State Controller said what?

[pingtheduck]

Yeah! Everybody gets paid. Boo! We're in the dark ages.

Controller: State computer system not up to making pay cuts

By Kevin Yamamura - kyamamura@sacbee.com
Published 10:49 am PDT Monday, August 4, 2008

State Controller John Chiang said Monday an antiquated state computer system makes it impossible to adjust the state payroll quickly to issue minimum-wage checks to state workers. He said it would take at least six months to make the change.

The Democratic controller has vowed to defy Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's executive order directing the state to pay workers the federal minimum wage of $6.55 per hour until a budget agreement is reached. He has previously asserted that the Republican governor's order is based on an untested 2003 state Supreme Court legal opinion and that he will continue issuing full paychecks to state employees.

But in a meeting with The Bee Capitol Bureau on Monday, Chiang said that even if Schwarzenegger's legal reasoning were sound, the state could not logistically retool its outdated payroll system in a matter of weeks, as the governor has asked. If the change were eventually made, Chiang also said it would take an additional nine to 10 months to issue checks to employees for their full back pay.

"Pragmatically, we just can't get the system to work in a timely manner for us to implement payment of minimum wage," Chiang said.

He warned that changing payroll so quickly could also lead to errors that leave the state vulnerable to lawsuits from workers and triple penalties known as "treble damages."

Schwarzenegger said last week his executive order is necessary to preserve cash, ensure the state can pay its bills in September and avoid heavy borrowing costs. Chiang again challenged that view, asserting that the state will have enough cash to pay its bills and that the order will do nothing to prevent the state from incurring any more heavy borrowing costs than it would otherwise.

[LisaT]

From a previous thread in the politics forum:

Originally Posted by Wilbur

From a political blog mostly populated by denizens of the Dome:


Originally Posted by :One of the little known reasons why Chiang won’t pay minimum wage – his payroll system can’t do it. The Office of the Controller’s ‘ol P/R system is probably 35+ years old, and written in programming languages virtually forgotten to all but a few (probably retired annuitants who just got fired! Hah, talk about the law of unintended consequences). I bet it would take months, perhaps it’s not possible at all, to reprogram to pay minimum wage to state employees.You may recall that St. Steve Wesley awarded the $100+ million contract for the new P/R system to SAP/Bearingpoint (the only bidder, wouldn’t you know) over three years ago in what was one of the state’s worse, problematic, scandalous procurements. Wesley said it would be up and running over a year and a half ago, Chiang bought into this B.S., though I warned him. Not it’s Chiang’s problem, and because the new system is still having multiple implementation problems (just this month, they have a bid on the street for three new project managers to save the project), he must continue to rely on the inflexible legacy P/R system, and he could not write minimum wage checks even if he wanted to, unless he does all 200,000 of them by hand

[pingtheduck]

Thanks Lisa. Sigh.

[Wilbur]

And this came up years ago in another budget hiatus, and the system still hasn't been fixed (there's a complete new system in development, has been for years, slated for final testing and implementation in 2010, but we know how that goes.

Arnold's people knew this. Lots of people knew this. Arnold knows the havoc and expense of reprogramming the system THREE times would be many times any savings produced by the stunt, and knows it would all be wasted anyway b/c a budget will most likely be signed before Sept. 1 (in which case they have to have a way to make full payroll or they could then be in serious legal trouble if they underpay, b/c the excuse for not paying the contracted salaries will have evaporated.

All a stunt to get everyone excited and get legislators' phones ringing..... and it seems to be working.

[pingtheduck]

What a bunch of garbage. I guess everybody knew this except for some of the poor saps on the front lines sweating because they are afraid they won't be able to make rent. Sleazy. Dishonest. Grandstanding.

[LisaT]

Originally Posted by pingtheduck

... Sleazy. Dishonest. Grandstanding.

Well said!

[feistylady]

well, and I know someone who works in EDD, and she has had some very stressful days having to send out pink slips to the part timers, and temporary workers, and issuing the checks to these poor employees. This whole thing sucks IMHO.

[lab_lover]

Now we head to the courtroom! Why can't we just pass a stinkin' budget on time?!? This is all self-inflicted!

Politics - Schwarzenegger sues California controller over pay cuts - sacbee.com

[Birdieman]

Originally Posted by lab_lover

Now we head to the courtroom! Why can't we just pass a stinkin' budget on time?!? This is all self-inflicted!

Politics - Schwarzenegger sues California controller over pay cuts - sacbee.com

I think that is the point the Gov. is trying to make. He's now forcing all these state workers to think twice before they vote, I personally like the wake up call. It's also bringing to light the tremendous amount of money we throw away at liberal causes. Band-aid after band-aid to help the lazy and save CA's precious environment from ourselves. Good job Dems!

I can never resist a chance to slam the left. I wonder if they have medication for that?

[Wilbur]

The pay cut gambit is fizzling. The judge long-set Arnold's case against Chaing into September, so the earliest it could be implemented is October 1. Arnold sent this memo out to the agencies this morning:

"This morning, the Superior Court of Sacramento set a hearing date for September 12 on the State’s suit to enforce the provisions of White v Davis.
The State Controller’s Office has maintained its intent to issue regular pay pending the outcome of litigation. Since the earliest date a hearing can be held is after payroll cut off for the month of August, we now expect that the Controller will issue regular pay, except to appointees and other high-level officials who currently are not receiving any compensation until there is a state budget."