Assemblyman Hector De La Torre, D-South Gate, is sponsoring a bill that would
... exempt employees in positions funded at least 95% by sources other than the General Fund from furloughs implemented by any state agencies, boards, and commissions. The bill would also prohibit a state agency, board, or commission from directly or indirectly implementing or assisting in implementing a furlough of those employees.
AB 1215, gutted and amended on Friday, lays out several arguments for discontinuing furloughs for employees whose wages come largely from outside the general fund. You can read the bill by clicking here.
We spoke to De La Torre's Chief of Staff, Juan Carlos Torres, who told us this morning that the assemblyman hopes to push the bill quickly through the Legislature this week before the session ends.
"This is simply a bill motivated by a notion of fairness," he said, while acknowledging that it is unlikely the governor would sign it.
We have a call in to Schwarzenegger's office seeking a comment. We'll post it as soon as we hear back.
UPDATE: 12 p.m. -- Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Rachel Cameron said that the governor hasn't taken a position on this particular bill, but that his position is, "in order to achieve savings needed to balance the budget that furloughs must be applied across the board."
And while we're on the topic of furlough legislation, we told you last week that Senate President Darrell Steinberg was authoring legislation to substitute unspecified budget cuts that would allow Schwarzenegger to rollback the third monthly furlough day that he started in July. The measure, AB 181, was introduced last week by Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and co-authored by De La Torre. Click here to read it.
IMAGE: www.assembly.ca.gov
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