The 2020-21 Budget: Labor Agreements to Achieve Budgetary Savings

Sep 9, 2020 - The pay that employees receive in a typical pay period —salary plus EDWC —affects employee pension benefits and is subject to Medicare payroll taxes. (Employees in specialty classifications represented by Unit 8 —including foresters, forestry aids, and fire prevention specialists —are compensated more similarly to other state employees based on a 40-hour workweek.)
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4267

Labor Agreements: Bargaining Units 1, 3, 4, 6, 9, 11, 14, 15, 17, 20, AND 21

Jun 25, 2020 - Under AB 119 (Ting), the Legislature would ratify the provisions of any labor agreements entered into between the Governor and bargaining units before July 1, 2020 that require the expenditure of funds necessary to achieve the level of savings assumed under Control Section 3.90 of the 2020‑21 Budget Act.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4257

State Options to Expand Unemployment Benefits

Apr 9, 2020 - At the same time, because the state must enact a balanced budget, funding must be reduced to other programs or taxes must be increased. This reduces activity in other parts of the economy. The state nevertheless has two ways to increase spending without immediately increasing revenue or reducing expenditures: (1)  borrow within existing programs and (2)  use budgetary reserves.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4219

Federal Paid Leave for Workers Impacted by COVID-19

Mar 27, 2020 - Recent guidance from federal tax agencies and the Department of Labor seeks to minimize this concern. Typically, businesses are required to withhold (from employee paychecks) federal income taxes and the employee’s share of Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes, and submit those payroll taxes at the end of each quarter.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4212

COVID-19: Unemployment Insurance for Workers Impacted by COVID-19

Mar 23, 2020 - To fund the benefits, employers pay a payroll tax on the first $7,000 of employee wages. The payroll tax rate is based on the employers “experience rating, ” in which the tax rate is higher for employers who have had many UI claims in the past and lower for employers with fewer claims.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4208

Collective Bargaining: Assessing Proposed Employee Compensation Increases

Mar 20, 2020 - Under the Dills Act, any provision of an MOU that requires the expenditure of funds generally may not become effective unless approved by the Legislature in the annual budget act. This means that the Legislature may choose not to fund fully a provision included in a ratified MOU (alternatively, the Legislature may choose to appropriate more money than is required by an MOU —for example, approving in the budget a higher level of salary than established in an MOU).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4206

The 2020-21 Budget: Staffing to Address New Independent Contractor Test

Feb 11, 2020 - Based on supplementary information we requested from the administration, we know that the proposal includes funding for 20 tax auditor positions, most of whom would work additional payroll tax appeals related to AB  5.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4151

The 2020-21 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

Jan 13, 2020 - Recently, corporation tax collections have grown faster than anticipated while personal income tax collections have grown somewhat slower. The administration assumes that this pattern will continue. This is because they attribute the pattern to partnerships, which are taxed under the personal income tax, changing to corporations in response to 2017 federal tax changes.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4135

The 2019-20 Budget: California Spending Plan—Other Provisions

Oct 17, 2019 - In some cases, agencies or departments are not authorized to make expenditures on the development and implementation of a project until 30 calendar days after written notification of the Legislature.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4101

MOU Fiscal Analysis: Bargaining Unit 7 (Protective Services and Public Safety)

Aug 8, 2019 - Some special funds operate at a surplus while others have significant challenges due to some combination of declining revenues and increasing expenditures. For many departments, the largest category of expenditure is related to employee compensation.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4085