The State Worker

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.

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?

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

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.

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:

A new study says that CalPERS could have saved between $18 million and $54 million in 2008 health care costs if more of the fund's members warded off common diseases such as diabetes and hypertension with diet and exercise.

Talk show host and health advocate Dr. Mehmet Oz, SEIU Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker, Controller John Chiang and Treasurer Bill Lockyer will unveil the Urban Institute study and a new pilot program to promote wellness at a 1:30 p.m. press event at the California Museum.

Researchers looked at the health records of nearly 556,000 state employees and their dependents who are covered by one of nine CalPERS health plans.

Click here for a short item in today's Bee with more details about the study, which is posted below.

Potential Savings Through Prevention of Avoidable Chronic Illness Among CalPERS State Active Members

TV host Dr. Mehmet Oz is among the speakers scheduled for a Monday press conference to unveil a new report on state workers' health and to promote a pilot state workplace wellness program.

Oz, whose self-titled show is among the most popular in day-time talk, will join SEIU Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker, Treasurer Bill Lockyer, Controller John Chiang and others. They'll talk about the health study commissioned by Chiang's office, which looks at state active members in CalPERS, and explain the launch of the wellness initiative.

The news conference is one of several Sacramento appearances for Oz next week. It starts at 1:30 p.m. in the courtyard of the California Museum at 1020 O St. in Sacramento. The state is hosting the news conference in partnership with The California Endowment and HealthCorps, the nonprofit organization founded by Oz and his wife, Lisa Oz, to fight childhood obesity.

PHOTO: Dr. Mehmet Oz / Sacramento Bee 2010 file, Brian Baer

As our story in today's Bee notes, state hiring fell 25 percent during the first year of Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown's administration when compared with Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's last year in office.

But how much is Brown responsible? After all, the state still added more than 10,000 new full- and part-time employees in the first 14 months of his comeback third term. How much of the difference in numbers is a difference in leadership style, administrative savvy, political experience or bureaucratic cooperation?

Is is possible, for example, that Schwarzenegger's tough-on-state-workers policies (furloughs, attempts to withhold wages during budget stalemates, the campaign to roll back public pensions) prodded so many civil servants into retirement that his administration wound up hiring more than Brown?

Or has Brown, drawing on his many years in the public sector including two terms as governor from 1975 to 1983, simply done a better job of managing the state deficit -- and gained the bureaucracy's support to slow hiring in the process?

On The State Worker's Facebook page, retired state worker Mike Carbahal gave this opinion: "Schwarzenegger did not know what he was doing, nobody paid him or his programs much if any attention - Brown on the other hand does know what he is doing and is taken very seriously."

What do you think?

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.

Our column in today's fiber/cyber Bee examines the notion that government has "customers." Click here to view the section of the 2004 California Performance Review we referenced today, titled "Putting Californians First -- Creating a Customer Service Framework."

Read the column, check out the report and then take our poll:

Workers at the state Board of Equalization's Sacramento headquarters found mold between the building's ninth and 10th floors last month, although this time the discovery didn't displace any staff.

BOE spokesman Jaime Garza said in an email that "the area was immediately closed, the mold was removed, and Hygiene Technologies conducted testing which concluded the air was safe and clean."

Hygiene Technologies is the company contracted by the boardto handle air quality tests at the 24-story building at 450 N St.

While conducting some unrelated repairs on the building on Mar. 24, DGS staff and Hygiene Technologies employees came across the mold in a space above an empty storage area on the ninth floor. The company removed the mold last weekend.

The BOE has a long history of problems that have cost the state millions to repair and clean up, including water pipe leaks, mold, malfunctioning elevators and faulty windows. Earlier this year a glass panel fell eight floors and shattered on the sidewalk after it popped loose from the east side of the building. No one was injured.

Correction, 5:54 p.m.: An earlier version of this post incorrectly said that Hygiene Technologies was contracted by the Department of General Services.

PHOTO: The Board of Equalization headquarters / 2005 Sacramento Bee file, Jay Mather

A reader called on Thursday to strongly disagree with this week's State Worker column, which looked at a bill that would cap state pay at what the governor earns, currently about $174,000 per year.

The column suggested that the cap idea doesn't acknowledge key differences between what motivates people to aspire to the executive and what motivates them to become, say, a state university president, CalPERS investment manager or a nuclear physicist.

