Gov. Gavin Newsom has rejected another attempt to loosen his return-to-office requirements for California state employees, vetoing legislation backed by public-sector unions that would have given individual state agencies more say over telework policies.
The veto of Assembly Bill 1729 continues a standoff between the governor and state workers who argue they can do their jobs just as well — if not better — from home. Newsom has repeatedly resisted those arguments, insisting that in-person work remains essential to a well-functioning government.
While the bill would not have overturned Newsom’s current policy outright, it would have softened the mandate requiring most state employees to report to the office four days a week, a rule that took effect in July. Under the proposal, state agencies would have had to provide written justification whenever they required staff to work on-site rather than remotely. The bill also called for the Department of General Services to build a public dashboard tracking the costs and benefits of telework across state government.
In his veto message, Newsom said he remains convinced that face-to-face collaboration is central to a productive workplace.
“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,” he wrote.
The governor had embraced remote work during the pandemic, when tens of thousands of state employees shifted overnight to working from home. But by 2024, he had ordered most workers back into offices at least two days a week, later expanding that requirement to four days as part of a broader push toward in-person operations.
Many workers who grew accustomed to telework during the pandemic have pushed back, arguing that remote arrangements save the state money without hurting productivity. A 2025 state audit estimated that expanding telework options could save California roughly $225 million annually in reduced office space and related costs.
Sacramento Democratic Sen. Angelique Ashby, who supported the bill, said allowing more remote work would cut costs tied to office leases and employee parking while also reducing commute times, easing traffic congestion and vehicle emissions, and helping the state recruit and retain talent.
The veto lands at a tense moment for labor relations in state government. Service Employees International Union Local 1000, which represents roughly 100,000 public workers, has been polling its members about authorizing a strike amid ongoing disputes with the administration over both pay and telework rules.
“A blanket mandate does not work for all the jobs that our workers do,” Local 1000 President Anica Walls told CalMatters over the summer, arguing that individual departments — not a single statewide directive — should determine what arrangement works best for their employees.
Not everyone in the Legislature supported the bill, however. A bipartisan group of roughly a dozen lawmakers voted against it. Sen. Catherine Blakespear, a Democrat representing Encinitas, argued that requiring agencies to justify in-person work requirements effectively flipped the default toward remote work in a way she considered excessive.
“We had a tremendous upheaval and difficulty around remote classrooms,” Blakespear said during the bill’s final Assembly floor vote in August, pointing to the broader debate over remote learning during the pandemic. “The reality is that people think remote work will improve their mental health, but it substantially increases isolation and worsens mental health.”
With the veto, Newsom’s office-attendance policy remains firmly in place — at least for now — even as tensions with organized labor over the issue show no signs of easing.
Original source: CalMatters
