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.