BILL ANALYSIS
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2008
Author: Arambula (I)
Amended: 5/28/10 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC EMP. & RET. COMMITTEE : 4-1, 6/23/10
AYES: Correa, Corbett, Ducheny, Liu
NOES: Hollingsworth
NO VOTE RECORDED: Ashburn
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-1, 7/15/10
AYES: Kehoe, Corbett, Emmerson, Leno, Price, Wolk, Yee
NOES: Walters
NO VOTE RECORDED: Alquist, Wyland, Vacancy
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 55-21, 6/2/10 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Public employment: furloughs
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill exempts employees of the Franchise Tax
Board and the Board of Equalization from being subject to
any furloughs implemented by Executive Order or by any
other action of a state agency, board, or commission.
ANALYSIS :
Existing Law
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AB 2008
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1.Sets forth the general policy that the workweek of a
state employee shall be 40 hours and authorizes workweeks
of different hours to be established in order to meet the
varying needs of different state agencies.
2.Authorizes the Governor to require that the 40-hour
workweek be worked in four days in any state agency or
part thereof when the Governor determines that the best
interests of the state would be served thereby.
3.Vests the Department of Personnel Administration (DPA)
with the duties and responsibilities for the
administration of salaries, hours, and other
personnel-related matters and authorizes DPA to represent
the Governor in matters of collective bargaining related
to hours, wages, and working conditions.
Background
Executive Order S-16-08 and S-13-09 imposed mandatory
furloughs on state civil service employees, regardless of
funding source and with limited exemptions.
Furloughs of two days per month began in February 2009, and
were increased to three days per month in July 2009.
Since the July implementation, many state departments,
boards, and commissions have been closed three days per
month. Some have been exempted from closures and those
employees are on a self-directed furlough program. The
self-directed program allows employees to accrue furlough
days and use them like vacation days, upon management
approval. Accrued furlough days have no cash value and
must be used within 24 months of the end of the furlough
program.
According to DPA, accrued furlough days must be used before
an employee may use accrued vacation, annual leave,
personal holidays, holiday credit, personal leaved time
credit, and compensatory time off.
The current three-day furlough retirement amounts to a
reduction of approximately 13.85 percent of employees'
compensation.
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According to DPA, some departments employing civil service
employees have been exempted from the furlough program.
1. California Highway Patrol and 911 Dispatchers.
2. Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (during
fire season)
3. The Public Utilities Commission
4. The Legislative Counsel Bureau
5. The Bureau of State Audits
The current furlough program is scheduled to end on June
30, 2010.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12
2012-13 Fund
Furlough exemption
loss of savings
FTB -- Approximately $1.5
million annually -- General
BOE -- Approximately $600
annually -- General
FTB: tax revenue -- Tens of millions
annually -- General
BOE tax revenue -- Tens of millions
annually -- Special*
*Various special funds created under numerous collection
programs within
BOE.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/3/10)
Association of California State Supervisors
California State Employees Association
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CSEA Retirees, Inc.
California State University Employees Union
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/3/10)
Department of Finance
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
"This measure is intended to stop future governors from
furloughing state employees in cases that are
counter-productive to the state's overall administration or
just defy common sense. It is contrary to the effective
administration of state government to limit the revenue
collecting agencies, such as the Franchise Tax Board (FTB)
and Board of Equalization (BOE). Every day employees of
the FTB and BOE are not working equals less effective tax
revenue collection, including ensuring that taxpayers are
paying their full amount.
The California State Employees Association states, "In an
economic time when more than half of Californians are
worried about paying their rent or mortgage, the furlough
program currently in existence is not sound fiscal or
public policy. This is a 'lose-lose' situation for
California."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : According to the Department of
Finance, "Furloughs are a temporary cash management
solution, it is necessary to apply furloughs across the
board in order to effectively manage the workforce and
avoid inequities, and this bill would limit the power of
future governors to implement furloughs in a fiscal
emergency.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Ammiano, Arambula, Bass, Beall, Bill Berryhill,
Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield, Bradford, Brownley,
Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro,
Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, Emmerson, Eng,
Evans, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Gilmore,
Hall, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jones,
Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Monning, Nava, Nestande,
V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana,
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Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico,
Yamada, John A. Perez
NOES: Adams, Anderson, Conway, DeVore, Fletcher, Fuller,
Gaines, Garrick, Hagman, Harkey, Jeffries, Knight, Logue,
Miller, Niello, Nielsen, Norby, Silva, Smyth, Tran,
Villines
NO VOTE RECORDED: Tom Berryhill, Lieu, Audra Strickland,
Vacancy
CPM:cm 8/3/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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