The caller contended that the state doesn't need to compete for talented individuals to run departments, conduct nuclear research, manage investments or to perform other high-level, high-skill jobs. Public service and love of the work, he said, is a reward in itself. Plenty of competent folks would line up for jobs that he said currently overpay incumbents.

And anyone who passed on a job because they wanted more money? "The state doesn't need them," the caller said.

What do you think? How much should money matter to public servants? Do some care about it less than others? Take our poll and leave your comments:

The so-called "Public Employees Bill of Rights," Assembly Bill 1655 has cleared its first legislative committee review.

The six-member Assembly Committee on Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security passed the measure 4-1 on Wednesday. Democratic Assemblymembers Warren Furutani, Michael Allen, Bob Wieckowski and Fiona Ma voted for it. Republican Allan Mansoor voted against it. Assemblywoman Diane Harkey, R-Dana Point, did not vote.

The measure, which strengthens California state employee job protections and sets new workload standards, now goes to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. No hearing date has been scheduled yet.

Related posts:

Committee hears pro and con of 'Public Employees Bill of Rights'
State government contracting debate back at California's Capitol
Assembly Bill 1655

It looks like the so-called "Public Employees Bill of Rights" is on the way to clearing its first legislative hurdle after the Assembly Committee on Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security listened to brief arguments for and against the measure and then voted 3-1 in favor of the measure.

Because it needs one more "aye" from the six-member panel to pass, the bill was placed "on call" until the two absent members could vote.

Democratic Assemblymembers Warren Furutani, Michael Allen and Fiona Ma supported the bill. Republican Allan Mansoor opposed. Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont and Assemblywoman Diane Harkey, R-Dana Point, were not present.

Assembly Bill 1655, written by Democratic Assemblyman Roger Dickinson of Sacramento, which would give rank-and-file state workers explicit preference over outside contractors for state work, shorten the period employers would have to discipline employees and guarantee protections against increased workloads brought on by furloughs or layoffs.

The measure has several other employee protections extended to other state employees, Dickinson said this morning, and that much of the bill is already standard practice or contained in labor contracts.

"But those can change," Dickinson said, whereas his bill would take "basic items and codify them."

Several labor groups voiced support, including representatives from SEIU Local 1000, AFSC ME and associations representing state attorneys, physicians, dentists and state university workers.

All suggested that the bill would save the state money and provide much-needed protections to employees.

Jennifer Barrera of the California Chamber of Commerce said the Dickinson bill would "disadvantage the private sector" in competing for state work and the measure has ambiguous language regarding employee workloads and quotas that could trigger litigation or drive up the state's employee costs to avoid lawsuits.

"We disagree this would be a cost-saving measure," Barrera said.

PHOTO: Assemblyman Roger Dickinson / Sacramento Bee file 2010, Randall Benton

The Assembly Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee will consider Assembly Bill 1655, also known as the "Public Employee Bill of Rights," at a hearing scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday.

The measure gained a bit of attention when Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, D-Sacramento, introduced it last month. The measure would extend some job protections to rank-and-file state workers that are already afforded public safety employees, plus gives civil servants explicit preference for work the state needs to have done.

Dickinson has tweaked the bill's language a bit.

A provision to shorten the statute of limitations for employers to press disciplinary action against a employee has been changed from one year to one year from the discovery of an alleged offense.

The first version of the legislation gave rank-and-file state employees first dibs on state work ahead of excluded employees and outside contractors. The revision strikes the reference to excluded employees.

We've heard some strong sentiments from phone callers and email correspondents today about the James Ward case covered in today's State Worker column and companion blog post.

By that (extremely unscientific) measure, opinions are split 50-50.

If you haven't yet, check out the reporting and documentation about the prison chief dentist's fight to get his job back, then take our (extremely unscientific) poll:

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.

Our State Worker column in today's Bee examines the dispute between James Ward, who worked as chief dentist at Ironwood State Prison until July 2009, and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Ward says he accepted in good faith a permanent position that was illegally voided when the state said the job was really temporary and eventually let him go.

The department says its employees were mistaken when they assured Ward the job was permanent. Returning him to a permanent state job now would bind departments to the erroneous actions of their lowest-level staff and managers, CDCR lawyers have argued.

SPB Judge Jeanne Wolfe heard arguments in the case and issued a decision last September in favor of Ward. As is its prerogative, the board rejected Wolfe's ruling and heard the case for itself last month. We expect a ruling within a few weeks.

Here's Wolfe's decision, which includes many more details about the matter than we could jam into our column:
James Ward v. CDCR

Report details assaults over past year at Atascadero State Hospital
In the first four months of 2011, more than 100 patients and staff members were assaulted at Atascadero State Hospital each month. But a report released to KSBY Wednesday shows the number of attacks is actually decreasing since the beginning of last year. (KSBY)

Atascadero State Hospital fined for safety violations
State safety investigators Thursday issued three citations totaling $38,555 against Atascadero State Hospital for unsafe working conditions for staff treating the facility's mentally ill and violent offenders. (San Luis Obispo Tribune)

Despite an unprecedented downsizing that has cut jobs and emptied out agency offices around California, the State Compensation Insurance Fund's board of directors has OK'd a new incentive bonus program for employees.

It's not clear how much this will cost State Fund, a quasi-private state agency that provides workers' compensation insurance to businesses, but employees could receive up to 10 percent of their base pay depending on how well they perform. None of the bonus money would come from tax dollars, since State Fund operates solely on policyholders' premiums and investments.

The board approved the Performance Award Program on Feb. 17, about seven weeks after 971 employees in danger of layoffs took an unprecedented severance package that paid them to leave by the end of last year and give up their preferential rights to other state government jobs. The so-called "transition packages" cost State Fund about $30 million.

Even after those employees left, another 700 fund jobs remained on the chopping block as part of a multiyear plan to save $200 million by axing outdated jobs, shuttering offices and consolidating operations.

We asked fund spokeswoman Jennifer Vargen how the new employee bonus program lined up with the agency's push to cut costs. She responded by forwarding an email to staff that explains the program as "an appropriate investment in strengthening and accelerating our transition to a performance-based culture." (Click here to read the entire email.)

The bonuses are contingent on negotiations with union representatives, according to the State Fund staff memo. Here's the board's agenda item concerning the new bonus program:
State Compensation Insurance Fund bonus item on BOD's Feb. 17 agenda

3:04 p.m.: Updated with further comments from Ron Yank.

According to an internal email to Department of Personnel Administration staff, Julie Chapman will replace Ron Yank as DPA director.

The source of the memo obtained by The Bee and verified by DPA: Yank himself.

The California Prison Industry Authority and the First 5 California Commission will pay furlough back wages to all their employees.

The decision extends the terms of recent court settlements with two unions to excluded workers and other employees -- except the PIA's top executive and state engineers and scientists whose labor groups are pressing furlough litigation.

It's not yet clear when the State Controller's Office will issue the checks or exactly how many current and former employees will receive money. The payments won't affect the state's general fund budget since both agencies are fiscally independent of it.

The PIA employs about 570 workers who run inmate training programs. Officials figure the back pay will cost about $7.9 million of the $8.6 million the PIA set aside last year in anticipation of a settlement. (The payments won't include the interest that authority officials anticipated when they allocated the money.)

The agency doesn't yet have a specific count for how many people will receive back pay, spokesman Eric Reslock said, since some furloughed staff have since retired or left for other jobs and some current employees started work at the agency after furloughs ended last spring.

First 5 employs 35 staff. Spokeswoman Susan Hyman said that 50 current and former employees will receive payments. The agency, which administers services for children up to age 5, hasn't yet estimated what the furlough back pay will cost.

A few PIA workers are excluded from the deal. The authority's board will need to approve back pay for General Manager Charles Pattillo, Reslock said. A handful of staff represented by California Professional Engineers in California Government or California Association of Professional Scientists won't get the back pay, either, because their unions are pressing furlough litigation.

First 5 and the PIA are two of five so-called "off-budget" state agencies that recently settled furlough litigation with SEIU Local 1000 and California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment.

The settlements obligate the PIA, First 5, the California Earthquake Authority, the California Housing Finance Agency and the California State Lottery to pay back wages only to staff covered by the two unions. In exchange, Local 1000 and CASE have dropped their furlough lawsuits against the state.

Gov. Jerry Brown's administration has left it up to the five off-budget agencies whether to extend back wage payments to non-union workers. The State Worker has left messages with officials at the other three to find out whether they intend to pay back wages to all their employees.

PHOTO CREDIT: Image courtesy of California Prison Industry Authority.

Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, D-Sacramento,(right) has introduced legislation that would give unionized state workers more workplace discipline protections and first dibs on state government work.

SEIU Local 1000 and the Union of American Physicians and Dentists support AB 1655, the "Public Employees Bill of Rights Act." Here's what it would do:

Diesel exhaust from a construction lift forced officials to evacuate a part of the Department of Motor Vehicles headquarters in Sacramento this morning. Two employees went to the hospital after breathing in the fumes. The Bee's Bill Lindelof has the story here.

State Compensation Insurance Fund has paid $30 million to 971 state employees who agreed to leave the agency by Dec. 31 and give up their preferential rights to other state government jobs.

The exit payments averaged nearly $31,000 per departing employee in addition to any leave time they cashed out. The money went to staff members in danger of layoff who accepted the so-called "transition package" under terms negotiated by the quasi-public agency and Service Employees International Union Local 1000. It was the first time that state workers whose jobs were in danger received extra money to leave.

The quasi-public State Fund, which competes with private-sector workers compensation insurance carriers and receives no tax dollars, has been downsizing for a couple of years in response to its shrinking market share. About 1,800 employees in 26 job classifications slated for elimination could have taken the deal at an estimated cost of up to $50 million to State Fund.

On a related note, State Fund spokeswoman Jennifer Vargen forwarded a revised layoff list (embedded below) that shows that 705 jobs are still on the chopping block after the voluntary departures have been figured in.

(The "auth." column shows how many jobs the fund has authorized to keep. The "final potential layoff" column shows how many jobs will be cut. Adding the two columns together indicates how many positions currently exist.)

The biggest cuts are planned for Los Angeles County (181 jobs), Alameda County (143) and Orange County (86). Sacramento County stands to lose 36 jobs and San Joaquin County is facing a loss of 28 positions.
120123 SCIF Layoffs by Class and County

The Department of Personnel Administration has published a new "performance management guide." The department wants managers, supervisors, executives and other non-rank-and-file employees to use it to develop their leadership and build teamwork.

Click here to watch a brief video by DPA Chief Deputy Director Howard Schwartz.

Here's the 45-page guide. Do you think this is helpful? Will managers and supervisors use it? Do materials like this help make the state a better employer?
120120 DPA PMG

A piece of decorative glass popped loose from the east side of the Board of Equalization headquarters this morning, falling eight floors and shattering on the sidewalk below. No one was injured.

The incident occured at 10:30 a.m., prompting police and firefighters to cordon off the sidewalk along the Fifth Street side of the 24-story building.

An hour later, officials closed off the street to pedestrians and traffic between N and O streets.

The glass panel fell from between the eighth and ninth floors of the 24-story building at 450 N St., said board spokesman Jaime Garza.

"No employees work there," Garza said, referring to the fact that the eighth floor is vacant right now.

The Department of General Services, which leases the building to BOE and is on the hook for fixing the problem, is investigating why the glass fell.

DGS has plenty of experience. Between 1999 and 2005, seven windows with faulty seals leaked water and fell to the street below. The department spent $15 million to fix the window system and millions of dollars more to remediate toxic mold, repair burst plumbing and fix faulty elevators.

BOE has said it wants to move, but legislation aimed at accomplishing that has stalled. SEIU Local 1000 recently organized an email campaign by rank-and-file BOE employees to raise awareness about the building's workplace hazards.

PHOTOS: The east side of the Board of Equalization Headquarters at 11 a.m. today (above) and a closeup shot of the spot between the eighth and ninth floors where a glass panel popped loose and fell to the sidewalk below. / Jon Ortiz, Sacramento Bee

Assemblyman Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge) has introduced a measure that would give employees in the Legislature the same protections afforded other state workers when they report waste, fraud and abuse.

Assembly Bill 1378 would require the Assembly and Senate Rules committees to designate an officer to receive written complaints that the state auditor would investigate. Anyone found guilty of retaliation against a legislative employee would face fines up to $10,000 and a year in county jail.

The Assembly Judiciary Committee will hear the whistleblower bill Tuesday at its 9 a.m. session.

Our story in today's Bee details how Caltrans fired technician Duane Wiles 12 years ago for abusing a state credit card and using a state cellphone to make personal calls. The State Personnel Board in 1999 decided most of the charges weren't proven and the one that was didn't merit termination. It affirmed that decision in 2000 and told Caltrans to give Wiles his job back and pay back wages and benefits less a 30 calendar-day suspension without pay.

Wiles is the technician who violated key procedures while testing support structures for the new Bay Bridge span in 2006 and 2007 and falsified records on other transportation projects in 2008.

After The Bee reported the Bay Bridge matter, Caltrans announced that Wiles and his supervisor were fired. Wiles is appealing his latest termination to the SPB.

The State Personnel Board's 2000 decision regarding Duane Wiles' termination

PHOTO: Duane Wiles / courtesy Caltrans

As the quasi-public State Compensation Insurance Fund continues its plan to downsize, several of its employees have contacted The State Worker to point out a section of a 2009 RAND Institute for Civil Justice study that recommends reducing the number of the fund's permanent staff to remove incentives for it to maintain market share to justify State Fund's staffing.

Here's the pertinent paragraph from "California's Volatile Workers' Compensation Insurance Market: Problems and Recommendations for Change," by Lloyd Dixon, James W. Macdonald, William Barbagallo.

Washington state's auditor says that nearly 6,700 state-issued cellphones that cost the government $1.8 million -- nearly a third of those reviewed -- were used infrequently or not at all during a study that ran from March 2010 through February of this year. Of those, a third weren't used one time during the audit period, reported Washington State Auditor Brian Sonntag, but the state still paid more than $533,000 for them.

The Washington audit, which you can read here, echoes a similar study of California's state cellphones that found about 25 percent of the 54,000 wireless lines tracked in December 2010 weren't used -- but still cost the government more than $300,000.

Those finding supported Gov. Jerry Brown's February order to cut the government's cellphone inventory in half by June 1 of this year.

Departments turned in about 29,000 of 67,000 cellphones covered by Brown's order, with thousands more still under review as of the deadline, the administration said at the time.

Prompted by the Washington audit, we're curious about the impact to California state workers of the state's cellphone slim-down nearly six months later:

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.

Want to dig more deeply into State Compensation Insurance Fund's agreement to pay up to $50 million in severance packages to exiting employees? Here you go:

• The agreement between State Fund and SEIU Local 1000

• The contract between State Fund and the "legally uninsured Departments of the State of California."

• The Nov. 9 SEIU Local 1000 "Union Update" flyer that explains how some employees at State Fund moved to avoid a layoff and then found out their jobs were in jeopardy anyway.

• Our Oct. 9 story about State Fund layoffs.

Dave's Deli, the cafeteria serving the Employment Development Department building in Downtown Sacramento, is closing at the end of this year.

Although the announcement followed a 1-out-of-5-sporks rating by our weekly state building eatery review, The Dish, we hear that the closure has been planned for quite some time.

Here's the pertinent part of a memo issued this morning to EDD staff:

The EDD Central Office is one of the few state buildings where an operating cafeteria has been available to staff for many years. David Moore, the current Department of Rehabilitation Business Enterprise Program (BEP) vendor, has been operating the cafeteria for the past seven years and has made the difficult decision to terminate his contract with BEP. Therefore, the EDD cafeteria will be closed effective December 30, 2011.

The Department of General Services and BEP are working closely to hire a new vendor but until further notice, the anticipated date for closure is the end of the year. This date could be sooner if product and workforce deplete to a level below the ability to maintain satisfactory service.

The snack shacks at the 722 and 800 Capitol Mall lobbies will continue business as usual.

This blog has been following the problems with water, mold, falling glass, toxics and malfunctioning elevators at the Board of Equalization headquarters in Sacramento for quite some time.

The Department of General Services, which acts as the landlord of the 450 N St. property, has poured millions of dollars into the building and has said that the fixes would bring the space up to standards.

Still, the five-member board, BOE Executive Director Kristine Cazadd and many of the 2,900 staff who work in the building think it's time to move. Here's an email from one of them, BOE employee Annie Mac. We're publishing her words, unedited and with her permission: