The State Worker

Editor's note, 6:11 a.m., June 1, 2012: An earlier version of this post incorrectly attributed the following memo to CalPERS. The summary is from a source outside of the fund, but CalPERS confirmed its accuracy.

CalPERS has whacked the pensions for several former City of Vernon officials in the wake of the scandal there and a subsequent audit that looked at city records from 2002 to 2010.

The decisions severely cut or completely eliminate benefits for most of the named CalPERS members.

Here's a memo detailing the fund's determinations followed by letters sent to each person earlier this month explaining the penalties and the rationale:

City of Vernon Membership and Compensation

Below is the information regarding the membership and compensation determinations for the City of Vernon employees. Based on the information we received, you will find that there were service credit periods removed for most of these members. In our letters addressed to the individuals below, we stated that determinations were given as a result of conflicting and insufficient information. The individuals and/or the City may provide additional documentation to supplement the information previously submitted. Any additional information must be submitted within 30 days of the date of the letter and must be specific and clearly show evidence that the members properly held the specific positions listed and that those positions were established and meet the requirements outlined by law, resolution or ordinance.

Eric Fresch (All service removed)
· Independent Contractor for service with the City of Vernon making him ineligible for membership for service with the City from 1986-2010
· 28.746 total years of service removed - of which 16.1 years was arrears service
· 5 years of Additional Retirement Service Credit removed - Reimbursement and/or credit to be effectuated in accordance with State and Federal law.
· Safety Classification denied
· If membership is proved CalPERS cannot determine payrate due to conflicting and lack of information.
· Pay schedules provided do not meet CalPERS requirements and contract agreements conflict with pay schedules provided.

Jeffrey Harrison (All service removed)
· Independent Contractor for service with the City of Vernon making him ineligible for membership for service with the City
· 4.676 total years of service removed
· Safety Classification denied
· If membership is proven CalPERS still cannot determine payrate due to conflicting and lack of information.
· Pay schedules provided do not meet CalPERS requirements and contract agreements conflict with pay schedules provided.

Eduardo Olivo
· Independent Contractor for service with the City of Vernon making him ineligible for membership for service with the City for 1994-2002
· 15.265 total years of service removed - of which 7.770 years was arrears service
· 5 years of Additional Retirement Service Credit removed - Reimbursement and/or credit to be effectuated in accordance with State and Federal law.
· If membership is proven CalPERS still cannot determine payrate due to conflicting and lack of information.
· Pay schedules provided do not meet CalPERS requirements and contract agreements conflict with pay schedules provided.

Roirdan Burnett
· Eligible membership date was changed to February 6, 2008 from December 3, 2002
· Part of his 4.462 years of service credit is determined to be as an Independent Contractor but still determining the period - If no documentation is provided, all service will be removed
· If membership is proven CalPERS still cannot determine payrate due to conflicting and lack of information.
· Pay schedules provided do not meet CalPERS requirements and contract agreements conflict with pay schedules provided.

Bruce Malkenhorst Jr. (Membership and Comp)
· Part of his 10.647 years of service credit is determined to be as an Independent Contractor but still determining the period - If no documentation is provided, all service will be removed
· Safety Classification denied
· Pending the verification of membership, payrates have been verified from 11/97-6/05 and 10/07-last day of employment
· If membership is proven the payrate cannot be determined from 7/05-9/07
· Member has requested a refund
· Member informed, upon correction of payroll elements by the City, CalPERS will contact member regarding a refund and/or credit of normal contributions. Reimbursement and/or credit to be effectuated in accordance with State and Federal law.

Bruce Malkenhorst Sr. (Comp Issue Only)
· The pre-deprevation letter, which includes our preliminary determination to adjust his allowance downward, was returned to program from LEGO on 5/21/12 for review. The letter will be mailed Friday 5/25/12, giving them until 6/25/12 to respond.
· He held multiple positions simultaneously, which were unable to be pulled apart to determine compensation related to each position
· His payrate did not comply with the requirements of being paid "pursuant to publicly available pay schedules" under the meaning of that phrase in the statutory and regulatory definitions for payrate. In addition, the amounts failed to meet other definitional requirements of payrate in so far as they were not for the normal duties of one full-time position and were amounts reported for duties or services performed for other simultaneous positions that would constitute "overtime" under the PERL.
· In an effort to determine a reportable payrate for the member CalPERS will be using $7,875 to calculate his allowance. This amount is the payrate for the position of the acting City Clerk, which is one of the position Mr. Malkenhorst held during the tenure of his employment. The $7,875 payrate was given to Mr. Malkenhorst's successor. It was provided in a Resolution signed June 29, 2005, and effective July 1, 2005. Mr. Malkenhorst's retirement date was July 1, 2005.
· His longevity has been determined to be limited to 20%, instead of the 25% his initial allowance was calculated with. This is due to the additional 5% only being available to him.
· The final compensation amount of $44,128 originally used to calculate his retirement allowance has been reduced to $9,450. This will reduce his allowance amount from $45,073.52 to $9,654.

Mark Whitworth (Comp Issue Only)
· The City is currently reporting a payrate based on his service rendered as the Fire Chief. This compensation includes a payrate of $16,599 and 5% ($829.95) Educational Incentive for a total reported compensation amount of $17,429.01.
· Mr. Whitworth is currently working in multiple positions and the City must substantiate the full-time payrate for each position and report the payrate(s) accordingly.
The pay must be for services rendered on a full-time basis during normal working hours and cannot be for additional duties or services related to other positions

Donal O'Callaghan
· Member refunded
· Notes have been added to the system in order to insure he cannot reinstate or redeposit without being reviewed and approved by the Compensation Committee.

