Pre-Board Virtual Worksite Meetings Successful. Thank you to all the CAPS members who participated in either of the two Pre-Board Virtual Worksite meetings held ahead of the May 22 Board of Directors’ Meeting. The CAPS Board and staff were pleased to meet with more than 110 CAPS members across the State.

Board of Directors’ Meeting Recap.  The quarterly CAPS Board of Directors’ Meeting was held last Saturday, May 22, 2021, via Zoom. Actions by the Board of Directors included:

• Approved the Minutes of the February 20, 2021 Board Meeting.
• Approved the usage of the one-time 2020 Budget-Year Surplus to: split $50,000 between the Member Action Committee and the Representation Committee earmarked specifically for member swag; provide $3,750 to the Benefits Committee to increase the Dependent Scholarship award from $500 to $750 for 2021; to provide $51,700 to the Representation Committee earmarked specifically for member referral bonuses, associated member recruitment activities, and/or leadership training purposes; and for the remaining $155,786.99 to be placed in the CAPS reserve accounts.
• Approved CAPS’ endorsement of Jose Luis Pacheco’s campaign for CalPERS Board of Administration in 2021.
• Approved CAPS’ opposition to the Recall of Governor Gavin Newsom in 2021.

Additionally, the Board of Directors discussed the goals set in February and how they had been organized for committee use going forward.

CAPS Opposition to the Recall of Governor Newsom in 2021. It is likely the recall of Governor Newsom will appear on the ballot on a date to be determined this fall. In 2018, CAPS endorsed Newsom’s campaign for Governor. He received 61.9 percent of the vote and easily defeated Republican candidate John Cox.

While our members are understandably frustrated with the continuance of the PLP 2020 and the suspension of the 2020 General Salary Increase (GSI), the COVID-19 Side Letter Agreement reached with the Newsom Administration at least provided some important benefits (vacation and annual leave cap increases, a suspension of OPEB, and an early return of member Retirement Contributions by 0.5%) to our members and was approved by 95% of the 74% of members who voted. In a similar circumstance during the Great Recession, Governor Schwarzenegger (elected via recall) imposed mandatory furloughs on CAPS members and all state employees without providing the unions the opportunity to negotiate for offset benefits.

Newsom supports defined benefit pensions for public employees and has bolstered CalPERS by dedicating billions of additional dollars during his tenure to the fund, including $1.9 billion in the upcoming fiscal year. He has also dedicated significant state resources into programs to address climate change and other public health and environmental programs staffed and directed by State Scientists. His Administration has continued to hire State Scientists to do this work and avoided proposals to outsource scientific and related work. We cannot count on the major candidates that are likely to appear on a recall ballot to replace the Governor to be nearly as supportive of science and state scientific programs. Two Republicans stand out as the current favorites – Kevin Faulconer (former San Diego Mayor) and John Cox (2018 Republican nominee for Governor) – among the dozens of candidates who have expressed an interest in running in the recall. Both have advanced proposals to end defined benefit pensions for public employees. As a San Diego City Councilman, Faulconer was one of the leading proponents of Measure B in 2012 which was approved by voters and forced all San Diego city employees (except for police) into 401Ks. That measure has since been repealed by the courts.

In his 2018 campaign for Governor, Cox ran an ad depicting public employees as pigs at the trough, claiming public servants are overpaid and have overpriced pensions. Both Faulconer and Cox have been outspoken advocates of outsourcing the work of public employees. CAPS’ opposition to the recall of Governor Newsom is consistent with our long-standing practice to support leaders and candidates whose positions best align with the interests of our members.

May Revise Information. Since the Governor released his May Budget Revision on May 14, CAPS has been diligently reviewing it for more information. Here is what we know so far: It confirms what CAPS has been grilling the Department of Finance about for months: the State has more money than they’ve let on. The revised State Budget projects a $75.7 billion surplus for the 2021-22 fiscal year, beginning July 1. There is also $26 billion in federal COVID-19 stimulus funding to draw upon. This information comes as no surprise, as media outlets have been reporting on the so-called “windfall” since at least January.

Since then, CAPS has repeatedly requested the State reopen the COVID-19 Side Letter Agreement for discussions in keeping with the terms CAPS negotiated. Then, in April, the CAPS Bargaining Team worked to jump-start the discussion by passing proposals that, if agreed to, would have ended PLP 2020 effective May 1, 2021, and retroactively reinstated the 5% GSI to July 1, 2020. Until now, the Department of Finance and CalHR have responded that the true amounts of funding available were unclear and that they’d know more once the May Budget Revision was released. Now that those numbers are published, CAPS anticipates sharing more concrete information with the membership after our next meeting. Stay tuned.

News Briefs. 

Three things to know about Gavin Newsom’s spending spree – ABC 10. Gov. Newsom is proposing to spend California’s $100 billion windfall on schools, small businesses, homelessness and more, while campaigning against the recall.  One constituency that can help Newsom are the powerful public employee unions, who could spend big to fight the recall. Most state worker unions agreed to a 9% pay cut last year when state officials feared a more broad-based recession at the start of the pandemic. Newsom’s plan ends the pay cut for some unions, but others are currently negotiating over it.  In his presentation, Newsom thanked state employees for taking the pay cut last year so the State didn’t have to slash services for needy Californians, and said: “You were there for us last year. We’re going to be there for you.”

In Review. Check out what you may have missed from past CAPS Updates here:

May 03, 2021. Vacation/Annual Leave Cashout. The CAPS MOU allows eligible employees in participating departments to submit a written request during May to receive payment at their regular salary rate in exchange for up to 80 unused vacation or annual leave hours. Payment for all leave hours are made using existing departmental appropriations, therefore, each department’s participation is subject to the availability of departmental funds. These departments have announced whether they are participating. CAPS will update these lists as departments confirm or decline participation in the program for the year. State Scientists at these departments should have been notified of the department’s participation, and how to enroll. If you encounter issues enrolling in the program at a department that has confirmed their participation this year, as listed above, contact CAPS (caps@capsscientists.org).

Read the rest of the entries, or see what else you may have missed on the CAPS Website here: https://capsscientists.org/supervisors/. The password is S10CAPS – it IS case-sensitive.

Choose Unity. Choose Strength. Choose CAPS!