California Workers Get Pay Bump Even as Brown Seeks Cuts
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
California Gov. Jerry Brown during a news conference about the state budget on May 14, 2012 in Los Angeles.
California Gov. Jerry Brown during a news conference about the state budget on May 14, 2012 in Los Angeles. Photographer: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
As California Governor Jerry Brown seeks a temporary 5 percent pay cut from public employees to fill the largest state deficit in the U.S., many of those same workers are poised for raises next year.
Labor contracts covering 140,000 workers grant increases of about 3 percent to top earners beginning in July 2013, according to the Personnel Administration Department. About 34,000 employees became eligible this year as the raises began to be incorporated.
Brown, facing a $15.7 billion deficit through June 2013, is seeking savings in a state where unionized public employees are paid more than government workers in other states, and civil- service protections hamper dismissals. The 74-year-old Democrat wants to save $400 million by shortening the work week by two hours. That will require approval from unions representing 182,000 of the state’s 214,000 workers.
“This just highlights the fact that government works really well for public-employee unions, but really does not work for anybody else,” said Aaron McLear, the former spokesman for Brown’s predecessor, Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, who clashed with labor leaders over costs. “I get that they are under contract, but the idea that labor unions get to negotiate their cuts is stunning.”
During collective bargaining in 2010, Schwarzenegger agreed to raises of 2 percent to 5 percent for workers at the top of the pay scale. In return, union members contributed more toward their pension and retirement benefits, and gave up some paid holidays.
Unpaid Furloughs
The agreement came after Schwarzenegger and lawmakers had forced workers to take unpaid days off each month for two years, cutting pay by about 14 percent.
The contracts cover all unionized workers, from janitors to highway patrol officers. While Schwarzenegger signed many of the deals, Brown came to the same terms with prison guards in 2011.
Not every state worker can get the July pay increase, only those at the top of the pay scale for at least 12 months, with satisfactory evaluations. While there’s no estimate of how many that will be, it typically takes five years to reach top scale, according to Lynelle Jolley, a spokeswoman for the Personnel Administration.
Leaders of Service Employees International Union Local 1000, which represents the largest number of state employees at 95,000, are willing to talk about pay cuts or an alternative, according to a letter addressed to members earlier this month.
‘Staying Engaged’
“We could have said ‘no,’ and demanded that the governor honor our contract,” said the letter, signed by nine bargaining unit leaders. “By staying engaged, we minimize the potential for a huge number of layoffs and even deeper cuts in vital services.”
California, with the world’s ninth-biggest economy, lost more than 1 million jobs in the recession that started in 2007, reducing the most populous U.S. state’s revenue by 24 percent. Even with savings from program reductions, that left a deficit of $9.2 billion, the governor said in January.
Brown is pushing a ballot measure asking voters to temporarily raise the statewide sales tax to 7.5 percent from 7.25 percent, and boost rates on income taxes starting at $250,000.
Brown’s proposed budget includes a mechanism that would automatically trigger more than $6 billion in additional reductions, mostly from schools, if voters reject the tax increase.
Even if those cuts occur, state workers would still get their pay increase.
New Cuts
On May 14, the governor was forced to propose a new round of spending rollbacks after acknowledging the revenue projection he built into his January budget was off by more than $4 billion. To fill the gap, he wants to cut more than $3 billion from medical care for the poor, welfare, in-home services for the disabled, and childcare subsidies.
The governor also said he’d seek to reduce employee costs 5 percent by having them work 9.5 hours on four days instead of 8 hours in five days. His proposal would cut $840 million from payroll costs, with $400 million of that coming in the deficit- ridden general fund.
The average Golden State worker receives about $1 more for every $4 earned by a Texas employee, according to U.S. Commerce Department data. Per-capita income for all employees in California, public and private, was $42,578 last year, the department said. State workers, on average, made $58,340 in total pay, according to data from the controller’s office.
Limited Options
Brown’s options are limited. If unions balk at his proposal, he could fire state workers, though civil-service rules would require a dozen months or more to see any savings.
He could furlough workers as Schwarzenegger did, but that could end up costing more in future years, as workers in agencies that can’t shut down, such as prisons and the highway patrol, accumulate vacation and unpaid leave.
“The state employees particularly have come forward with some very imaginative ideas,” the governor told reporters in Sacramento when he unveiled his revised budget. “They’ve been willing to step up to the plate.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Michael B. Marois in Sacramento at mmarois@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Merelman at smerelman@bloomberg.net
Source: www.bloomberg.com
California Highway Patrol picks Ford Explorer - USA Today
The California Highway Patrol, one of the more visible law enforcement agencies in the country and one that was featured on the old CHiPs TV show, plans to buy the Police Interceptor version of the Ford Explorer as its mainstay patrol vehicle, the Los Angeles Times reports.
