Some employees in California's Senate are bracing for the possibility of involuntary, unpaid furloughs four months after rank-and-file state workers were forced to stay home two days each month without pay, Xinhua reported.
According to an e-mail sent by Senate leader Darrell Steinberg' s chief of staff to other top Senate aides, Republican and Democratic senators voted in closed-door caucuses this week to furlough staff earning more than 50,000 U.S. dollars annually, the Los Angeles Times said on Saturday.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered the original furloughs but does not have that authority over the legislative branch.
The goal is to save 5 percent of workers' pay. That equals roughly one furlough day a month, the e-mail said.
In addition, dental and orthodontic benefits would be reduced. And the Senate employees' vision care plan, which allows for two pairs of glasses each year, could be "reduced from 2 to 1 pair of glasses," according to the e-mail.
No action has been taken yet, the e-mail stated, and the Senate Rules Committee, which must approve such reductions, will not meet for two weeks. The state Assembly has not furloughed its employees but is examining options for reducing expenses, said Jon Waldie, chief administrative officer of its rules committee.
The furloughs would be part of the Senate's attempt to slice 10 percent from its budget -- and the Legislature's broader effort to close California's projected 24-billion-dollar shortfall.
Tensions are running high in Sacramento, capital of California, as the state faces a looming fiscal "meltdown," state Controller John Chiang said in remarks published by the paper.
He released new projections this week showing that the state will run out of money by July 28 without quick action on spending cuts, higher taxes or a combination of both.
Schwarzenegger has called for prompt action. "After June 15, every day of inaction jeopardizes our state's solvency," he said on Thursday.
He threatened to shut down the state government if a budget deal isn't reached.
California government would come to a "grinding halt" rather than agree to a high-interest loan to keep the state afloat if he and the legislature do not close the yawning budget gap in coming weeks, the governor said.