Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley has tentative ruled not to allow furlough lawsuits to be coordinated and transferred to Sacramento. Final ruling is expected later today. Tentative rulings are rarely changed.

The Department of Personnel Administration is training its best and brightest state workers to take over top jobs as supervisors and managers become eligible to retire in large numbers. The department's "Leadership Academy" offers graduate-level courses in Sacramento. The students must interview and apply to take them.

The State Worker blog today reports this morning that the Franchise Tax Board will be closing one hour early -- at 4 p.m -- beginning Nov. 1. Reason? "Budget constraints." The blog also gives the back and forth of the SCIF bonus, which was stopped by DPA.

From calpensions.com: State Treasurer Bill Lockyer warned California at a legislative hearing that the state will go bankrupt if the pension system isn't reformed. He also said he didn't have a solution to the pension problem "other than constructive dialogue."

From Capitol Weekly: State worker pensions continue to come under attack: A group of Orange County politicos has filed two proposed ballot initiatives to bar unions from deducting money from members' paychecks for political purposes and require unions to get written permission before deducting money for political activity. Two similar initiatives were rejected in the past. A third initiative by the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility would lower pension benefits, increase retirement age and establish a statewide pension rate.

First, the State Worker blog reported the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education had issued a study ("The High Cost of Furloughs") showing that one furlough day would have the saved the state more money than three furlough days. The Berkeley study also noted the hardship the furloughs have caused state workers and the folly of furloughing workers in revenue-generating departments. Now a San Diego Union-Tribune blog attempts to reveal the study's "shoddiness."

In failing to get a single Republican vote in the Senate, a bill to protect businesses offering discounts to laid-off and furloughed workers has died. The Assembly passed the measure 78-0. Author Gloria Negrete McLeod said she'll try again in January. The failure of the bill doesn't prevent establishments from offering discounts; the bill would have protected them from lawsuits if they do.

The Legislature has scored the lowest rating in the history of the Field Poll (26 years) with just 13 percent approving the job they're doing. The governor's approval rating was 27 percent, not quite as low as Gray Davis when he was ousted. The impact of budget cuts and furloughs is causing the drop, a Field Poll spokesman said.

Second of two-parts: The Legislature did make some cuts, and Senate staffers are furloughed one day a month, but Assembly workers are not furloughed and lawmakers did not suffer cuts as steep as state workers and offices did. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg asked senators to take a voluntary 5 percent paycut, but two did not. Speaker Karen Bass did not ask Assembly members to take the cut, and most did not. (This is a two-page story.)

Working for the Legislature can pay off: Legislative staffers can retire at 50 with only five years of service and full lifetime health benefits. And that's just the beginning. Today and tomorrow, The Sacramento Bee examines the state Legislature's budget and spending. The article includes links to a graph and a list comparing legislative benefits with the benefits state workers get.

State controller John Chiang reports that state revenues came in $1.1 billion below estimates in the first quarter of this fiscal year. "I urge lawmakers and the governor to prepare for more difficult decisions ahead," Chiang said.

The State Worker column this morning ponders whether SEIU Local 1000 members will support their union by taking next Monday, Columbus Day, as a holiday. SEIU President Yvonne Walker has told members they can lawfully take the day off but the DPA has said any employees doing so will be "AWOL." A Bee editorial urges SEIU workers to show up on Columbus Day, saying it would be "counterproductive (and) detrimental to state workers" not to show up for work that day.

From the LA Times: Gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay, calls state workers "selfish and arrogant" and wants to cut 40,000 of their jobs from the state payroll. Yet, the writer points, out, the 53-year-old Whitman has little experience working with public entitities and didn't bother to register to vote until she was 46.

The State Worker blog has posted the email the BOE executive director sent to employees informing them that enough other cuts had been made to the budget to eliminate the need for layoffs. More than a quarter of the staff was slated to be laid off next year.

Longtime political columnist Dan Walters suggests this morning that we may look back on this year's budget mess as "the good old days." In addition to lawsuits and near-daily protests at the Capitol, revenues are down and the state has borrowed billions that must be paid back.

The state Board of Equalization, which has defied Gov. Schwarzenegger's furlough order, has announced it has identified enough savings in its budget to avoid issuing termination notices, which had been expected for more than 1,000 BOE workers. The BOE employs about 4,000.

Following a link from The State Worker blog, the Orange County Register conducted a three-part interview with Republican candidate Meg Whitman. In Part 2, she explains her justification for cutting 40,000 state employees. In Part 1, she talks about why she didn't vote until she was 46. We'll post Part 3 when it is available.

SEIU has told its members to stay home on Columbus Day, Oct. 12. But other unions have taken different stands. Some workers say they'll stay home; some say they can't take the chance of getting even more docked pay.

State Worker column: If more courts rule the furloughs are illegal, as happened with the State Compensation Insurance Fund, the state could lose millions. The payback cost in interest to reimburse SCIF employees is $23.5 million. For all furloughed workers, it would be nearly $200 million.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Partly in response to a demand letter from ACSS, the State Compensation Insurance Fund board of directors has taken a stand on the furloughs that is very beneficial to ACSS members. Specifically, the board on July 31 authorized the SCIF president and CEO, Jan Frank, to “file a cross complaint in any of the pending court proceedings to obtain a ruling from the courts that all State Fund employees are exempted from the Governor’s Furlough Order – including those employees who are not represented by unions with current cases pending)” (italics in original). (Continue reading here.)

