This morning, my boss, Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) sent the following letter to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, advising the Governor to reconsider the administration’s furlough program. The letter comes after much information has come to light that shows that the furloughs are costing the state money and hurting the economy. Click here for “Preliminary Findings on State Employee Furlough Program.”

September 3, 2009

Hon. Arnold Schwarzenegger          

Governor of California

State Capitol, First Floor

Sacramento, California  95814

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger:

In the months since the furloughs began, the evidence shows that the policy is costing the state money and further hurting the economy.  It is a significant district issue for me as I represent so many state employees.

Information we have gathered indicates that California will lose hundreds of millions of dollars in our general fund at the state tax agencies alone. The current furlough policy has become a “penny saved, a dollar lost” approach that can be corrected immediately.

I offer these furlough fixes to help the General Fund.

First, the Legislature should enact AB 88, the bill that would implement the collective bargaining agreement that your administration reached with SEIU, Local 1000-the largest unit that represents state employees-which contains one furlough day that all agreed to.  A 5 percent pay cut is a sacrifice for a state employee; a 15 percent cut is punishment.

Second, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and I will introduce a bill tomorrow to reduce the furloughs by one day. The union already gave us one day, now we ought to give them one back. I suggest that we pass urgency legislation to buy-out a day of furloughs with an across-the-board reduction on the state bureaucracy. This time, we ought to cut from the top down, not the bottom up.

Third, your Administration should get back to the bargaining table and hammer out agreements with the other collective bargaining units.

You recently re-examined the furlough policy as it applied to dispatchers employed by the California Highway Patrol, and exempted these employees from the furlough.  I applaud you for that action.  Now is the time to re-examine the policy more broadly. Please find attached information the Senate has gathered on the furloughs.

I look forward to working with you on this issue.

Sincerely,

DARRELL STEINBERG

President pro Tempore

Sixth Senate District