The California Supreme Court handed down a stay of the Alameda County court’s order blocking the furloughs. Here’s the text of the order:
The petition for review is GRANTED. Because the issue whether the Governor has the authority to direct the unpaid furlough of state employees is pending before this court and is scheduled for oral argument on Wednesday, September 8, 2010, in the related case of Professional Engineers in California Government et al. v. Arnold Schwarzenegger et. al., S183411, and without expressing any view on the merits of that issue, we conclude that it is appropriate to grant review in this matter and defer further action pending our resolution of the currently pending proceeding. Pending further order of this court, further proceedings in the Alameda County Superior Court in case number RG10494800 (and in consolidated cases numbered RG10507922, RG10507081, RGI0503805, RGI0501997, RGI0516259, RGI0514694, and RG10528855), as well as the temporary restraining order of the Alameda County Superior Court issued on August 9, 2010, are stayed. Votes: George, C.J., Kennard, Baxter, Chin, Moreno, and Corrigan, JJ.
What this means for the time being is that the upcoming furloughs, as defined by the Governor will go ahead until further notice. The Supreme Court will directly review the decision (bypassing the court of appeal) and render a decision, which you would assume would come in a fairly speedy manner.
Stay tuned for more on this, but this is a big win for Arnold’s furloughs and will probably control through much of the budget fightin’ season.
True story:
I’ve been unemployed/underemployed for a little over a year. I interviewed at a consulting firm recently and it went quite well. At the end of the interview we talked about how soon the firm would start hiring. Their representative said that they have won a number of projects, but are unable to hire for them because they aren’t booked. The contracts and funding aren’t in place because of the shenanigans going on in Sacramento. In addition they had another project that was to be paid for by local redevelopment funds, but those funds were raided by Sacramento, so no project.
Many consulting firms are in this holding pattern because the State can’t get it’s act together and pass a budget. Projects aren’t progressing, firms aren’t hiring, and you get the impression that the fools in Sacramento really don’t care. They don’t seem to care about how much they are costing the state in lost revenue and opportunity because of this chronic mess.
Pass. The. Damn. Budget.
The highest paid “workers” in the state are the legislators and judicial officers. But aren’t they exempt from furloughs? How does that even make sense? And didn’t the legislators just give themselves a raise not long ago?
This is crazy.