PECG Weekly Update

Weekly Update
September 26, 2008

The July 1 raises for Unit 9 employees are now official. The raises will be included in the October paychecks. The Controller will shortly (we don’t know the exact date) be sending checks to all Unit 9 employees for the amounts of the raise for July, August, and September. The raises by classification are listed on the PECG website. The only other state employees to receive raises this year were Highway Patrol officers, who got a 4.1% hike. We are still meeting with DPA to determine if supervisors and managers will receive the same increases and whether they will be retroactive.

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The Governor signed the State Budget this week for the current fiscal year, putting an end to threats of minimum wage salary checks, delays in reimbursing travel expenses, and other difficulties. However, freezes on hiring, promotions, etc. are still being applied in some departments, sometimes by individual positions. Thus far, the permanent intermittents and other temporary-type employees are not being rehired, except in departments which already had exemptions.

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The ballots for the PECG Corporate Officer election were counted this week by the Elections Committee. Many thanks to the 23 PECG members who volunteered to help verify, count, and tabulate the votes.

Weekly Update
September 19, 2008

One of the more interesting weeks in the history of Budget negotiations is coming to an apparently successful close. Late Monday night/last Tuesday morning, the Legislature passed a state Budget bill which was a combination of cuts and revenue advancements, but not tax increases. Part of the proposal was to require individuals and corporations to advance their tax withholding to provide additional revenue for the current fiscal year, although that would create an equal shortfall in the following year.

Later that day, the Governor announced he would veto the Budget bill because it didn’t include some of the “reforms” he wanted, such as the power to cut the Budget during the year without Legislative approval and a “rainy day” fund or Budget reserve which could not easily be raided.

At first, Legislative leaders said it was fine if he vetoed the bill because they would override his veto. Due to politics and some procedural issues, their confidence in that scenario dropped rapidly, and on Wednesday they entered discussions with the Governor in an effort to avoid the veto/attempted override process.

On Thursday evening, there appeared to be a deal. Advancing individual income tax withholding was dropped, penalties for corporations which underreport taxes were increased, and provisions to make it more difficult to raid the “rainy day” fund were agreed upon.

Assuming all of this gets signed off, the Budget impasse will end, the threat to employee paychecks (which is tied up in the courts) would be over for the time being, and checks for retroactive salary increases for Unit 9 employees would be issued. PECG and DPA will continue discussions on pay increases for PECG-represented supervisors and managers. Approximately 800 bills will be on the Governor’s desk on a wide variety of topics, awaiting his signature or veto.

All’s well that ends…well, all that ends.

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The PECG-sponsored Outsourcing News website is up and running again after a delay for technical difficulties. An e-newsletter on Outsourcing is also being sent to Legislators, staff, media, various organizations, and a variety of others. It will be updated regularly with outsourcing news ranging from Boston’s “Big Dig” to the new Minnesota Bridge to Iraq to California and beyond. The timing is appropriate, as today is National Talk Like a Pirate Day, which ties in well with the theme of the website (and to privatizers and privateers). To check it out, simply log on to www.outsourcing-news.org.

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The political battles in Sacramento do not end with the final agreement on a Budget. To the contrary, CCPOA, the prison guards union, which recently reelected its president amid much unrest and turmoil, announced plans to pursue its effort to obtain the signatures to recall Governor Schwarzenegger.

Thus far, their bandwagon appears to be empty, but as we saw with the previous Governor, who knows what will happen next?

Weekly Update
September 12, 2008

A chart posted here compares the premiums and changes in employee contributions for each of the health plans for Unit 9 employees, with the new rates effective January 1, 2009. The CoBen rates for supervisors and managers are also included. This information will be included in the next Informer. Employees have from September 15 to October 10 to make any changes in plans or coverage during this open enrollment period.

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CCPOA, the prison guards union, is threatening to circulate petitions to recall the Governor. Thus far, no one has jumped on their bandwagon.

----------------------------------------------

The Legislature continues to meet to try to resolve the state budget impasse. There are essentially three proposals: the Legislative Democrats, the Legislative Republicans, and the Governor. As the two-thirds requirement in the Legislature for passing the budget must include some members of both parties, the impasse continues. State employees will continue to receive full paychecks on time at the end of September, but many of those who provide services or materials to the state have not been paid since the end of June and are being seriously squeezed financially.

----------------------------------------------

The California Chamber of Commerce has taken a position to oppose what is now Proposition 1A on the November ballot, the $10 billion High-Speed Rail Bond measure.

Being a fly on the wall doing that decision making process would have been interesting, as the Chamber’s opposition was a bit of a surprise.

