The last date
for the Legislature to pass bills
this year was August 30. After weeks
of brinksmanship, the Riverside
County Transportation Commission,
which is pursuing a massive
design-build project on Route 91,
agreed to changes insisted upon by
PECG regarding public inspection of
work performed by the design-build
contractor. Thus, AB 2098 passed and
will be signed by the Governor.
Several bad bills, including a
design-build bill for hospitals
(affecting our OSHPD members)
and a bill which would transfer
duties from the Office of the
State Architect to local
agencies for the design and
construction of school buildings,
were defeated.
Unfortunately,
also failing to pass was AB 1699,
the bill which would provide a
continuous appropriation for
salaries for state employees in the
absence of a State Budget. This
would eliminate the threat of
minimum wage when the Budget is late
in the future. The Bill passed the
Assembly but, while receiving
majority support in the Senate,
failed to receive the two-thirds
vote needed for passage. All of the
yes votes were Democrats, plus one
Republican; all of the no votes were
Republicans.
There is still
no State Budget, and sooner
or later one will be needed, so
despite the August 30 deadline, the
Legislature will continue to work on
that, as well as accompanying
“trailer bills” which would
implement the provisions of the
Budget. As almost every issue
involves money and could be budget
related, all of the bills which
failed could be brought up again
during the Budget discussions later
this month.
A special
thanks goes to Aaron Read and his
staff (Steve Baker and Pat Moran)
and Ted Toppin for the excellent
work they did on defeating the bills
which could have caused real damage
to PECG members and other state
employees, and especially to Ted,
for his successful negotiations on
AB 2098, the Route 91 Bill.
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The
furlough issue is back in court,
with the Supreme Court hearing oral
arguments on the issue on September
8. PECG is the lead case but the
Court will also hear arguments from
several unions which filed similar
suits, which were combined for
purposes of Supreme Court review.
The issue is whether the Governor’s
original furlough orders violated
state law and the labor contracts
for Bargaining Units. It is
anticipated that the Court will
issue its ruling a few weeks after
the hearing.
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Long time
CalPERS Board member Kurato
Shimada has resigned. As he is one
of the six elected members on the
thirteen member Board, an election
to fill his vacant seat will be
scheduled.
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Each year, DPA
negotiates the benefits and premiums
for the dental and vision
care plans for state employees. Next
year, there will be some increases
in the dental plan premiums, but the
impact on employees will range
between nothing and $1 more per
month. The State pays the entire
premium for the vision plan.
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If you are a
member who has not voted yet in the
PECG Corporate Election,
there is still time to do so.
Ballots must be postmarked no later
than September 10. To see a video of
some of the candidates, go to
http://www.pecg.org/Corporate_Officer_Election.htm
If you are a
fee payer, joining PECG will allow
you to vote in future elections,
participate in membership surveys,
take advantage of the benefit
package available only to members,
and be part of the organization
which has negotiated pay and benefit
improvements and protected your job
against outsourcing. Simply go to
the PECG website at
http://www.pecg.org/Benefits/Join_PECG.htm
to join PECG.
