California state employees are pressing lawmakers to preserve remote-work flexibility as Gov. Gavin Newsom moves ahead with a policy requiring many state workers to report to the office four days a week beginning July 1.
The issue drew dozens of public employees to a Senate committee hearing Wednesday, where they urged support for legislation that would set stronger statewide standards for telework and give individual agencies more room to decide when in-person work is necessary.
The Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee advanced the bill on a 4-1 vote. The measure would not directly block Newsom’s return-to-office directive, which the governor has said is intended to improve accountability, strengthen government services and help revive downtown Sacramento.
Instead, the proposal by Assemblymember Alex Lee, D-Milpitas, would require state agencies to evaluate telework options and justify in writing when employees must come into the office. It also would direct the Department of General Services to create a public dashboard showing the costs, savings and other effects of state telework programs.
Lee and supporters pointed to a 2024 state audit that found remote work could save California money while reducing pollution and improving productivity and employee morale. Supporters also argued that forcing office workers back to cubicles is not a responsible solution for struggling downtown economies.
“As we grapple with the affordability crisis, we want to make sure that our downtowns and urban cores are not places where workers have to be, but where workers want to be,” Lee told the committee. “It’s not fair to shackle our office workers to be the entire bedrock for downtowns.”
The debate has implications across California, including for state employees who live in Southern California and the Inland Empire and may face long commutes to regional offices or state facilities. Telework became widespread in state government during the COVID-19 pandemic, as it did in many private workplaces.
Newsom began pushing state workers back to offices in 2024, first requiring two in-office days per week. His administration later increased the requirement to four days. A four-day mandate had been expected to take effect last year for some workers, but the governor delayed it for certain unions during labor talks as part of an effort to reduce payroll costs.
State employee unions, with the exception of those representing public safety workers, are backing Lee’s bill. Supporters include SEIU Local 1000, the largest state worker union, which is currently negotiating a contract with the Newsom administration. According to CalMatters’ Digital Democracy database, the union has contributed at least $2 million to current California lawmakers.
At Wednesday’s hearing, workers said many state jobs can be done effectively from home and that departments have already invested heavily in digital systems. One employee with the California Department of Pesticide Regulation said the department had spent years and millions of dollars moving away from paper-based work and argued that pesticide evaluations do not require a permanent office presence.
In a separate development affecting public employees, California health plans serving government workers will not be required to expand coverage for GLP-1 weight-loss drugs. A provision that would have required CalPERS to provide the benefit to its 1.3 million members was removed from legislation this week after the pension fund and a health insurer warned it could raise premiums and cost taxpayers about $187 million annually.
Original source: CalMatters
