HOTLINE
September 30, 2008

The checks for retroactive pay increases have arrived!  Checks ranging from $1500 to $2700, minus deductions, have been received by all Unit 9 employees to cover the 7.7% to 10.1% pay raises effective July 1.  As the regular paychecks won’t reflect the raises until the October pay period, the retroactive checks cover the 3 months from July through September for those raises.  The amounts of the raises for each classification can be found here. 

The Administration and PECG are continuing to discuss PECG’s proposal to provide PECG-represented supervisory and managerial employees with the same pay raises as Unit 9 employees.

HOTLINE
September 25, 2008

It is now official!  Now that the Governor has signed the new State Budget, the Department of Personnel Administration (DPA) has issued a Pay Letter which specifies all of the pay raises for Unit 9 employees, ranging from 7.7% to 10.1%, retroactive to July 1.  This Pay Letter serves as instruction for the State Controller to include the pay raise amount in the October paychecks and to issue a check for the retroactive pay increases from July through September.  The amounts of the raises for each class can be found by going to 2008 Salary Increases for PECG-Represented Employees.” 

The Administration and PECG have resumed discussing PECG’s proposal to provide PECG-represented supervisory and managerial employees the same pay raises as the Unit 9 rank and file employees. 

The only other state employees who received pay raises in July were Highway Patrol Officers, who received an increase of 4.1%.

HOTLINE
September 23, 2008

Governor Schwarzenegger has signed the State Budget for the fiscal year 2008-09, ending nearly three months during which the state operated without a State Budget or spending authorization.  In approving the $103 billion General Fund Budget, he used his blue pencil to reduce expenditures by about $500 million.  About $50 million of that was to leave some existing vacancies unfilled in General Fund agencies.  Otherwise, the vetoes to the Budget items don’t significantly impact PECG members or the programs they work on.   

This Budget approval ends, for now, the debate over whether state employees should continue to receive full paychecks in the absence of a Budget, but the courts may resolve that question prior to next year.  It also clears the way for the State Controller to issue checks for the retroactive pay raises for Unit 9 employees which took effect July 1 but weren’t paid until approval of the Budget.  September paychecks will not reflect the raises, but October paychecks will.  PECG will also resume discussions with the Department of Personnel Administration regarding raises for supervisors and managers. 

Delays in reimbursing travel expenses should also be eliminated with this Budget approval.  While the signing of the Budget ends the deadlock for this year, it is expected that Budget negotiations next spring for the fiscal year beginning in July 2009 will be at least as difficult.  Also, some of the items in the Budget, such as increasing the “rainy day” or Budget set aside funding, and changes regarding the lottery, will require voter approval at the next election to take effect.

HOTLINE
September 19, 2008

As of Friday, September 19, it appears that the Governor and the Legislature have reached agreement on a new state Budget for the current fiscal year, which began on July 1.  After a week of Budget bills and veto threats, there appears to be a meeting of the minds on the bill to address the $15 billion State General Fund Budget shortfall.   

The final pieces of the puzzle were to delete the provision in the previous bill which would require individual taxpayers to advance payments of their state income tax, increase penalties for corporations which underpay, and make it more difficult to remove money from the Budget’s “rainy day” fund to address future deficits and tough economic times.  If the deal doesn’t fall apart before the bill is passed and signed, this should bring to an end the longest Budget impasse in California history.   

With a new spending authorization bill in place, it should mean that vendors and service providers will get paid, the ongoing threat to state employee paychecks will end, travel expenses can be reimbursed, the checks for Unit 9 employees for the retroactive pay raise to July 1 can be issued, and PECG and DPA can continue discussions regarding raises for PECG-represented supervisors and managers.