State pay cut is not governor's call, legal aide says

By John Hill, Sacramento Bee, Saturday, July 26, 2008

The Legislature's legal adviser is siding with Controller John Chiang in his defiance of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to cut state workers to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour.

In an opinion requested by state Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, Legislative Counsel Diane Boyer-Vine wrote Friday that an executive order issued by Schwarzenegger could not force Chiang to start paying state workers the minimum wage in August.

Boyer-Vine's opinion cited cases in which courts found that the controller may sometimes wield his or her authority independent of the governor. 

Schwarzenegger plans to sign the executive order next week. The exact wording of the order has not been finalized. But a draft order would cut pay for about 200,000 state workers to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour until a budget is signed.

Afterward, the workers would get back their full pay.

Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said he would not speculate about whether the governor would go to court to force Chiang to comply with his order.

"If and when the governor decides to exercise his authority, he is supported by the California constitution and the California Supreme Court," he said. "I can assure you that the governor will exercise his authority to make sure the state does not run out of cash."

The administration is relying on a 2003 California Supreme Court case, White v. Davis, to pare back state worker pay to the federal minimum wage while the budget impasse is resolved.

Chiang, who believes the state has enough cash to pay full salaries through the end of September without a budget agreement, has said he plans to defy Schwarzenegger's executive order should the governor sign it.

Florez asked the legislative counsel, the Legislature's chief lawyer, to determine if the governor had the power to force Chiang to lower paychecks via executive order.
Florez said he hopes the legal opinion will cause Schwarzenegger to "reverse his actions and apologize."

"We want to avoid any kind of lawsuit between the controller and the governor," said Florez, who added that such a suit would be a "huge waste of energy, resources and time."

The paycheck reduction idea was "very repulsive," said Florez, who said the move showed "the governor at his lowest point."