Here are the cover letters and determination letters that CalPERS sent to each official:

From our sister blog, Capitol Alert:

Pay for California Gov. Jerry Brown, legislators and all statewide officeholders will be cut by 5 percent from current levels, the state's independent salary-setting commission decided today.

Read more by clicking here.

The final briefs have been filed in the Dawe v. Corrections USA case, signaling that the California Correctional Peace Officers Association appeal of a multimillion-dollar court decision against it is moving toward a hearing.

In 2010, CCPOA lost a federal defamation case brought by businessman Brian Dawe. Judge Lawrence Karlton, who heard the case in Sacramento and lowered a jury's $12 million award to $5 million, then ordered CCPOA to post property and cash as collateral during the appeal.

Attorney Dan Baxter, who represents Dawe, has cross-appealed Karlton's decision to reduce the award.

We expect that in the next few weeks the court will set a date for oral arguments to commence, probably in the last quarter of this year.

CCPOA is asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the decision because the trial court, the union says, shouldn't have allowed consideration of "assertedly libelous statements that form the core of Plaintiffs' case and the basis for their multi-million dollar judgment."

The union also argues says that Karlton erred by changing a ruling that Dawe was a public figure. Public figures have to prove that a defamatory statement about them is made with "actual malice." In other words, to win a defamation lawsuit, public figures have to prove that whoever made the statement knew it was false or made it with reckless disregard for whether it was true.

And, CCPOA says, that even the reduced award is excessive, since it is more than the union's net worth.

The plaintiffs counter that Dawe was indeed libeled and that the union's net worth isn't a standard for setting awards. Besides, Dawe's filing says, CCPOA's net worth is more than it has claimed, since the association takes in nearly $30 million per year in dues from members and has a history of spending money on entertainment, property and executive travel, among other things.

We've embedded the final briefs filed by both sides, and you can read them by clicking the link below. Or you can download the files by clicking here for CCPOA's brief and here for Dawe's brief.

Note: The filings contain profane language.

Illinois State Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, blew a gasket on Tuesday after leaders in the Democrat-controlled General Assembly delivered new pension-reform legislation at the end of the session's last day. The video above captures Bost's blast, which included throwing the bill into the air, punching at the cascading papers and quoting Moses' words to Pharaoh: "Let my people go."

On Wednesday, Bost explained that the bill's last-minute introduction in the waning moments of the 2012 session set him off.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Republicans didn't like the bill "because of a gradual cost shift from the state to suburban and Downstate school systems, which for the first time would have to pay teacher and administrator pension costs instead of the state."

That would trigger either education cuts or tax hikes that suburban and Downstate Republicans can't tolerate.

House Speaker Mike Madigan dropped his proposal late Wednesday night.

Illinois unfunded state public pension obligations reportedly total $83 billion.

From our sister blog, Capitol Alert, this story from reporter Jim Sanders:

It's official: The proposal is in writing and set for a vote -- a 5 percent pay cut for Gov. Jerry Brown, all California legislators and state constitutional officers from controller to treasurer to Board of Equalization member.

Click here to read more.

A Southern California public employee's union has given $100,000 to the campaign fighting a November ballot measure that would, among other things, end payroll-deducted contributions for political fundraising.

The San Bernardino County Safety Employees' Benefit Association made the donation May 14, according to records filed with the state last week that you can access here or read below. The opposition campaign has raised nearly $6.5 million so far. Supporters have raised about $3 million.

The proposal would ban unions and business groups from donating money directly to politicians, although all could continue unlimited spending on independent expenditure campaigns.

But the proposition also eliminates payroll-deducted contributions, unions' primary means of raising money. Businesses would come under the same ban, but they get the bulk of their political funding from top executives and company funds.

The group behind the measure contends that the measure is an even-handed proposal to limit the influence of both business and labor.

San Bernardino County Safety Employees' Benefit Association donation to defeat 'paycheck' measure

Winners from the Sacramento Regional Science & Engineering Fair, an event sponsored by state scientists and state engineers unions, took top awards at the week-long Intel International Science & Engineering Fair. The international competition was held in Pittsburgh, Penn. Around 1,500 students from 70 countries competed.

Two winners were from the Sacramento area. Shyamal Buch, a junior at Vista Del Lago High School, received first place honors in Energy and Transportation and was also awarded Best in Category for Energy and Transportation. He was given awards from the International Society for Optical Engineering and the Office of Naval Research on Behalf of the United States Navy and Marine Corps. His project, "Beyond the Nanostructure in Solar Cells," studied ways to make improved solar cells. 

Ryan Hsu, a junior at Davis Senior High School was given a scholarship from the American Society for Microbiology and the University of Sciences in Philadelphia. His project, "DNA Based Identification of Airborne Fungal Population in Sacramento Area," looked at what types of fungal spores are in the Sacramento region's air.

Benjamin Jin, also a junior at Davis Senior High School and the second place winner at the Sacramento Regional Science & Engineering Fair, took part in the event as well.

Click here for more information about the Intel fair.

A legislative committee today held back a sweeping measure that would have extended some job protections to rank-and-file state workers and given civil servants explicit preference for work the state needs to have done.