SEIU Local 1000 members have voted to give their leaders permission to strike. The union, which represents 95,000 state workers, are upset with Gov. Schwarzenegger for failing to have thei contract, negotiated in February, ratified. The contract called for one furlough day a month, and state workers now have been furloughed for three days. (Link has been updated.)

From the LA Times: With its staff furloughed three days a month, the Franchise Tax Board -- the state's tax collector -- could lose at least $550 million over the next three years and another $372 million for the two years after that from lost revenue and the backlog of dealing with disputes and late collections.

Gov. Schwarzenegger signed the budget yesterday, but not before paring it down further and nearly decimating some programs. For a bullet-point breakdown of the budget fixes, click here. And just when you've gotten comfortable, be warned that the new plan has "plenty of landmines," is "painful but precarious" and has no "safety net."

The governor signed the budget package this morning after making additional cuts that left it in the red.

This short item from the mercurynews.com (San Jose Mercury News blog) reveals the hardships of a couple of real people behind the furlough cuts -- and of the public.

The Sacramento Bee Capitol Alert blog reports the governor has ruled out a fourth furlough day for state workers as he makes his final cuts to the state budget.

A Sacramento Bee editorial, one of a series this week, defends the state furloughs as a necessary option to save jobs but says more must be done. State service needs to be made more efficient, with better use of technology and private firms to perform basic services.

A lubricant spill July 17 -- a furlough Friday -- took nearly 12 hours to clean up because nearby Caltrans workers couldn't be reached, prompting State Worker columnist Jon Ortiz to ponder: Were the phones not answered on purpose? Another Ortiz observation: The delay to close the budget deal cost the state the same amount of money it will save from the third furlough day.

State Worker columnist Jon Ortiz writes in today's blog that the 7,000 total state job cuts the governor announced in May and this month are still on despite the budget deal. The earliest date layoffs will begin is Sept. 15. Of the 5,000 May cuts, Ortiz reports, about 1,100 employees have either transferred or left state service.

CalPERS and CalSTRS together lost nearly $100 billion in the last fiscal year from the stock market beating.The decline means taxpayers will contribute more to shore up the two funds and state workers' contributions will increase. CalPERS has already announced it will demand increased contributions. CalSTRS can't ask for higher payments but has started talking to lawmakers about passing legislation to raise the contribution amounts.

Gov. Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders agreed yesterday on a plan to close the $26 billion budget deficit. The plan, which must be voted on by the full Legislature, shifts costs into the future and takes money from local governments. It does preserve Prop. 98, the state's constitutional guarantee for education funding, though it contains several billion dollars in cuts to education at all levels. It is expected the plan would end the need for IOUs (cbsnews.ca story). One writer who is not impressed with the budget deal is The Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters.

Cleanup of a lubricant spill near San Rafael on "furlough Friday" was delayed several hours because Caltrans workers were on furlough, The Sacramento Bee's State Worker blog reports. Traffic backed up for miles. The story was originally reported in the Marin Independent-Journal. 

Gov. Schwarzenegger has appointed former ACSS member Jerome Horton to fill Judy Chu's seat on the Board of Equalization. Chu was sworn in July 16 as a congresswoman. Horton, 52, a Democrat, served three terms in the Assembly and was an Inglewood city councilman. ACSS wrote a letter to Gov. Schwarzenegger urging he support Horton's appointment.

Julie Chapman, deputy director of labor relations for the Department of Personnel Administration, announced to employee associations and other groups Tuesday morning that the governor will eliminate another 2,000 jobs from state service. These cuts are on top of the 5,000 jobs he eliminated in May. Unlike the May cuts, these new cuts may be covered by department vacancies that already exist. The departments must notify DPA of their vacancies as soon as possible and DPA will determine which positions are eligible. Until then, the number of layoffs is not known, Chapman said. The list of targeted positions is expected to be released by the end of this month. DPA has promised to hold another conference call before notices are sent. Only general fund positions are subject to the layoff.

The Sacramento Bee's Capitol Alert blog reports that a former UCLA chancellor has asked the California Supreme Court to declare the constitutional requirement for a two-thirds vote to raise taxes invalid. The theory: When voters passed Proposition 13 in 1978, requiring the two-thirds vote, it was a "revision" of the state constitution rather than an "amendment" and, therefore, improperly approved.

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass issued a statement today blasting Gov. Schwarzenegger for proposing another furlough day for state workers. She called it "the wrong direction," "a negotiating ploy," "a particularly cynical one." Read her brief statement here.

"The State Worker" columnist Jon Ortiz, wrting in The Sacramento Bee, reports this morning that Gov. Schwarzenegger is planning yet another 5 percent cut on state workers' pay -- to a total of nearly 20 percent. You know the procedure by now: The governor will propose an across-the-board cut, the Legislature will deny it and the governor will use the emergency powers law to add a fourth furlough day that the Legislature can't touch. "The 20 percent cut will bankrupt some of the 235,000 state workers affected," Ortiz writes. Ortiz will be the featured speaker at ACSS' Delegate Assembly Saturday at the Holiday Inn Capitol Plaza. For an editorial comment on these cuts, see the Calitics Web blog (not part of The Bee).

Donna Snodgrass, vice president of CSEA, interviewed at the state workers rally July 1, is quoted in the Riverside Press Democrat as saying that she has been unable to take her furlough days and has banked six of them. Other employees, Snodgrass pointed out, have incurred overtime to make up for the days not worked. The furlough "is not saving any money," she said. In a July 2 story, Snodgrass says "the workload is too much ... and the furlough days won't solve the problem. ... We are tired of being used as chess pieces."