California state workers could get raises, avoid furloughs under Senate budget plan

California state workers could avoid pay cuts or even get raises this year under a Senate budget proposal that rejects Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to reduce their pay.

Under the Senate plan, released Thursday, the state would dig deeper into reserves and expand borrowing to address a projected $54 billion deficit instead of cutting as deeply as Newsom proposed

The change would alter the nature and timeline of collective bargaining between Newsom’s administration and the state’s unions. The administration told unions they needed agreements that would reduce workers’ pay by 10 percent by June 12 or the administration would push to cut their pay through the Legislature.

A 10 percent pay cut for state workers would save the state about $2.8 billion, according to Department of Finance figures. The administration’s proposal also would cancel many of the raises state workers are scheduled to receive in July and would tweak compensation in other ways, saving another $838 million.

“We look forward to continuing our work with the Senate and Assembly on a balanced budget plan, as well as our ongoing effort to secure federal funds to protect core government services,” Department of Finance spokesman H.D. Palmer said in an emailed statement Friday morning. “A final budget must make meaningful progress in addressing the structural deficit and putting the state on a path to recovery.”

The raises were negotiated last year, before the coronavirus started to push the state toward a recession in which the unemployment rate has already surpassed that of the Great Recession.

The Senate’s budget proposal presumes no reductions to state worker pay, but assumes collective bargaining will continue.

“Any savings achieved through the collective bargaining process will increase the Senate version’s final reserve,” the Senate’s proposal says.

The state faces a June 15 deadline to pass a budget. Unlike Newsom’s proposal, the Senate proposal assumes the federal government will send California money. If it doesn’t, the Senate plan includes “trigger solutions” that would go into effect to reduce spending by Oct. 1.

The Senate proposal doesn’t specify how trigger solutions would impact state worker pay.

A spokeswoman for Sen. Holly Mitchell, chairwoman of the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, didn’t immediately respond to questions Friday morning.

The proposal raises new questions about what would happen to state worker unions that didn’t reach new contract agreements last year but have contracts expiring this summer.

Bargaining that began over those contracts early this year was paused when the coronavirus arrived.

This story was originally published May 29, 2020 at 12:05 PM with the headline "California state workers could get raises, avoid furloughs under Senate budget plan."