A Second Set Of Eyes…
It may seem like only a real policy wonk would care about it, but a new state law for the first time provides some outside analysis of contract agreements struck between state employees and the executive branch.
The law, written by Sen. Jackie Speier (D-San Mateo), requires an assessment of new contracts by the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO). And while the law doesn't technically go into effect until January 1st, the LAO decided to get an early start, with an analysis released today on an agreement struck by the Schwarzenegger administration and Bargaining Unit 2. The unit represents attorneys and state hearing officers, and constitutes about 2% of the state workforce.
Today's LAO analysis [read it here] seems to show that these reports will give policymakers and journalists a new way to see the big picture of these contract deals, and the impact on the state's finances.
For example, today's report gives a real sense of what the new Unit 2 contract will cost the state, in everything from salary to health and retirement benefits. By the way, an interesting element of the new Unit 2 contract appears to be an option for these state workers to actually opt out of the state employee retirement (CalPERS) system... and instead take the state's annual contribution as a salary stipend, perhaps for the worker to invest on their own.
Of course, this may be one of the simpler contracts to analyze. Elsewhere this week, negotiations resumed between the Schwarzenegger administration and 9 other bargaining units, representing a total of some 85,000 state employees. Those negotiations have been stalled for months.
