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A bill that could pave the way for many state workers to have a more flexible telework policy has been vetoed by the governor.
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Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday vetoed the bill. The Legislature could overturn it with a two-third vote in each chamber which is a threshold it met earlier this year when it originally passed in the Assembly and state Senate.
“While I fundamentally believe in-person collaboration is an essential part of a productive and effective workplace, the state’s existing telework policy includes a process for departments to consider exemptions on a case-by-case nature,” Newsom wrote in his . “This measure, by limiting departmental flexibility and encouraging telework to be the default work arrangement, takes the state’s telework policy in the wrong direction.”
The bill, AB 1729, would have required state agencies to provide detailed justifications to mandate employees work in person. Agencies would not have been required to implement telework policies, but encouraged to do so.
It also would prompt the California Department of General Services to establish a telework dashboard that displays the cost-effectiveness of work from home policies and require each agency to evaluate such policies every 10 years.
Assembly Bill 1729, which was spearheaded by Assemblymember Alex Lee, D-San Jose, came about after Newsom required many state workers report to offices four days a week. That mandate started July 1.
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“These are the people we need to (take) care of because (they) are executing our ambitions, and to see them have their morale just plummet because the governor’s forcing … an outdated model was really heartbreaking to me,” Lee said in an interview with The Sacramento Bee last month.
Newsom stood by his return-to-office mandate in his veto letter to the Legislature. He said the mandate aims to boost creativity and foster relationships among the thousands of people who work for the state. He also equated it to a three-day weekend when state employees work five days a week.
Workers opposed to Newsom’s mandate say they could do the same tasks at home.
“I come into the office to be on (Microsoft) Teams meetings,” Schuyler Waldeck-Myers, a fiscal analyst with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, previously said.
Telework policies could also save California money, according to a Senate Committee on Appropriations analysis. The roughly $10 million in recurring estimated costs sparked by AB 1729 is less than 5% of the projected $225 million in annual real estate savings.
Eyes now turn to union negotiations for answers.
SEIU Local 1000, the largest state worker union representing about 100,000 members, is currently in contract negotiations. Others — like California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment — are meeting with departments to discuss proper accommodations and terms related to Newsom’s return-to-office mandate.
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