopted will lock in their purchase at the current rate. Board agenda is here. Cost increases are displayed here. Application information is here.

State Controller John Chiang announced today in his August report that California won't need to issue IOUs until at least early October, later than previously expected.

Furlough hearing: Lawyers for unions and state Controller John Chiang contended the governor overstepped his authority by ordering furloughs; the governor's attorney contended furloughs are an implied power conferred on the governor. As the attorneys attacked and defended the furloughs, judges asked hard questions. A ruling will be made within 90 days. Watch the live chat replay.

The California Budget Project has published a report, "Stuck between a recession and a recovery," that analyzes several aspects of the state's job market -- calling it the toughest in decades. Recent signs of recovery from the downturn don't seem to have included jobs. The report concludes: "Barring further efforts to bolster job creation, the state will continue to languish for several more years ... with high levels of unemployment." Efforts that could turn the state's job picture around are presented in a CBP column published on Labor Day in the (San Bernardino County) Press-Enterprise.

An excellent opinion piece in The Sacramento Bee Saturday powerfully defends state workers. Co-authored by the chairman of the Center for Labor Research and Education at UC Berkeley, the column points out that contrary to being "bloated" with state workers, California ranks 48th in proportion of public to private employees. The authors make the case that state workers' compensation is lower on average than compensation for similar jobs in the private sector and retirements are not high. They remind readers that financial institutions -- not state workers -- brought down the economy."Cutting public services," the article states, "... will only deepen unemployment and prolong the downturn."

State Worker blog: The California Channel on cable TV will broadcast Wednesday's Supreme Court furlough hearing, scheduled to start a 9 a.m. It's expected to last 90 minutes. The court will rule within 90 days.

A grim past, at steep pay cuts, and an uncertain future – possibly more cuts and layoffs – combine to make today's labor holiday a painful one for state workers.

The State Worker column:After nearly two years, 40 lawsuits and more than $1.2 million in state legal bills, the California Supreme Court will hear debate next Wednesday over whether the governor has illegally forced state workers to take unpaid days off from work. Column includes a guide to the 9 a.m. hearing and beyond.
 

Assembly Bill 1699, which would allow state workers to be paid their full salaries if the budget is not passed by the deadlin, failed by four votes to get two-thirds of the Senate vote it needed to pass.

After a report in The Sacramento Bee that the state workforce had remained relatively flat in the past year and a half, Gov. Schwarzenegger told his top officials yesterday to stop hiring. It was not an official order but the governor did say agencies should not be hiring unless "absolutely necessary."

The size of the state workforce has stayed flat, but state agencies have hired nearly 23,000 new workers in the past year and a half. Most of them were not full time. During the same time period, the state lost 18,000 workers to retirement. Who's done the hiring? Here's a list.

California taxpayers are shelling out tens of thousands of dollars to pay legislators per diem for floor sessions they did not attend this year, according to a Sacramento Bee investigation. Only about one if every four absences included the loss of the tax-free $142 per day legislators receive when they are supposed to be on the Legislature's floor. Even the Sacramento Bee's editors decried the practice.