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Homeland prepares budget cuts, up to 1,000 furloughs at Secret Service • As many as 1,000 Secret Service agents, officers and workers could be furloughed as Homeland Security prepares for sequestration Bracing for the possibility of budget sequestration next month, the Homeland Security Department is making plans to furlough as many as 1,000 Secret Service agents, officers and others employees, officials say. Homeland Security issued its first agency-wide memorandum late last week preparing for sequestration, the sweeping automatic budget cuts set to take effect as early as March 1 under a prior deal between the White House and Congress to...

First, the good news for state workers: Next month about 25,000 of you return to steady full hours and full pay for the first time in 31 months. Now the bad: Layoffs are coming – the real kind, where real people go to the unemployment line. Roughly 200,000 state workers have been without full wages and work since former GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature started twice-monthly furloughs in February 2009. Then they added a third day a few months later. One unpaid day equals about a 5 percent pay cut. Last summer four unions representing those 25,000 operating...

AUSTIN -- The Texas Senate approved legislation Monday to allow school districts to furlough personnel and reduce teachers' salaries as parents and educators sounded off against $4 billion in state education cuts in a phone-in town hall meeting. Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, chairwoman of the Education Committee, said SB8, approved by an 18-12 vote, would give school districts more flexibility to respond to budget constraints without firing teachers. More controversial measures moving through the Texas House would enlarge class sizes and eliminate a long-standing minimum salary schedule for teachers.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Wednesday ordered his managers to impose 42 furlough days on city employees in four union groups after those workers rejected his proposal for cutting the budget shortfall. Employee groups representing more than 6,300 full-time workers voted against the labor agreement that the mayor negotiated last month with leaders of the Coalition of L.A. City Unions. Balloting finished Tuesday. The deal with the coalition was supposed to save $69 million in the coming fiscal year. Villaraigosa had promised employees who made a series of concessions — including a 4% reduction in pay and the postponement...

After more than two years and $1.6 million spent on outside lawyers and court costs, it looks like the state's epic furlough court battle with the unions will end like a fistfight between brothers: a final flurry followed by a respectful handshake. Gov. Jerry Brown inherited furloughs from his predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, but he hated the policy. Sure, the program cut more than $3 billion in payroll expenses, but Brown administration officials think it cost more than that in lost efficiency and damaged employee morale. So what to do? The answer, it appears, is fight a little longer and then...

Unhappy anniversary, state workers. Two years ago this Sunday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued his first furlough order. On Jan. 3, the policy becomes a political and legal headache for incoming Gov. Jerry Brown. It's tempting for state workers to think Brown is their furlough salvation. Unions backed his gubernatorial run. As attorney general, he didn't furlough Justice staff members, citing the office's independence. His campaign blasted furloughs as "a temporary solution to a permanent problem." Back then Brown said, if elected, he'd seek to settle furlough lawsuits: "Litigation is always hazardous, so good-faith settlement talks should never be excluded." Here's...

SACRAMENTO -- The California Supreme Court will rule next week about whether the governor has authority to furlough state workers. Government employee unions are challenging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's furlough order. . . .

Heads are rolling at the Department of Motor Vehicles' San Francisco office over the "Missed Monday" we told you about a couple of weeks back. In all, 19 of the Fell Street office's 34 staffers were no-shows Aug. 23 - the Monday that followed a forced "Furlough Friday" without pay. The mass no-shows created a huge backup at the office, with the lines going around the block. Sources tell us that two of the "ringleaders" have been canned and seven others with histories of taking unauthorized days off have been suspended for 15 days without pay. Ten first-time offenders were...

Union and government lawyers square off before California's Supreme Court today to debate whether Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger illegally ordered unpaid days off for more than 200,000 state workers. Legal experts say the court's decision will likely affect the 40 or so lawsuits filed since the governor's first furlough order in December 2008. Twice-monthly "Furlough Fridays" started in February 2009. Schwarzenegger added a third monthly furlough day that July. State legislators agreed to budget fixes that assumed about $3 billion in savings so far from furloughs, about half of that from the general fund. Each furlough day equaled about $61 million...

Gov. Bill Richardson has announced furloughs and layoffs will be avoided in the latest round of state budget-cutting, which takes effect today. Richardson's office just sent out a news release in which the two-term Democratic governor said he'll use $1.4 million in federal stimulus money under his control to help executive and judicial branch agencies avoid furloughs.

