The Legislative Analyst's Office has released its overview of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2010-11 budget proposal. You can download it by clicking here.
Click on the following link for some items of interest to state workers in the LAO report.
Page 9: Schwarzenegger's controversial 5/5/5 proposal, which the administration says would produce $2.6 billion in savings across all funds, $1.6 billion of that from the general fund.
Page 23: The Legislature should be careful about budget solutions that carry "significant legal risk."
For example, it is quite unclear if the state can unilaterally -- without agreements with its employee unions -- increase required employee contributions for CalPERS pensions. While the state's collective bargaining law explicitly gives the Legislature the authority to not fund some costs -- such as salaries -- included in state employee collective bargaining agreements, retirement funding decisions are subject to much more stringent legal restrictions. In addition, numerous lawsuits challenging recent budget solutions concerning health, social services, transportation, and other areas suggest that many of the Governor's proposed solutions could face court challenges. The Legislature should be careful to draft budget-balancing measures (both budget and trailer bills) that anticipate such lawsuits and attempt to put the state in the strongest possible legal position to win them.
Also on page 23, obstacles to undefined personnel cuts that would fall on Corrections:
Also very difficult to achieve would be the unallocated personnel cost reductions that are part of the administration's employee compensation proposal. Most of the General Fund savings would have to be identified by CDCR (which comprises the majority of General Fund personnel costs), and it is very unlikely the department could do so unless those changes are accompanied by specific sentencing, policy, or operating changes, many of which would require legislative approval and significant lead time.
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