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March 23, 2020 - This post summarizes recent federal relief actions in the unemployment insurance program, discusses how these federal actions interact with current state programs, and highlight options the Legislature may want to pursue in responding to the ongoing crisis.
March 20, 2020 - The Legislature likely will be asked to approve labor agreements for eight bargaining units in 2020—the employees represented by these bargaining units account for more than one-half of the state’s General Fund personnel costs. The purpose of this post is to highlight the importance of requiring the administration to justify compensation increases it agrees to in labor agreements submitted to the Legislature for approval.
February 19, 2020 - In this post, we provide a background on employment laws, take an initial look at worker outcomes in the wage claim process, and highlight several opportunities to improve the process. We also assess the Governor’s proposal to hire additional staff at the Department of Industrial Relations to reduce delays that have recently begun to affect wage claims.
February 11, 2020 - The 2020‑21 Governor’s budget includes two labor proposals related to Chapter 296 of 2019 (AB 5, Gonzalez), a new law that limits what types of work businesses can hire independent contractors to do. In this post, we provide a background on the new law, discuss how many workers it might affect, and make recommendations about the workload proposals at the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) and the Employment Development Department (EDD).
January 22, 2020 - The 2020-21 Governor’s Budget includes 18 budget proposals related to labor and employment programs. This post provides a high-level overview of these proposals. Our office plans to evaluate several of these proposals more closely in the coming weeks.
January 13, 2020 - This report presents our office’s initial assessment of the Governor’s budget. We estimate the Governor had a $6 billion surplus to allocate to discretionary purposes in 2020-21. The Governor allocates most of the surplus toward one-time purposes, including maintaining a positive year-end balance in the state’s discretionary reserve. Under the administration’s estimates, total reserves would reach $20.5 billion at the end of 2020-21—this represents a $1.7 billion increase from the 2019-20 enacted level. California continues to enjoy a healthy fiscal situation. Despite its positive near-term picture, the budget’s multiyear outlook is subject to considerable uncertainty. In addition to describing the condition of the budget under the Governor’s proposal, this report discusses tools the Legislature can use to mitigate against these heightened risks.
January 20, 2020: Upon further review, one item included in the original version of Appendix Figure 3 on discretionary on health spending should not have been included (specfically, use of the Medi-Cal drug rebate fund to offset General Fund costs). Removing this item—which reduces General Fund spending—from the list of discretionary choices made in the Governor’s budget increases our calculation of the surplus to $6 billion. The document is updated to reflect these changes.
Update 1/24/20: Adjusted Judicial Branch items in Appendix Figure 1 to reflect ongoing spending.
January 9, 2020 - We reviewed the proposed memorandum of understanding (MOU) for Bargaining Unit 18 (Psychiatric Technicians). This review is pursuant to Section 19829.5 of the Government Code.
Corrected 1/10/2020: Changed Figure 3 and reference to the figure in text.
October 17, 2019 - The 2019-20 budget included significant augmentations and statutory changes in various other programs, including to support emergency services, the regulation of cannabis and alcoholic beverages, and construction and maintenance of state infrastructure.
September 12, 2019 - We reviewed the proposed memorandum of understanding (MOU) for Bargaining Unit 2 (Attorneys and Hearing Officers). This review is pursuant to Section 19829.5 of the Government Code.
September 6, 2019 - We reviewed the proposed memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the nine bargaining units represented by Service Employees' International Union, Local 1000. This review is pursuant to Section 19829.5 of the Government Code.
August 26, 2019 - We reviewed the proposed memorandum of understanding (MOU) for Bargaining Unit 13 (stationary engineers). Bargaining Unit 13 is represented by the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 39. This review is pursuant to Section 19829.5 of the Government Code.
August 26, 2019 - We reviewed the proposed memorandum of understanding (MOU) for Bargaining Unit 5 (Highway Patrol). Bargaining Unit 5 is represented by the California Association of Highway Patrolmen (CAHP). This review is pursuant to Section 19829.5 of the Government Code.
August 8, 2019 - We reviewed the proposed memorandum of understanding (MOU) for Bargaining Unit 7 (Protective Services and Public Safety). Bargaining Unit 7 is represented by the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association (CSLEA). This review is pursuant to Section 19829.5 of the Government Code.
June 14, 2019 - We reviewed the proposed memorandum of understanding (MOU) for Bargaining Unit 6 (Corrections). Bargaining Unit 6 is represented by the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA). This review is pursuant to Section 19829.5 of the Government Code.
January 14, 2019 - This report presents our office’s initial assessment of the Governor’s Budget. The budget’s position continues to be positive. With $20.6 billion in discretionary resources available, the Governor’s budget proposal reflects a budget situation that is even better than the one our office estimated in the November Fiscal Outlook. The Governor’s Budget allocates nearly half of these discretionary resources to repaying state liabilities. Then, the Governor allocates $5.1 billion to one-time programmatic spending, $3 billion to reserves, and $2.7 billion to ongoing spending. Although the Governor’s allocation to discretionary reserves represents a smaller share of resources than recent budgets, the Governor’s decision to use a significant share of resources to pay down state debts is prudent. The Governor’s ongoing spending proposal is roughly in line with our November estimate of the ongoing capacity of the budget under an economic growth scenario. This was just one scenario, however. Recent financial market volatility indicates revenues could be somewhat lower than either we or the administration estimated.