January 27, 2012

Public Officials Talk About Public Safety Realignment

"If California took the resources made available for prison expansion or realignment, and invested them in re-entry services, affordable housing and jobs and all of the programs that are being cut ... that's going to have much more impact on public safety than building law enforcement.” Emily Harris, Statewide Coordinator for Californians United for a Responsible Budget Daily Breeze, Christina Villacorte, January 25, 2012

“We’re going to make some adjustments, and sometimes they will be some fairly large adjustments. With sufficient resources, I do believe counties can and do already perform some of these services.” Sacramento County Supervisor Don Nottoli Elk Grove Citizen, Brian M. Gold, January 25, 2012...

LINK - Turnto23.com

• cdcr
• budget
• public safety
• realignment

January 27, 2012

Darrell Steinberg: Pension reform must pass ‘strength test’

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said today that the Legislature will consider some sort of pension reform bill this session, and he didn't rule out sending a hybrid plan for new hires to Gov. Jerry Brown for a signature.

The Sacramento Democrat talked at length about pensions during a morning meeting with the Capitol press corps on Thursday. The Bee's Torey Van Oot was there and passed this six-minute audio file from the event.

(Warning: To hear the file, you'll need software that plays m4a files, such as RealPlayer or QuickTime. The recording is clear but low-volume, so turn up the sound on your listening device.)...

LINK - SacBee.com

• budget
• state workers
• pension reform
• public employees

January 27, 2012

California Supreme Court denies challenge of Senate maps

The California Supreme Court ruled today that state Senate maps drawn by a citizens commission will be used in this year's elections, despite a pending referendum to overturn them.

The issue came before the High Court after a Republican-backed group, Fairness and Accountability in Redistricting, filed more than 711,000 signatures with county elections offices in a referendum to overturn Senate maps drawn by a 14-member citizens commission.

Californians will decide the fate of the newly drawn Senate districts in November if 504,760 of the signatures are from valid voters. Legislative candidates must file and run their campaigns before then, however, so justices needed to identify district maps to be in effect immediately...

LINK - SacBee.com

• california
• supreme court

January 26, 2012

Update: Ruling in the McGowan Case

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal ruled at 8:20 this morning (view the decision below) in the case of Rob McGowan. While the decision is quite complicated, and doesn’t free Rob immediately, it is an incredible victory, and presents the opportunity to get Rob home in the near future.

In a nutshell, the Court denied Rob’s appeal on the conviction, saying the appeal should be brought as an ineffective assistance of counsel claim under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 before the trial court on remand...

• View the Full Update/Memo (.pdf format)
• View the Court Ruling/Documents (.pdf format)

January 26, 2012

WHAT TO DO IF YOU RECEIVE A LAYOFF NOTICE

Bargaining Unit 6 employees subject to layoff should anticipate receiving a layoff notice soon, perhaps as early as Friday, January 27, 2012. If you receive a layoff notice and you believe you have reasons to contest your layoff due to errors in your seniority score, the form of the notice, or the layoff procedure itself, contact our CCPOA field representative, Corey Davis, immediately so that your case can be evaluated in a timely manner. Corey Davis can be reached by calling our Sacramento Office at (800) 821-6443 or (916) 372-6060...

• View the Full Memo (.pdf format)

• cdcr
• ccpoa
• state workers
• layoffs