Appeals Court Halts Order To End Furloughs for Some State Workers

On Tuesday, the 1st District Court of Appeals in San Francisco granted a temporary stay on furloughs for state employees whose salaries come from sources other than the state's General Fund, the Sacramento Bee reports.

Alameda Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch had ordered the state to suspend furloughs for the approximately 70,000 to 80,000 employees who work in "special-fund" departments, such as the California Medical Board (Ortiz, Sacramento Bee, 3/31).

Earlier this month, the California Medical Association lost a suit claiming Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) did not have the power to mandate furloughs for the board and that the furloughs were inhibiting the board's ability to promptly license physicians and investigate claims (California Healthline, 3/5).

The temporary stay gives Schwarzenegger until Friday to file more documents to support his case. Service Employees International Union Local 1000 and other unions representing state doctors, dentists and attorneys have until Wednesday to respond (Sacramento Bee, 3/31).

Schwarzenegger recently vetoed a bill (SBX8 29) passed by the California Legislature that would have exempted special-fund workers from furloughs (Lagos, "Politics Blog," San Francisco Chronicle, 3/25).