The Assembly Appropriations Committee held the so-called "Public Employees' Bill of Rights" by Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, D-Sacramento. The committee's action essentially killed the bill, since today is the deadline for the committee to send legislation to the Assembly floor.

Click here for more about Dickinson's Assembly Bill 1655.

The Association of California State Supervisors, a member-run organization that represents excluded state workers, is girding itself to battle Gov. Jerry Brown's four-day workweek proposal.

"We need to present the Governor and the public with facts. Specifically, we need to show how the reduced workweek will impact California taxpayers," ACSS President Arlene Espinoza said in an email. "This is your chance to fight for your career and you can do it from the comfort of your own desk."

The memo then asks for "historical proof that furloughs don't work" and "educated guesses about how the 4-day workweek won't work."

Click here to read the memo.

In a letter to members this afternoon, SEIU Local 1000 officials said that they are preparing to negotiate with Gov. Jerry Brown's administration early next month, spurred by his proposal to put state workers on a 4/9.5 workweek that would cut their hours and pay by 5 percent.

The chairs of Local 1000's nine bargaining units said that whatever concessions they negotiate will be put in a "side letter" agreement. That would avoid reopening the local's contracts.

Ahead of that, union officials are soliciting savings ideas to offer as alternatives to Brown's furloughs. Next week the local will conduct an online survey of members.

The union's bargaining team will review all of that information ahead of negotiations scheduled to start June 9. Whatever agreement is reached at the table will go to the rank and file for a ratification vote.

Here's the union's rationale for bargaining cuts:

"As the elected leaders of all nine bargaining units within Local 1000, we agreed that it's better to be aggressive participants in the effort to find solutions to achieve savings. We intend to be part of the action, not acted upon.

"We could have said 'no,' and demanded that the governor honor our contract. By staying engaged, we minimize the potential for a huge number of layoffs and even deeper cuts in vital services, like education and the programs that serve California's most needy."

Here's the entire letter:

With just 400 to 450 words for our weekly State Worker column, most of what we learn each week never sees print. Column Extras give you some of the notes, the quotes and the observations that inform what's published.

Let's be clear: Gov. Jerry Brown's 4/9.5 furlough workweek isn't a done deal.

So said Julie Chapman, the Department of Personnel Administration's acting director, during an interview that informed today's State Worker column on the long-term cost of furloughs.

As the state's top labor negotiator, Chapman said Wednesday that she is "in discussions with the unions" about how to get the 5 percent pay reduction that Brown has proposed for all 214,000 state workers under his authority.

But the talks aren't strictly about the compressed workweek idea. Union representatives have suggested "many different things," Chapman said, although she wasn't specific.

"The administration is looking to get 5 percent savings, bottom line" on employee costs, Chapman said.

Brown's four-day workweek plan would cut state payroll about $839 million in fiscal 2012-13, the administration estimates, with about $401 million of that savings to the general fund.

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Jerry Brown's budget proposes longer days, shorter weeks for state workers

PHOTO: Gov. Jerry Brown / 2010 Sacramento Bee file, Hector Amezcua

The number of state workers drawing their first pension checks in the first four months of this year is down nearly 8 percent from a year ago, according to the latest data from CalPERS.

The four-month retirement rate continues a trend set in 2011, when initial retirements for the calendar year fell 8 percent.

Last month, the number inaugural state retirees fell to 627, down 2.8 percent from April 2011.

CalPERS counts new retirement data from mid-month to mid-month. Owing to the rules that govern cost-of-living adjustments, more state workers retire at the end of the year than at any other time. Those retirements show up in the January figures.

By contrast, far fewer state workers elect to retire in February, March and April. Relatively small shifts in retirement patterns during those months can produce big swings in the year-over-year percentages.

A total 1,711 state and local government and school employees with a CalPERS pension headed for the exits in last month, up 11 percent from a year earlier. Since January, 9,776 CalPERS members have retired, down 6 percent compared with the same four-month period in 2011.

Click tabs at the bottom of the spreadsheet below to toggle between tables with retirement data for state worker and for all CalPERS members.

The Senate Governance and Finance and the Senate Governmental Organization committees are meeting this morning to gather information on Gov. Jerry Brown's proposal to reorganize state government.

Click here for the live video webcast on Cal Channel. The session started at 10:10 a.m. This link opens an audio feed of the session.

The California Channel also archives video.

The bipartisan Little Hoover Commission today voted 7-0 to endorse Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to reorganize state government.

The proposal calls for replacing five agencies with three, shuffling or eliminating some or all of the functions of several commissions and boards within the executive branch and folding the work of several departments into new or existing organizations. For more details and documents about the particulars, click here.

State law requires that the commission advise the Legislature on gubernatorial government reorganization initiatives. Either the Assembly or the Senate can block the proposal by majority-vote resolution within 60 days of the governor delivering the plan to lawmakers.

Otherwise, the reorganization becomes effective on the 61st day, in this case July 1. It would become operative one year later. There's no indication that there's significant opposition to Brown's plan.

Click here for more information on the Little Hoover Commission's website.

PHOTO: Stuart Drown, executive director of the Little Hoover Commission speaks at a 2011 legislative hearing. / Sacramento Bee file, Hector Amezcua.

CalPERS announced today that it will host retirement planning events in Sacramento, Anaheim and Santa Clara this summer.

