Dear Legislators, At $7.3 billion, current year salary spending on Corrections employees is 33% higher than forecast by last year’s budget and nearly 50% more than the prior year. This isn’t small change. $7.3 billion is more than twice the $3 billion you awarded the entire Judicial Branch. Even before you and the governor granted … Continue reading Shocking Increase In Corrections Salary Spending
Category: Prison Spending
If You Thought The Recall Was Expensive . . .
In June the governor and legislature quietly granted an unwarranted $500 million per year salary increase to state prison guards using a loophole inserted into state code in 1981. Gov. Code Section 19826 deals with “Administration of Salaries,” which this fiscal year will amount to $20 billion. Subsection (c) of Section 19826 requires the state … Continue reading If You Thought The Recall Was Expensive . . .
Code Repair In California
CA Gov. Code Section 19826 deals with “Administration of Salaries” amounting to $20 billion per year: Subsection (c) of Section 19826 requires the state to produce a study of salaries of employees in comparable occupations in private industry and other governmental agencies at least six months before the end of a contract with a bargaining … Continue reading Code Repair In California
Where Your CA Estimated Tax Payments Are Going
Today marks the date by which third quarter estimated income tax payments are due in California. Some of the money will go to a $500 million per year salary increase awarded in June to prison guards by the Legislature and Governor without complying with state law.According to the Legislative Analysts' Office, General Salary Increases (GSIs) … Continue reading Where Your CA Estimated Tax Payments Are Going
1977
When I made San Francisco my home in 1977, little did I know that the California Legislature and Governor Jerry Brown had just made prison guards lords over state politics and policy. That's the year lawmakers enacted the Dills Act, which extended collective bargaining rights to state employees. Since then, CA lawmakers have worked hard to please them, especially … Continue reading 1977
Service, Please?
The principal job of states in our federalist system is to provide domestic services such as education, health and public safety. California executes some services well (e.g., Covered California) but generally residents are served poorly, students are treated more like captives than customers, insufficient value for money is obtained from healthcare providers, and public safety employees … Continue reading Service, Please?
Lawmakers, Don’t Capitulate to Unit 6 Again
Dear State Legislators, Don't do it. Don't sign off on the new contract Governor Newsom has negotiated with Unit 6. It's another giveaway to a powerful special interest — Corrections employees — that already collects gobs of money that could be used elsewhere. 55,000 employees already collecting more than $5 billion per year in salary … Continue reading Lawmakers, Don’t Capitulate to Unit 6 Again
Donor Rejection
Here's something Assembly Members Luz Rivas, David Chiu, Richard Bloom and Buffy Wicks don't want their constituents to know: - Start at https://www.calhr.ca.gov/labor-relations/Pages/Unit-06-Corrections.aspx, where you will see a list of 21 "Bargaining Units" that represent state employees who get paid billions of dollars per year upon the approval of state legislators and the governor. The … Continue reading Donor Rejection
Fixing CA’s Ugliest Secret
Dear Legislators, In a world in which The Intercept is criticizing biotech firm Moderna for potentially collecting $10 billion for creating a life-saving COVID vaccine, how do you think you should be viewed for the $10 billion you shower on CA state prison employees every single year? After six increases since 2010, salaries alone top … Continue reading Fixing CA’s Ugliest Secret
Ending CA’s Love Affair With Public Safety Unions
Dear CA State Legislators, You lead the country in spending on prison employees. After granting them six salary increases since 2010, you are spending >$5 billion/yr on salaries for 57,000 state prison employees attending to ~115,000 inmates. But that's not all. You also spend >$4 billion/yr on insurance subsidies for retired employees, the most expensive … Continue reading Ending CA’s Love Affair With Public Safety Unions