State Controller John Chiang is holding his ground in respose to Governor Schwarzenegger’s Executive Order to temporarily reduce State worker pay to $6.55/hr until the budget impass is resolved. The Terminator gave the Controller till noon today to respond to thw order or he would move forward with legal action.
In a letter to the Department of Personnel Administration, the Don Scheppmann of the Controller’s office has responded by asking for more time to “provide a thoughtfly and thorough analysis” of the Governors’ specific proposals.
While the Orange County Register’s Sacramento Bureau Chief Brian Joseph paints the response as a delaying tactic on the part of the Controller, he fails to acknowlege the complexities of calculating temporary payroll reductions for 180,000 workers. As an example, it took months to calculate the retroactive pay increases and corresponding retirement contributions for Orange County workers once a new contract was settled in about 6 weeks after the start if the fiscal year. It was almost Christmas before workers got their few weeks of retroactive pay.
Total Buzz has an update fron Brian Joseph, who has heard back from Lynette Jolley of the State Deparment of Personnel Administration that the administration will be filing suit to compel the Controller to comply with the Governor’s executuve order.
On belhaf of Controllernator John Chiang I have only one thing to say. BRING IT ON! See you in court Arnie.