Representatives from CalPERS, the Social Security Administration, the state's Savings Plus Program, ScholarShare college savings program and several employee and retiree organizations will be on hand. The events also include workshops on health and retirement benefits, service credit, Social Security and other pertinent topics.

CalPERS members can register via "My Education" area of the my|CalPERS member website at my.calpers.ca.gov.

Here are the dates, times and locations:

Sacramento
Aug. 10 - 11
9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Sacramento Convention Center
1400 J Street
Sacramento, CA 95817

Anaheim
Aug. 17 - 18
9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Sheraton Park Hotel
1855 South Harbor Blvd.
Anaheim, CA 92802

Santa Clara
Aug. 30 (one day only)
9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Santa Clara Marriott
2700 Mission College Blvd.
Santa Clara, CA 95054

PHOTO: Big Stock Photo / Sacramento Bee file

The California Labor Federation has donated $500,000 to the campaign fighting a November measure aimed at restricting union political fundraising.

The proposal would prohibit unions and business groups from donating money directly to political candidates, although all could continue spending on independent expenditure campaigns.

The proposition also eliminates payroll-deducted contributions, unions' primary means of raising money. Corporations couldn't use payroll deductions either, but they get the bulk of their political funding from top executives and company treasuries.

The measure's backers say that the proposal is even-handed and that both business and labor interests are displeased at the prospect of it becoming law.

According to a statement filed with the California Secretary of State last week (and posted below), the Labor Federation made its donation on May 4, part of $6.3 million raised so far by the opposition campaign.

The group backing the measure has raised about $3 million.

120517 Labor Fed

Why not just extend the personal leave program?

It's a question that we've heard often in the last week as we sifted through emails from several hundred state workers reacting to Gov. Jerry Brown's 4/9.5 furlough plan to cut their pay by 5 percent through a 2-hours-per-week furlough.

Most of the calls, comments and emails about the policy fall into one of four groups: workers who would love the three-day weekends, workers who think the policy is a betrayal of their contracts, those who hate losing the pay and workers who think the switch would harm state functions.

(As we reported earlier, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office has some issues with Brown's workweek proposal.)

Then there's a fifth camp asking, why not simply return to giving state workers a floating unpaid day off each month? Departments already know how to manage it because of furloughs and the so-called "personal leave program" that was a provision in most of the latest union contracts.

So what do you think?

From Bee Capitol Bureau colleague Jim Sanders' report this morning:

One week after Gov. Jerry Brown proposed slicing state workers' pay by 5 percent, the Democratic governor and legislators find themselves targeted for a "share the pain" salary cut.

Members of California's Citizens Compensation Commission said Monday that a pay-cut proposal for statewide officeholders will be on the table when the panel meets May 31.

Click here to read the entire story, which includes lawmakers' reactions to the idea.

We can never get everything we learn into a news story. "From the notebook" posts give you some of the extra details behind the news. (Editor's note, 9:45 a.m.: This post now includes a direct link to the Working 4 Utah audit.)

With Gov. Jerry Brown proposing a four-day workweek for California state workers, our A1 story in today's Bee looks at what happened when Utah became the first state in the nation to try it.

Of course, a significant difference is that Utah didn't cut employee hours. Brown's plan is a 2-hours-per-week furlough.

Two years ago, the Beehive State's legislative auditor general looked at the program's strengths and weaknesses. What follows is the report on the program former GOP Gov. Jon Huntsman launched in 2008. If you can't access the embedded document, click here to download the PDF.
A Performance Audit of the Working 4 Utah Initiative

The Legislative Analyst's Office said today that Gov. Jerry Brown's proposal to move state workers into a 4-day, 9.5-hour-per-day schedule would create some serious problems.

The criticisms conclude a lengthy analysis of Brown's state budget proposal to close what the administration estimates is a $15.7 billion budget deficit (the LAO says it's more than that). Among the issues raised with Brown's furlough plan:

• Employees won't use as much leave, which will increase the state's deferred costs.
• It will hinder interaction with government agencies that operate on regular schedules.
• It may not reduce energy costs.

Then the analyst makes this comment about cutting employee costs:

Employee compensation, including salaries and benefits, will cost the state's General Fund $10.5 billion in 2012-13. Given the severity of the state's budget shortfall, we think the Legislature will need to consider reductions in these costs. There are, however, no ideal ways to achieve such reductions.

Why? Bargaining, the analyst said, usually means some sort of trade-off that negates savings. Layoffs take a long time and can adversely affect services. Furloughs and leave programs carry deferred costs (see above). The Legislature could impose pay cuts, but that "could require the administration to negotiate with unions for new contracts under the terms of the Dills Act. Unilateral state actions of this type may produce significant state savings, but pose many concerns. Such concerns include negative effects on employee-management relations."

The report also discusses the state's job vacancies and changes that Brown is proposing to the way the state budgets for positions, including eliminating vacant positions.

Click here to open the LAO's report. Scroll down to the "Employee Compensation" section for more analysis about Brown's plan for the 4-day workweek and vacant positions.

Legislation to create a state retirement account program for private sector workers in California is now set for a key vote next week that will determine whether it goes to the floor for a full vote.

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday will decide which bills from its "suspense file," including Senate Bill 1234, coauthored by Democratic Sens. Kevin de León and Darrell Steinberg, will advance. With Democratic leader Steinberg as a co-author, the measure is likely to go to the Senate floor for a vote.

