Elected leaders in states outside California are starting to halt raises, reduce salaries and furlough state workers to cut spending as the economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak eats into their budgets.

None of those measures has been proposed in California, where Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration is expected to release updated budget projections next month.

California’s $17.5 billion in reserves puts it in a better position than some states to weather revenue reductions related to decreased economic activity from the coronavirus.

But experts’ predictions are growing increasingly dire as a recession looks more likely. Last week, Legislative Analyst Gabe Petek projected deficits running into the tens of billions of dollars in over the next couple of years.

In Pennsylvania, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf announced April 3 that he was freezing pay for about 9,000 state workers.

Affected were workers whose offices were closed and who couldn’t telecommute. Nearly two-thirds were state highway workers. Wolf’s order allowed the workers to use up remaining vacation and leave time and to keep their health and life insurance.

In New York, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration told unions two weeks ago that the state was halting a 2 percent pay raise that most state employees were expecting in their next paycheck, according to radio station WAMC.

Cuomo, facing a $10 billion to $15 billion budget shortfall, opted for the freeze rather than layoffs, according to the station’s reporting. The raise is on hold for at least 90 days, according to WAMC.

Hawaii Governor David Ige, also a Democrat, proposed 20 percent pay cuts last week for teachers and other public workers as the state’s tourism economy dries up, according to the Honolulu Star Advertiser.

Hawaii lawmakers have warned that warned that workers will “almost certainly” have to give up raises the Legislature had planned for this year, according to the paper.

In Illinois, state Senate President Don Harmon tried a different approach to the state’s budget problems, sending a letter to the state’s congressional delegation last week requesting a federal bailout of $41 billion, including $15 billion to stabilize the state’s budget and $10 billion to bolster the state’s underfunded pension system, according to NBC Chicago.

Top budget officials in Michigan suggested laying off non-essential state workers last week as part of the state’s response to a projected shortfall of $1 billion to $3 billion, according to The Detroit News.

More than 100,000 California state workers are scheduled to receive raises of a 2 percent or more starting July 1 through contracts their unions negotiated with Newsom’s administration. While it hasn’t happened in recent memory, the California Legislature has the authority to halt planned raises as was done in New York and proposed in Hawaii.

This story was originally published April 22, 2020 at 6:15 AM with the headline "Governors halt raises, freeze state workers’ pay outside California as recession takes hold."