All police agencies have been scrambling to find an adequate replacement for the Ford Crown Victoria, the mainstay of most fleets that went out of production last year. The leading replacements are the police versions of the Ford Taurus, Chevrolet Caprice and the Dodge Charger.
Ford has been offering a SUV as an alternative to the sedans, which usually means a big, capable vehicle for patrolling in snowy or remote areas, not as a mainstay highway cruiser. But the Times quotes CHP Assistant Chief Erik Knudsen as saying that the "utility is probably going to be our primary vehicle."
We're surprised. SUVs have a higher center of gravity that could be a detriment in high-speed pursuits or tight cornering. But Knudsen says the Explorer can carry more payload than the sedans and still maneuvers well.
It's not a sure-bet yet. The Explorer still has to past a bunch of tests. But if it comes through, they could start showing up in the highways of the Golden State by October as 4,000 Crown Vics are gradually replaced.
Source: content.usatoday.com
California’s Most Boring Election Ever - Beyond Chron
As I noted last week, if Big Tobacco were not clogging the airwaves with No on 29 ads, many might not realize that California has a statewide election next week. The days when federal and state primaries in June effectively decided the winner in most districts are over, while incumbents across the state typically are running unopposed or with only token opposition.
State Ballot Changes
Californias destructive Prop 13 passed on a June ballot, and thanks to Governor Brown and his labor backers this can never happen again. Senate Bill 202 moves all state measures to the greater turnout November elections, with Props 28 and 29 the last to appear in June.
Labor wisely pushed SB 202 to prevent another anti-union initiative that limits labor spending money on political campaigns from appearing on this Junes ballot. The projected low-turnout would have almost guaranteed the measures passage.
Neither Prop 28 nor Prop 29 is likely to get people to make a special trip to the polls. The impact of Prop 28, which revises the states disastrous term limits law, is so uncertain that my Beyond Chron colleague Paul Hogarth voted against it while I favored it.
Hogarth felt that reducing state legislators tenure from 14 to 12 years was the wrong type of reform. I see allowing Assembly members to serve for 12 rather than six years as helping to improve a legislative body that has become totally controlled by banking, real estate and other corporate interests since term limits began.
Because most Californians pay little or no attention to the State Legislature, Assembly Democrats have paid no political price for their refusal to back strong anti-foreclosure laws or anything opposed by their conservative financial backers. We can blame Assembly Republicans for preventing tax increases through the states destructive 2/3 vote requirement, but only Democrats are to blame for the failure to pass progressive legislation and to even not let many bills targeting banks or big real estate get out of committee.
State Races
With no real contested Governor, President or U.S. Senate primaries, the only reason many will vote aside from feelings of civic duty is in the few areas where there are contested congressional or state legislative primaries.
The Bay Area has an Assembly race on the West Side of San Francisco that is so low profile that I did not even know current SF Assessor Phil Ting had any opponents until a few weeks ago. Ive heard significantly more about the North Bay congressional race to replace the retiring Lynn Woolsey the Democratic candidates include Assembly member Jared Huffman, longtime progressive activist Norman Solomon and many others.
There are at least three strong progressive candidates in that North Bay race, which could give that congressional district the states largest voter turnout.
Beyond Chron has covered the Torie Osborn-Betsy Butler Assembly race in Santa Monica because it reflects everything that is wrong with the Democratic Assembly and its speaker, John Perez. The fact that Perez is pouring money raised from Democratic donors into a Butler campaign backed by the landlord advocacy group Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles in pro-tenant, strong rent-controlled Santa Monica! says everything we need to know why progressive economic legislation is often dead on arrival in the Assembly.
Osborn, a longtime progressive leader, and Butler are likely to race a November runoff. This contest between two very different visions for the states Democratic Party is just beginning.
Local Elections
San Franciscos chief ballot measure is Prop A, which would require competitive bidding on the citys garbage contract. Put on the ballot by political hack turned judicial hack Quentin Kopp, the initiative has been a financial boon for political consultants, Democratic clubs, slate card operators, billboard companies and everyone else who has gotten paid by a No on A campaign guaranteed to win in a landslide.
Kopp qualified the measure for the ballot without recognizing that funds would be needed to run a campaign. Hows that for vision and political insight? Those dragging Kopp out for anti-Central Subway events might consider that he lost any credibility with San Francisco voters long ago.
San Francisco also has races for the Democratic County Central Committee. San Francisco may be the only county where such races are seen as important, as many look at the Committees ability to endorse supervisor candidates as well as others.
But the Democratic County Committee did not endorse Ed Lee last November, and he got roughly 60% of the vote. Nor in 2010 did it endorse Jane Kim, Malia Cohen, Mark Farrell, or Scott Wiener as its top choice in their district, yet all prevailed.
Expect a record percentage of absentee votes next week, which might lead to calls to make June contests vote by mail only. With not state initiatives and the top two candidates in most races facing inevitable runoffs, largely empty polling booths might not be a good use of state funds.
Source: www.beyondchron.org
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