Related posts:
SEIU Local 1000 president supports retirement for all
California retirement savings bill advances in the Senate
Pension and public employee bills set for hearing Monday

PHOTO: The State Capitol / 2010 Sacramento Bee file, Hector Amezcua

The Bee's state pay database guru Phillip Reese has run the numbers on what Gov. Jerry Brown's four-day, 9.5-hours-per-day workweek would do to the Sacramento region's economy.

The annual impact: $230 million in wages taken out of circulation.

Click here to read the entire story.

Correction, 3:23 p.m.: At the 12:15 p.m. mark in the chat, the word "not" was left out of the response to a question about whether Gov. Jerry Brown's 4/9.5 furlough plan affects CSU or UC employees. The answer should have read, "UC and CSU employees are not affected."

Here's an open letter that job steward and SEIU Local 1000 DLC President Thomas Lee Perine sent Wednesday to the members he represents. We're posting it here unedited and with his permission:

Dear DLC 790 Executive Board Members, Job Stewards and Activists -

Tonight is the Local 1000 Council monthly conference call. I will be on the call.

I intend to voice opposition to the forced pay cut and work hour proposals that have been floated in the media recently. President Walker was quoted as saying that a majority of our members would support this proposal. Based on the feedback I've been receiving from the members we represent, a majority of members do not support this idea.

What I would like to see is an expansion of the current voluntary personal leave program. Currently our members can opt-in to one day (8 hours) of personnel leave with a resulting ~5% reduction in pay and no effect on retirement. I have been participating in the program since it was first offered years ago.

My proposal would be that our members would be offered the option to purchase up to two additional days per month (up to 16 hours) with no option for the State to deny the leave purchase if a member chooses to opt-in and no change to retirement for those who participate. The "no denial" clause is important because otherwise many agencies will deny requests based on "operational need" and there will be no opportunity for cost savings.

This proposal will protect our members who cannot afford any more pay sacrifices and those who do not have an option to change their work hours because of family or other personal obligations or desires.

Your thoughts are important to me. What do you think? What are you hearing from our members?

Please note that I have shared this email message with the rest of our union leadership.

I am confident that we can all work together to find a solution that does not put additional undo hardships on state employees while we yet again do our part to help the State during these days of unprecedented budget crises due to the failures of Wall Street and unchecked corporate greed.

In solidarity,
Thomas Lee Perine, Job Steward &
President DLC 790 SEIU Local 1000
Department of Child Support Services

What does Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to restructure the state workweek mean for state workers and the public?

Is it a good idea or a bad idea? Will it really happen? What about other aspects of his plan to cut costs, like reducing outsourced work and eliminating hiring of retired annuitants?

Join us here at noon today for an hour of your questions and comments during what is sure to be a lively online chat about Brown's version of furloughs. You can even sign up for an email reminder at sacbee.com/live.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, met with reporters today and talked about Gov. Jerry Brown's proposal to furlough state workers two hours per week.

Brown's plan also lengthens the state workday to 9.5 hours and shortens the workweek to four days. The changes would reduce employees' hours and pay by 5 percent and save the general fund some $401 million ($839 million all funds).

On cooperation between the unions and the governor to come up with a plan:

Just look at the experience in the Schwarzenegger years. ... When they tried to do it unilaterally, what was the end result? Lawsuits, a lot of uncertainty. The better and best way to accomplish the needed savings is to work with the people affected, and that's already going on."

On SEIU Local 1000's position:

"It would be one thing if SEIU Local 1000 was saying hell no and fighting the governor, but they're not doing that. They're actually appreciating the fact that the administration has reached out to them and that they are being brought in."

On the impact to his district and his assessment of the governor's moves:

"It's certainly hard on a lot of my constituents, The process by which the administration is trying to get to that goal, the money goal, I think has been very constructive so far."

On how the issue will play for the November election:

"You want to go into November with as much solidarity as possible."

PHOTO: Darrell Steinberg / 2011 Sacramento Bee file, Hector Amezcua

As our story in today's Bee notes, it's not clear whether rank-and-file state workers will be able to vote on any scheduling changes or other concessions that their representatives bargain to reach the payroll savings target in Gov. Jerry Brown's budget proposal.

Brown wants unions to take a 5-percent pay reduction with a commensurate cut in work hours each month to trim $401 million from the general fund's employee costs and $839 million from all funds in fiscal 2012-13. The governor's plan includes putting most employees on a 4-day, 9.5 hours-per-day workweek.

State law doesn't require a membership vote if a union reaches a side agreement with Brown. The associations' various bylaws, practices and processes determine whether they would issue ballots. Some union leaders also could seek guidance by surveying their members without a formal vote.

We never get all of what we learn into a news story, but this blog can give users the data, the notes and the quotes from the notebook that informed what was published.

Our story in today's Bee looks at Gov. Jerry Brown's prosposal to cut $401 million in general fund employee costs ($839 million all funds) by putting state employees on a 4/9.5 weekly furlough schedule.

We inerviewed several folks who didn't get into the final version of our story, including Bruce Blanning, executive director of the state's engineers' union and Tim Yeung, a Sacramento-based labor attorney.

Here are some highlights of our discussions with both men:

The Bee's Baron of the Budget, Kevin Yamamura, will host a live chat session today on Gov. Jerry Brown's budget plan, which includes a 38-hour state workweek.

Pose your questions, make comments and pick Kevin's brain today at noon on our sister blog, Capitol Alert.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said the 5 percent cut to state workers suggested by Gov. Jerry Brown can clear the Legislature, but only if employee unions and the administration can agree.

