For my out of state readers (which is most of you), let me catch you up on the situation we're facing in California: a 9 percent salary reduction for state employees using involuntary furloughs. Will we beancounters be locked out every other Friday starting February 6, or will we not?
Nobody knows. Nobody has a single clue. Really.
Last fall, I briefly blogged about Arnold's proposal to pay state workers the minimum wage. The State Controller put his foot down and said he would not change the payroll computers to accommodate such an ill thought-out request. The exact same scenario arises in the face of furloughs. The State Controller says the governor is not allowed to dictate salary for unionized workers; therefore the SCO won't produce such paychecks. I'm not going to weigh in on the legality; that's for the court. But as a practical matter, it's hard to reduce people's pay when the guy who cuts the paychecks isn't playing ball.
Here's a partial list of agencies that would be exempt: Legislative staff offices, State Board of Equalization, Secretary of State, and anybody in Bargaining Unit 5 (particularly the Highway Patrol). SEIU has gone on record as saying that if one bargaining unit doesn't have to accept the salary cut, that should go for the rest of them.
This is just one fight out of many going on here in Sacramento. The thing is, the state is $40 billion in the hole, and nobody has a solution with enough traction to work. Furloughs would have saved a sizable portion but I doubt they'll ultimately be enforced, so we're still looking at the whole $40B. No one knows how to stop our budget's bleeding, much less repair the wound. Consequently our credit is terrible and nobody will lend us money to keep us liquid. California could well be the first state ever to go bankrupt. I know we're a state that prides itself on leading the nation, but this is crazy.
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