The ACSS board of directors and political action committee have completed their endorsements for the Nov. 2 election. Jerry Brown for governor and Abel Maldonado for lieutenant governor top the list. Check out our endorsement list to see what other consitituional officers ACSS supports and if there are endorsements in your Senate and Assembly districts.

Usually conservative Sacramento Bee political columnist Dan Walters this morning challenges Meg Whitman's assertions that California's state government is bloated. The truth, Walters writes, is that California has the fourth lowest ratio in the nation of state workers to residents. Moreover, he writes, Whitman's vow to solve the budget deficit by cutting state jobs "doesn't hold statistical water."

ACSS President Arlene Espinoza and Director-at-Large Frank Ruffino urge members to vote for Jerry Brown for governor in ACSS' video, "Vote for Your Job," posted in the Jerry Brown section of our Web site. Check it out.

ACSS Senior Labor Relations Representative Bonnie Morris held a phone conference with Julie Chapman, DPA's deputy director for labor relations, about the future pay plan for excluded employees. DPA yesterday issued a memo explaining the program, but Bonnie asked for clarification for ACSS members on some points most often questioned. Read ACSS' information here. Read the DPA memo here.

Prompted by the sale of 11 state buildings, the Department of General Services will issue layoff warnings to about 1,000 of its custodians. The goal is to eliminate 450 jobs by the end of February. The notices will be issued by Nov. 1. SEIU Local 1000's tentative contract with the governor doesn't provide layoff protection.

Public pension obligations account for 3.6 of state and local spending, writes Washington Post columnist Ezra Klein, so that clearly is not the cause of the financial crisis. Further into the story, Klein points out that white-collar public employees are compensated far less than white-collar private-sector workers.

The Department of Personnel Administration has released a memo explaining and clarifying how the governor's executive order, S-15-10, affects excluded employees. Effective Nov. 2, employee retirement contributions will increase by 3 percent and the PLP program (one day of unpaid leave per month) will begin for 12 months.

The nonpartisan California Budget Project has released an analysis of the state budget, including Gov. Schwarzenegger's vetos. State workers and state pensions are noted on pages 29 and 30. Read also the CBP's jobs analysis report from September.

Pension reform -- scaling back benefits to state new hires -- was a big victory for Gov. Schwarzenegger over CalPERS, a goal the governor has been tenaciously pursuing for the past year and a half.

The latest budget in California history was signed Friday after Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed nearly $1billion in spending, much of it targeting programs for low-income, sick or disadvantaged Californians.

Breaking news: The latest budget in the state's history was finally approved with the last vote at 8:25 this morning. The $87.5 billion spending plan relies on rosy assumptions about revenues from taxpayers and the federal government, as well as reductions to state worker pay, prisons, and social services. Gov. Schwarzenegger is expected to sign it today. It's his last budget.

Gov. Schwarzenegger yesterday ordered compensation cuts for state excluded employees that mirror those in the tentative labor contract reached by SEIU. The governor's order includes: no further furloughs after October, a 3 percent increase in pension contributions "as soon as administratively possible," a 12-month personal leave program in which salaries will be reduced by one day a month, a new top step for each pay range that is 3 percent higher (effective July 1, 2013), two professional development days per year, retirement formulas rolled back to pre-SB 400 levels.

In light of SEIU's tentative labor agreement with the governor, reached late last night, ACSS has asked to meet and confer with DPA on behalf of its members. Meanwhile, we are analyzing the SEIU agreement and the various budget bills now before the Legislature as a basis for our demands for supervisors and excluded employees. Read our memo here.

The State Worker column this morning puts theSupreme Court's furlough ruling this week into perspective.

Late last night, SEIU and the Schwarzenegger administration announced a tentative labor agreement that includes higher employee contributions to employee retirement plans, one furlough day a month for one year and pre-1999 pension benefits for new hires. The contract also shields members from being paid minimum wage if a budget is not passed by the deadline.