Gov. Jerry Brown is suggesting state workers go to a four-day, 9.5 hours-per-day workweek to cut about $839.1 million in costs for fiscal 2012-13. What do you think of the idea?

Gov. Jerry Brown said today that his administration will bargain with labor to get the 5 percent, $839.1 million savings from employee compensation costs that his May budget revision proposes.

Here's what the governor said during this morning's press conference when asked how he would hit the savings target:

"Negotiations. We have contracts and we'll look at a variety of ways (to make savings). The state employees particularly have come forward some very imaginative ideas. They've been helpful. They've been willing to step up to the plate even though they represent some people who are not paid all that much. So we will work for a 5 percent cut. And we're going to figure it out. But that will be the financial value of the changes we make and it will be mutually arrived at."

California Gov. Jerry Brown released today a revised plan to close the state's projected $15.7 billion budget gap.

Here are the four pages that deal with reducing state employee costs, including a plan to shorten the workweek for most state workers, government reorganization and cuts to special -fund programs and state real estate costs.

Our sister blog, Capitol Alert, has posted the entire revised budget proposal online.
California May budget revision on state government

State employees would work longer shifts but fewer of them under the revised budget plan proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown this morning, saving the government more than $800 million.

Brown's budget envisions putting a four-day, 38-hour workweek for "the majority of state employees." If broken into four equal shifts, that translates into four 9.5-hour workdays and a reduction of hours and pay of eight hours over four weeks.

Brown's plan doesn't spare prisons or state hospitals: "The Administration will pursue commensurate reductions in work hours and pay for employees of entities that operate 24 hour a day, 7 days a week when implementation of the four-day workweek is not feasible."

The plan also cuts the state's operating costs by cutting energy usage at state-occupied buildings.

In sum, the workweek reconfiguration plan would save an estimated $839.1 million in fiscal 2012-13. Of that, $401.7 million would be savings for the general fund, which Brown says is confronting a $16 billion deficit.

The budget plan also anticipates more savings through cutting outside contracts, particularly in information technology services, eliminating "non essential" hiring of retired annuitants and cutting 11,000 state positions on top of the 15,000 eliminated in the 2011-12 budget.

PHOTO: Gov. Jerry Brown / Sacramento Bee file

From our sister blog, Capitol Alert:

Just how bad will it be?

Gov. Jerry Brown is releasing his revised budget in Sacramento at 10 a.m., and with his deficit estimate now at $16 billion, nobody thinks it'll be easy on the eyes. As Kevin Yamamura reported Sunday, "No sector that relies on state funding is likely to escape deeper cuts. Brown has already told state worker unions to expect at least a 5 percent compensation reduction."

Brown's morning news conference will be streamed live on the California Channel's website. The revised budget itself will posted online shortly after 10 a.m. at this link. Afterward, the governor will head to Los Angeles for a second news conference at 2 p.m. Come back to Capitol Alert later today for details and reactions from legislators and others.

Government accountability advocate Common Cause is against the a measure aimed at restricting union political fund-raising that goes before California voters in November.

The proposal would stop unions and businesses from donating money directly to political candidates, although both groups could continue spending on independent expenditure campaigns.

The measure also eliminates payroll-deducted contributions, unions' primary means of raising money from members. Corporations couldn't use payroll deductions either, but they get the bulk of their political cash from top executives and company funds.

The measure's backers say that the proposal is even-handed, that both business and labor interests are displeased at the prospect of it becoming law.

Common Cause, which supports partial public financing of campaigns, likes the measure's direct donations ban, but not the prohibition on payroll deductions, as it explained in a press release issued this afternoon:

Unfortunately, it also effectively bans the current practice of payroll deductions, thus eliminating a major funding source of labor unions, while leaving ample room for indirect political spending by corporations from their corporate treasuries. This initiative would result in significant undue advantages for one set of interests over another that we believe will do more harm to California's democracy than good, and we urge voters to vote 'No.'"

In a memo to members today, SEIU Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker said that she was consulted about Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to cut state employees' pay and that she drew a line at imposing unpaid time off on workers.

"First let me say that I have made it clear that furloughs are not on the table," Walker wrote.

She said that she has had several meetings with the administration and is continuing talks.

"Under the previous governor, our input was not sought, in fact, it was dismissed. Under Gov. Brown, we have a seat at the table," Walker's memo said. "We have offered our own proposals to deal with this crisis."

Among the suggestions: cutting private vendor contracts, eliminating the use of retired annuitants and, "if necessary, implementing a four-day, 40-hour work week."

PHOTO: Yvonne Walker / Sacramento Bee 2008, Brian Baer

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg signaled support today for Gov. Jerry Brown's efforts to negotiate state worker compensation cuts with labor leaders.

As The Bee reported yesterday, the Democratic governor is expected to seek an unspecified cut of at least 5 percent in state employee costs in his revised budget, which is set to be released on Monday. Brown administration officials have asked state employee union leaders to come up with $750 million in state employee cost savings for the 2012-13 fiscal year, sources told The Bee. Those reductions could include options like pay cuts or higher benefit contributions.

Steinberg told reporters today that he thinks it is "appropriate for the administration to sit down with state workers and their representatives and try and negotiate some further resolution to our budget problems."

"State workers are obviously aware and like all Californians will be aware of what the number is on Monday and I think that the way to get them to help is to sit down with them and respect the process," he said during a q-and-a session with reporters.