We've all heard of Furlough Fridays - well, at the San Francisco office of the Department of Motor Vehicles, they had a "Missing Monday" when nearly two-thirds of the staffers didn't show up. In all, 20 of the 34 staffers at the Fell Street DMV office who had been forced to take Friday off without pay took Monday off as well. DMV spokesman Armando Botello said the department had to bring in workers from other jurisdictions to help out with the "higher than usual absences." Naj Alikhan of the Service Employees International Union, which represents the workers, said he hadn't...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The California Supreme Court says furloughs of state workers can resume while it reviews whether governors have the authority to mandate unpaid days off. The announcement Wednesday was a victory for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has sought to save the state money by imposing another round of furloughs. Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear says furloughs for about 150,000 state workers will begin Friday.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The state Supreme Court allowed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to resume unpaid furloughs of 144,000 state employees for three days a month, starting this Friday, while it reviews his authority to do so. The justices on Wednesday suspended an Alameda County judge's order last week that blocked the furloughs. Superior Court Judge Steven Brick had said there were serious questions about the governor's power to cut employee workweeks on his own, and that the workers would suffer hardships from what amounts to a 15 percent pay cut.The furloughs can now resume until the court decides the legality of...

A line of purple filled a Sacramento sidewalk Friday evening as state workers protested Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest furlough order outside a theater showing his latest movie. About 100 members of Service Employees International Union Local 1000, wearing their signature purple shirts, marched outside the Century Stadium 14's showing of "The Expendables," the Sylvester Stallone film in which the governor makes a cameo appearance. Union members chanted, "Schwarzenegger is expendable, we are dependable," and "California, can't you see, Arnold is a bad movie." A few cars honked in support. "I hope we can hurt Schwarzenegger the way he's hurt us,"

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday brought back furloughs for thousands of state workers until California passes a budget that addresses a $19 billion deficit. Schwarzenegger released a new executive order requiring state workers to take three unpaid days off per month starting in August. State workers were furloughed a total of 46 days when Schwarzenegger issued a similar order in February 2009, which translated to a pay cut of about 14 percent. Those furloughs just ended in June. SNIP It also exempts about 37,000 workers in six unions that recently reached tentative labor agreements with the administration....

Less than one month after ending furloughs for about 200,000 state workers, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this morning brought back a scaled-down version of the policy, effective Sunday. The governor made the decision this week after Controller John Chiang said that unless lawmakers enacted a budget soon, the state's cash would go into the red by October. Chiang said he'll start issuing IOUs in August or September to conserve funds as long as possible. "We have a fiscal crisis," Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said this morning as he explained the new furlough order. "We're doing what we have to do to...

Click here to find out more! Today's question is: Why have both major candidates for California governor -- Democrat Jerry Brown and Republican Meg Whitman -- failed to endorse the governor's authority to furlough state workers? How do you build a house without a hammer? Here's the situation. The governor can't just snap his fingers and cut the size of state government to close a budget shortfall. His hands are tied. He has to honor collective bargaining, abide by a complex array of employment rules, justify his decisions in court and deliver mandated services. The governor also has to sell...

Many state gov't offices shuttered Monday for furloughsBy KOMO Staff Story Updated: Jul 9, 2010 at 12:15 PM PDT Many state government offices and services will come to a grinding halt on Monday. As a budget-cutting move, four dozen state agencies, boards and commissions will be closed for a furlough day. Under a new law, some state employees will take 10 unpaid days off work over the next year. Agencies had the option of coming up with their own plans to save the same amount of money. Earlier this month a judge refused to block the furloughs while a lawsuit...

Showdown in New York: Legislature Approves 100,000 Furloughs; Judge Blocks Action After Union Protest Mike "Mish" Shedlock May. 13, 2010, 1:51 PM On May 10, in response to a fiscal crisis, and at the request of New York Governor David Paterson, the New York Legislature approved the furlough of 100,000 state workers. Despite their strong objections, New York lawmakers voted to approve unprecedented furloughs for state workers to contend with a fiscal crisis, as thousands of workers rallied against furloughs across the state. The crowd of New York State workers chanted "We will remember in September," over and over again...

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- A federal judge has blocked New York's governor from imposing furloughs on about 100,000 state workers.