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The High-Speed Rail Authority was required to submit a revised business plan to the Legislature no later than September 1, 2008. They have not yet done so and are now saying that the plan will not be presented until just before or just after the November election.

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In one of those classic newspaper Snafus, the major front page story in the San Francisco Chronicle on September 11 said the $9.95 billion High-Speed Rail Bond (Prop 1A) on the November ballot will be used to construct the rail line from San Francisco to Los Angeles for $32 million. Actually, the estimate for that line is $32 billion and the estimated cost for completing extensions is $42 billion, not the $42 million listed. The Chronicle is aware of the error but did not print a correction on Friday.

Weekly Update
September 4, 2008

The Legislature completed its business for the year – well, except for the state budget. Hundreds of bills have been sent to the Governor for signature or veto. With the exception of the high-speed rail measure and a couple of other items, he continues to take the position that no bills will be signed until the budget is passed and signed. The Senate and Assembly are meeting sporadically to consider and reject various proposals from the Democrats, Republicans, and the Governor. Sooner or later, something is bound to happen to resolve the budget issue, but thus far it has been later, rather than sooner.

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Some of the temporary workers in various categories who were terminated by the Governor’s Executive Order have been facing unintended consequences. For example, permanent intermittent employees – folks who work regularly but less than full time – would be forced to pay the employer’s and employee’s share of health plan premiums solely because they were unable to work at all in the month of August. While there are thousands of these employees in state service, there are only about two dozen in Unit 9, represented by PECG. PECG and DPA have agreed to a side letter which would continue the state’s contribution to the health plans for those permanent intermittent employees, even if they don’t work at all in a given month until the budget is in place.

----------------------------------------------------

Speaking of health plans, the employer contributions for the health, dental, and vision care plans effective January 1, 2009 have been published. The employee contribution for the dental plan will be unchanged and the state continues to pay 100% of the vision plan. For the health plans, PECG members in Unit 9 continue to receive the most favorable 85%/80% contribution by DPA.

The open enrollment period for all plans begins on September 15^th and runs through October 10^th. Employees can change their plan or coverage during that time.

----------------------------------------------------

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer conducted hearings in California this week as Chair the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. The sessions addressed the next federal transportation funding legislation which is scheduled to take effect next year. PECG and many other organizations submitted recommendations to the Senator and her staff.