Steinberg said he would be opposed to the Legislature making the cuts unilaterally, saying such moves by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration led to "years of litigation, huge expenses, a lot of uncertainty."

RELATED POSTS:

Jerry Brown tells unions to brace for California state worker pay cuts

Our story in today's Bee fleshes out Wednesday's news that Gov. Jerry Brown has told labor leaders that his May budget revision on Monday will include a cut to state workers' compensation. He's asked the unions to help figure out how to get the savings.

If you haven't read the story already, check it out and then participate in our poll:

State workers' compensation is back on the budget chopping block.

Brown administration officials met with the state employee union leaders last week, according to sources familiar with the meetings, to warn them that the next version of the governor's budget will include an unspecified cut in employee costs up to 10 percent.

The administration in January estimated that California is confronting a $9.2 billion deficit through 2012-13, but a recent state analysis concluded the actual gap is considerably more.

The sources, who declined to talk on the record because the administration asked all involved to keep the discussions secret, said Brown told the unions he was seeking $750 million in state employee cost savings for fiscal 2012-13.

The sources said the Brown administration asked union leaders to come up with ways to make the reduction -- pay cuts or higher benefit contributions, for instance.

Department of Finance spokesman H.D. Palmer said, "The governor has already indicated that more difficult reductions will be required," because the state's budget deficit has grown since Brown issued his first budget proposal in January.

"The details of those reductions will be detailed in the May Revision," Palmer said.

The governor could order wholesale layoffs, but the civil service process usually takes at least six months and the savings often fall short of expectations.

Furloughs are an option only if the Senate and Assembly authorize Brown to execute them, because the courts have ruled the policy falls under the Legislature's authority to set wages and working conditions. That seems unlikely, given the Democratic majority in the statehouse.

Other cost savings such as outright pay cuts, higher employee contributions to pension or health benefits, would need to be bargained.

Last month Brown recently extended the contracts of four unions with deals set to expire in July. Two of the extensions covering about a total 16,000 psychiatric technicians and operating engineers increased the state's health benefits costs 9.5 percent for those workers.

With the four extensions in place, the contracts covering roughly all 180,000 unionized state workers expire in July 2013.

Brown is set to deliver the budget revision on Monday.

State worker Tamara Martfeld sent the following email in response to last Friday's post, "Reader of State Worker furlough column defines 'fair.' " We're posting the email unedited and with her permission. Marfield is speaking for herself, not her employer, coworkers or anyone else:

Risky retirement plans aren't doing right by U.S. workers, SEIU Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker says in a CNN.com piece published today, and she thinks a California retirement-for-all bill is a "step in the right direction."

Walker's op-ed item refers to Senate Bill 1234, by Sen. Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, which would establish a state-administered retirement fund for private-sector workers. The article, which you can read here, also mentions that New York is talking about a similar plan.

"Part of what we aspire to as Americans is being able to stop working with our dreams and reasonable expectations of retirement still intact," Walker writes.

SB 1234 is scheduled for a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on May 14.

PHOTO: Yvonne Walker / Sacramento Bee 2008, Brian Baer

A Folsom-based technology company has developed a new mobile device application that it predicts will become the go-to source for looking up California state employee phone numbers and email addresses.

Kiefer Consulting Inc. introduced the CA State Directory mobile app at the Government Mobility Conference earlier this year. The app uses public records in the state's database, but users can edit information and forward the corrected data to the state, which can then change its records.

The program also allows users to call and email, add information to contact lists and send vCards for address book updating.

When asked how state workers have received the product, company spokesman Chris Loeffler said that the response has been generally positive, although some government employees would prefer their direct lines weren't so accessible.

"However, they are state workers and their role is to support citizens," Loeffler said. He also thinks the app will expedite employee-to-employee contact as individuals and departments see the value of the service.

Kiefer Consulting developed the app in "about a week," Loeffler said. California gets the home-state discount -- no charge -- but the firm plans to sell similar programs for the other 49 states. It also has fielded inquiries from potential advertisers, Loeffler said.

The app is available for devices using Apple, Android and Windows operating systems.

IMAGE: Courtesy Kiefer Consulting Inc.

May 6 to May 12 marks the 28th Public Service Recognition Week to honor those who serve our nation at all levels of government.

Around the country, government officials are issuing proclamations; hosting award ceremonies and hosting tribute ceremonies highlighting public service and sacrifice.

In California, officials on Monday remembered 1,500 state, county and local peace officers who have died in the line of duty. This morning, the California Highway Patrol is observing its annual memorial for fallen officers at the department's West Sacramento academy.

Caltrans workers killed on the job have been remembered at events around the state in the last few weeks. Tomorrow, the department will recall their sacrifice at a Captol Park memorial at the west steps. Three Caltrans employees died from injuries suffered at work last year.

Click here for more information about Public Service Recognition Week.

PHOTO: Barbara Swager of Pasa Robles, ex-wife of Signal Hill police officer Anthony Giniewicz, prepares to lay flowers at Monday's Peace Officers' Memorial Ceremony. Her sons, Lt. John Peters, left, of the Grover Beach Police Department and Anthony Giniewicz accompany her. Officer Giniewicz died December 7, 2011 from complications from a shooting in 1985. / Randy Pench, Sacramento Bee.

