According to a recent report from the National Association of State Retirement Administrators (NASRA) the truth is that public employee pension plans are performing well and are costing taxpayers a fraction of what they have been led to believe.

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CalPERS released a set of federal legislative priorities this morning that are crucial to maintaining a viable retirement plan for ACSS members and thousands of other California state employees.

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Representatives from the Association of California State Supervisors (ACSS) met with newly appointed Department of Personnel Administration (DPA) Director Ron Yank Tuesday afternoon to discuss important measures needed to improve support for the state's excluded employees.

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This Tuesday, April 5th, Governor Jerry Brown held an unprecedented teleconference town hall meeting in which he outlined his plan to balance the state's budget and addressed concerns from 11,000 state employees.

Gov. Brown stressed the importance of state unity in maintaining revenue extensions - one of ACSS' key talking points during our March 16th lobby day - and warned that a failure to do so could result in "massive cuts, way below anything anybody has ever seen in the state."

The town hall is presented here in its entirety by Channel 1000: http://bit.ly/gaH2qr

Attention all members: Your April 15-17th board meeting in San Diego is rapidly drawing near.

This board meeting will give us all the chance to come together and evaluate our progress and plan for moving ahead as the state's largest association representing state supervisors, managers, and confidential employees.

A recent statewide poll, commissioned by the California Federation of Teachers, finds a solid majority of likely voters in California have a favorable opinion of public employees and support their right to engage in collective bargaining.

A new Field Poll reports that nearly half of California's registered voters are OK with unions but but an increasing percentage think public pensions are too generous -- 42 percent, up from 32 percent in 2009. Ten percent said public pensions are not generous enough. A Little Hoover Commission report in February recommended public pension reform, including lowering future benefits for current government employees and establishing a salary cap for pension calculations. State Treasurer Bill Lockyer and CalSTRS both slammed the report.

ACSS urges its members to attend the next board meeting, April 15-17 in San Diego. This meeting will be one of the most intense and productive we have held. Instead of brief Friday committee meetings and a two-day board session, this weekend will consist of in-depth committee workshops designed to further our strategic planning and corporate restructuring. We will identify issues most important to our members and find more avenues to advocate for them. We will discuss legislative and political planning, strategies for membership development and ways to better organize and structure chapter activities. Click for a schedule of workshops or to make hotel reservations. The deadline for the ACSS discounted  room rate is March 23.


Lobby Day, ACSS' most effective annual event for getting excluded employees' message to our legislators, is Wednesday, March 16, with training starting the evening before. For our members who are attending, we have posted a schedule and other helpful information on our Lobby Day page along with a Lobby Day flier containing the same information in pdf format.

Associated Press reports that leaders of unions that include SEIU and AFL-CIO are planning to launch a multimillion dollar campaign to boost the image of government workers and fend off pay cuts and benefits rollbacks in some states.

State Worker columnist Jon Ortiz asked state workers what they think of Gov. Brown's order to take 48,000 state cell phones out of service. As you might expect, the responses are sharp. Check here for a copy of the governor's executive order (order follows the governor's release).

CalPERS is holding an election to fill a vacant board of administration position. You are eligible to vote if you are an active CalPERS member as of March 1 or retired on or before March 1. Ballot packets will be mailed April 21. The dedline to vote is May 19. List of candidates here.

Gov. Brown has ordered that 48,000 cell phones belonging to state workers -- about half of those in use -- be returned. Only employees with certain needs, such as 24/7 availability, will keep their phones. The governor expects to save $20 million a year by reducing cell phone expenses.

Gov. Brown's budget, presented Monday, would cut social services and keep expiring tax increases for five more years. His cuts also include reducing take-home pay for members of bargaining units that do not yet have contracts. Excluded employees and members of bargaining units with contracts would not be subject to further cuts. The California Budget Project has broken down Brown's budget into a readable format; the organization's executive director gives a brief, mixed assessment of the budget proposals. Other budget links: budget breakdown; how the budget could affect you -- fewer state-issued cell phones, for example; Legislative Analyst's review.

The State Worker interviewed incoming DPA director Ronald Yank for his regular Thursday column. These are some of Yank's thoughts that didn't make the cut.