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	Weekly Update September 26, 2008 The July 1 raises for Unit 9 employees are now official. The raises will be included in the October paychecks. The Controller will shortly (we don’t know the exact date) be sending checks to all Unit 9 employees for the amounts of the raise for July, August, and September. The raises by classification are listed on the PECG website. The only other state employees to receive raises this year were Highway Patrol officers, who got a 4.1% hike. We are still meeting with DPA to determine if supervisors and managers will receive the same increases and whether they will be retroactive. --------------------------------------------- The Governor signed the State Budget this week for the current fiscal year, putting an end to threats of minimum wage salary checks, delays in reimbursing travel expenses, and other difficulties. However, freezes on hiring, promotions, etc. are still being applied in some departments, sometimes by individual positions. Thus far, the permanent intermittents and other temporary-type employees are not being rehired, except in departments which already had exemptions. --------------------------------------------- The ballots for the PECG Corporate Officer election were counted this week by the Elections Committee. Many thanks to the 23 PECG members who volunteered to help verify, count, and tabulate the votes. Weekly Update September 19, 2008 One of the more interesting weeks in the history of Budget negotiations is coming to an apparently successful close. Late Monday night/last Tuesday morning, the Legislature passed a state Budget bill which was a combination of cuts and revenue advancements, but not tax increases. Part of the proposal was to require individuals and corporations to advance their tax withholding to provide additional revenue for the current fiscal year, although that would create an equal shortfall in the following year. Later that day, the Governor announced he would veto the Budget bill because it didn’t include some of the “reforms” he wanted, such as the power to cut the Budget during the year without Legislative approval and a “rainy day” fund or Budget reserve which could not easily be raided. At first, Legislative leaders said it was fine if he vetoed the bill because they would override his veto. Due to politics and some procedural issues, their confidence in that scenario dropped rapidly, and on Wednesday they entered discussions with the Governor in an effort to avoid the veto/attempted override process. On Thursday evening, there appeared to be a deal. Advancing individual income tax withholding was dropped, penalties for corporations which underreport taxes were increased, and provisions to make it more difficult to raid the “rainy day” fund were agreed upon. Assuming all of this gets signed off, the Budget impasse will end, the threat to employee paychecks (which is tied up in the courts) would be over for the time being, and checks for retroactive salary increases for Unit 9 employees would be issued. PECG and DPA will continue discussions on pay increases for PECG-represented supervisors and managers. Approximately 800 bills will be on the Governor’s desk on a wide variety of topics, awaiting his signature or veto. All’s well that ends…well, all that ends. ------------------------------------------ The PECG-sponsored Outsourcing News website is up and running again after a delay for technical difficulties. An e-newsletter on Outsourcing is also being sent to Legislators, staff, media, various organizations, and a variety of others. It will be updated regularly with outsourcing news ranging from Boston’s “Big Dig” to the new Minnesota Bridge to Iraq to California and beyond. The timing is appropriate, as today is National Talk Like a Pirate Day, which ties in well with the theme of the website (and to privatizers and privateers). To check it out, simply log on to www.outsourcing-news.org. ------------------------------------------ The political battles in Sacramento do not end with the final agreement on a Budget. To the contrary, CCPOA, the prison guards union, which recently reelected its president amid much unrest and turmoil, announced plans to pursue its effort to obtain the signatures to recall Governor Schwarzenegger. Thus far, their bandwagon appears to be empty, but as we saw with the previous Governor, who knows what will happen next? Weekly Update September 12, 2008 A chart posted here compares the premiums and changes in employee contributions for each of the health plans for Unit 9 employees, with the new rates effective January 1, 2009. The CoBen rates for supervisors and managers are also included. This information will be included in the next Informer. Employees have from September 15 to October 10 to make any changes in plans or coverage during this open enrollment period. ---------------------------------------------- CCPOA, the prison guards union, is threatening to circulate petitions to recall the Governor. Thus far, no one has jumped on their bandwagon. ---------------------------------------------- The Legislature continues to meet to try to resolve the state budget impasse. There are essentially three proposals: the Legislative Democrats, the Legislative Republicans, and the Governor. As the two-thirds requirement in the Legislature for passing the budget must include some members of both parties, the impasse continues. State employees will continue to receive full paychecks on time at the end of September, but many of those who provide services or materials to the state have not been paid since the end of June and are being seriously squeezed financially. ---------------------------------------------- The California Chamber of Commerce has taken a position to oppose what is now Proposition 1A on the November ballot, the $10 billion High-Speed Rail Bond measure. Being a fly on the wall doing that decision making process would have been interesting, as the Chamber’s opposition was a bit of a surprise. ---------------------------------------------- The High-Speed Rail Authority was required to submit a revised business plan to the Legislature no later than September 1, 2008. They have not yet done so and are now saying that the plan will not be presented until just before or just after the November election. ---------------------------------------------- In one of those classic newspaper Snafus, the major front page story in the San Francisco Chronicle on September 11 said the $9.95 billion High-Speed Rail Bond (Prop 1A) on the November ballot will be used to construct the rail line from San Francisco to Los Angeles for $32 million. Actually, the estimate for that line is $32 billion and the estimated cost for completing extensions is $42 billion, not the $42 million listed. The Chronicle is aware of the error but did not print a correction on Friday. Weekly Update September 4, 2008 The Legislature completed its business for the year – well, except for the state budget. Hundreds of bills have been sent to the Governor for signature or veto. With the exception of the high-speed rail measure and a couple of other items, he continues to take the position that no bills will be signed until the budget is passed and signed. The Senate and Assembly are meeting sporadically to consider and reject various proposals from the Democrats, Republicans, and the Governor. Sooner or later, something is bound to happen to resolve the budget issue, but thus far it has been later, rather than sooner. ---------------------------------------------------- Some of the temporary workers in various categories who were terminated by the Governor’s Executive Order have been facing unintended consequences. For example, permanent intermittent employees – folks who work regularly but less than full time – would be forced to pay the employer’s and employee’s share of health plan premiums solely because they were unable to work at all in the month of August. While there are thousands of these employees in state service, there are only about two dozen in Unit 9, represented by PECG. PECG and DPA have agreed to a side letter which would continue the state’s contribution to the health plans for those permanent intermittent employees, even if they don’t work at all in a given month until the budget is in place. ---------------------------------------------------- Speaking of health plans, the employer contributions for the health, dental, and vision care plans effective January 1, 2009 have been published. The employee contribution for the dental plan will be unchanged and the state continues to pay 100% of the vision plan. For the health plans, PECG members in Unit 9 continue to receive the most favorable 85%/80% contribution by DPA. The open enrollment period for all plans begins on September 15^th and runs through October 10^th. Employees can change their plan or coverage during that time. ---------------------------------------------------- U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer conducted hearings in California this week as Chair the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. The sessions addressed the next federal transportation funding legislation which is scheduled to take effect next year. PECG and many other organizations submitted recommendations to the Senator and her staff.