Reader Linda Clark emailed her reaction to Thursday's State Worker column about whether it's fair for several hundred California government employees in five departments to be paid the wages they lost to furloughs.

With Clark's permission, we're posting her email here, unedited:

The Senate this morning approved a measure that mandates the state report the costs of pay raises for supervisors and managers when analyzing union labor contracts.

Much of the time, managers and supervisors get similar employment terms to those negotiated for the employees they supervise. For example, if SEIU Local 1000 negotiates a 2 percent pay raise for its members, the related managers get the same.

But not always. The Department of Personnel Administration (and soon the new California Department of Human Resources) negotiates labor pacts and also sets the pay for excluded employees. By law, it must issue a fiscal analysis of what the negotiated contracts cost, but the department isn't required to do the same for related management compensation.

Senate Bill 1113 would mandate CalHR include analyses of the financial obligation for related excluded employees. The California Correctional Supervisors Organization, which is sponsoring the bill, says the measure would make employee costs more transparent.

Early versions of the bill also required the state to "address salary compaction and parity concerns for excluded employees," but that language was struck from the legislation the Senate OK'd today on a bipartisan 36-0 vote.

SB 1113, authored by Sen. Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, now goes to the Assembly.

May Lee, 91, hired on with the state's Department of Finance in 1943. Today, she continues to crunch numbers as a volunteer and mentor at the Department of General Services.

DGS recently produced a video about Lee's life and career, which DGS executive Joe Mugartegui puts in perspective: "She was our computer before we had computers."

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said this week that public pension reform legislation is still on track for this year, although he wasn't sure about the timing.

"I've said all along it's our obligation to deliver comprehensive pension reform legislation this session," Steinberg said during a meeting with reporters in his office Thursday morning. "Whether it's before or after the budget, I don't know. It depends on conversations with the governor and the Assembly, as well."

Lawmakers have a constitutional deadline to deliver a balanced budget by June 15.

A conference committee focused on pension reform has been meeting since October. Assemblyman Cameron Smyth, R-Santa Clarita, who co-authored failed legislation that co-opted Gov. Jerry Brown's pension proposals, said last week that lawmakers generally agree on many points but that major sticking points include switching future workers to a hybrid plan and changing the retirement age for those future hires.

PHOTO: Darrell Steinberg / Sacramento Bee 2011 file, Hector Amezcua.

The Associated Press is reporting from San Diego that five California Department of Motor Vehicles workers have been charged in what federal prosecutors say was a scheme producing hundreds of fraudulent driver licenses for bribes of up to $3,000 each.

From the AP report:

Applicants who failed driving tests or were unwilling to take them paid "recruiters" who, in turn, bribed employees at offices in suburban El Cajon and Rancho San Diego to enter false scores, according to the complaint.

Read more at this link.

Cliff Allenby, the acting director of the California Department of Mental Health, will be recognized this evening for a public service career that has spanned a half-century.

The American Society for Public Administration's Sacramento chapter is giving Allenby the Ross Clayton Lifetime Distinguished Public Service Award at it's annual banquet tonight at the Embassy Suites.

Other current and former state employees receiving awards include William Vizzard, former chairman of California State University, Sacramento's Criminal Justice Department; Kiyomi Burchill, assistant secretary, of the California Health and Human Services Agency; and a posthumous award to Tim Hodson, former executive director of Sacramento's Center for California Studies. Hodson, whose career in politics and academica spanned 35 years, passed away in 2011 after a long illness.

Allenby started his public service career in 1963 as an administrative trainee with the Department of Finance, eventually becoming the department's deputy director. He has served a wide variety of roles under seven different administrations, including agency secretary for the Health and Welfare Agency, director of the Department of Developmental Services, and interim director for the Department of Social Services. Last year he was appointed to his current position with the Department of Mental Health.

PHOTO: Cliff Allenby / http://www.mrmib.ca.gov

The State Controller's Office is "very close" to settling all the thorny issues connected with issuing furlough back pay to hundreds of current and former state workers, but some questions still need to be answered before the checks will be cut, according to a letter provided to The Bee that went out Friday to the affected departments.

The letter from the controller's office, which we've posted below, doesn't commit to a payment date.

According to the letter, the pay will be issued in one check and "subject to federal and state income tax using the flat tax method (25% federal tax and 6% state tax), retirement, Social Security, Medicare, and SDI if applicable."

The controller's office also will withhold garnishments and union dues or fair share fees from the checks.

It also looks like employees may be paid at different times, depending on how quickly their employers submit documentation. Payments will go out "within 10 working days from the date SCO receives the completed Furlough Settlement Pay Template from your department (further details regarding the template will be forthcoming)," the letter says. No word when that will happen.

The City of Vernon failed to provide adequate documentation for its employees and improperly characterized some as working in safety classifications that receive more generous retirement benefits, according to a new report released by CalPERS this morning.

The incomes of about two dozen current, former and retired city workers could be affected, since the fund will make "adjustments to retirement benefits or reported compensation" as appropriate, CalPERS said in a press release issued this morning.

Vernon has been under scrutiny for quite some time. Assembly Speaker John A Pérez authored legislation last year to dissolve Vernon, saying it would address allegations of corruption in a city that is home to fewer than 100 residents but more than 1,000 businesses. Under his proposal, which failed, Vernon would become an unincorporated part of Los Angeles County.

The report caps CalPERS' year-long audit of Vernon's records covering July 1, 2002 through June 30, 2010.

Among the findings: