Additional Cut in State Worker Pay Rejected

Employment and Labor – State News June 17, 2009

Sacramento – Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposal to cut state employees’ paychecks by an additional 5 percent was rejected after the legislative budget committee voted against it. The proposal was part of the state effort to balance the budget by slashing pay.

Instead of the pay cut, the committee however voted to delay paying workers on June 30, 2010 until July 1, 2010.

Earlier, the governor announced he will veto tax proposals which the Democrats proposed as an alternative to making pay cuts.

As a result, the committee was just able to trim down or reduce spending budgets, rather than eliminating or cutting off financial assistance, as the governor had proposed, to some of the state’s valuable programs in the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Here are some of the reductions made:

• Education – About $5.3 billion was slashed from elementary schools, high schools, and community colleges; a total of $533 was cut from the budget for the University of California and the California State University System
• Judiciary – The state court system budget was reduced by about $102 million
• The state prison system was trimmed by $788 million, including some cost-cutting measures like commuting sentences, reducing prisoner rehabilitation programs, and changing some felonies to misdemeanors

The committee also rejected gubernatorial proposals to eliminate the state’s welfare to work program (CalWORKS), but reduced it by $270 million.

In addition, the committee also voted to take some $300 million from the Department of Motor Vehicles and transfer it to counties, including some$300 million worth of responsibility of the program to the counties.

The committee also voted to reduce services to about 4, 400 rather than cut in-home services to some 400, 000 elderly, sick and disabled Californians.