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A new analysis from the Senate Committee on Appropriations shows a bill supporting telework for state workers could save California hundreds of millions of dollars, even after accounting for its implementation costs.
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Assembly Bill 1729, spearheaded by Assemblymember Alex Lee, D-San Jose, would require the 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. It would also encourage telework for state employees.
Lee’s proposal comes as state workers have returned to the office following a mandate from Gov. Gavin Newsom that went into effect July 1. The policy requires many state workers to be in office four days a week. Newsom has said that the RTO order aims to boost creativity and foster relationships among the thousands of people who work for the state.
The order is opposed by unions representing state workers, who argue employees will foot the cost of Newsom’s mandate, through expenses like gas and parking. Some state workers have said that they commute to the office just to perform tasks they could perform just as well remotely.
“I come into the office to be on (Microsoft) Teams meetings,” said Schuyler Waldeck-Myers, a fiscal analyst with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Lee’s bill is among several efforts to gut Newsom’s mandate. A judge denied a lawsuit that claimed the state failed to follow the California Environmental Quality Act in demanding a return to office. Unions have also filed grievances with the California Public Employment Relations Board.
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What’s next for the bill?
According to the committee’s analysis, released Friday, California could save millions of dollars if lawmakers approve AB 1729, and Newsom signs it into law — the latter of which seems unlikely. The analysis points to a 2025 state auditor report that savings from broader telework policies could reach $225 million.
If the bill is approved, there would be a one-time cost of $663,000 to contract information technology staff who would create a telework reporting system, according to the analysis. California would pay an estimated $1.2 million annually from the general fund for six positions who would maintain the system, coordinate data collection, manage reporting requirements and oversee the bill’s implementation.
The committee estimates state departments could pay up to $8.9 million annually for 50 analyst positions to collect and submit data, though the analysis notes the bill does not explicitly mandate departments to report this data to DGS. The roughly $10 million in recurring estimated costs is less than 5% of the projected $225 million in annual savings.
At the hearing, representatives from SEIU Local 1000 — the largest union representing California’s state workers — and Professional Engineers in California Government asked committee members to support the bill. Waldeck-Myers was one of them. He cited proposed costs during his testimony.
“It’s one of those things where the return on investment is so great that those initial startup costs are almost negligible,” he said.
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The bill will be heard again in a hearing on August 13.