Today a judge ordered the state controller to start furloughing workers. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had ordered the furloughs a couple weeks ago, but the state's biggest public employee union sued, arguing that the Legislature had to approve it. Controller John Chiang (a Torrance resident) backed the union.
Chiang will be complying with the judge's order, but that won't improve the state's cash position nearly enough to back off issuing IOUs in place of tax refunds:
Chiang will be complying with the judge's order, but that won't improve the state's cash position nearly enough to back off issuing IOUs in place of tax refunds:
Today, the court has directed me to implement the Governor's order affecting state employee pay, and I will immediately move to do so. However painful, this pay cut for state employees alone will not solve the State's budget deficit, nor will it allow me to avoid delaying more than $3 billion in tax refunds, college assistance and payments to programs that protect our most vulnerable and needy citizens.
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