California Governor orders state hiring freeze

The governor of California Jerry Brown has ordered statewide hiring freeze in order cut government costs, just after abandoned a legal effort to reduce government workers' salaries, as part of a wider plan to cut $363 million from the state bureaucracy.

We have a $25-billion deficit, and we must do everything possible to save money and make government leaner and more efficient, Brown said in the statement.

The statement gave few specifics about the freeze or how much money it would save, but indicated that it will be “comprehensive, applying to vacant, seasonal and full and part-time positions.”

It will prohibit hiring outside contractors to compensate for the hiring freeze, converting part-time positions into full-time positions and transferring employees between agencies and departments.

However, the freeze exempts jobs that involve “hands-on” services in 24-hour care institutions, and emergency and disaster response. Also, state Departments that are able to meet their target budget reductions will also be exempted from the order.

“The hiring freeze will be in effect until agencies and departments prove that they can achieve these savings,” Brown stated.

According to Brown’s office, despite the governor’s calls for drastic reduction in state worker salaries, the state payroll will be $15 billion in the next budget year, an increase of almost $640 million over last year.