Texas Gov. Greg Abbott took about three months to reverse his 2025 ban on remote work for state employees. But Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose return-to-office mandate has been in effect since July 1, shows no signs of backing down.
It’s a stance that has upset — and at times befuddled — some state workers who are calling for the governor to scrap the four-day-a-week in-office policy as they hammer out new labor agreements.
Service Employees International Union Local 1000, California’s largest state worker union, argues that remote work saves taxpayers and employees money, reduces traffic and lowers emissions — all without affecting productivity. It also threw its support behind a bill that would give state agencies more authority to shape their hybrid work policies.
Newsom’s blanket policy appears to be an outlier among other blue states with robust public employee unions: Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon and Washington state still embrace remote work in some capacity. It also differs from Texas, a Republican-led state that Newsom has contrasted with California.
Abbott banned remote work for Texas state employees last year, but following a multi-agency survey that found that telework did not curb productivity and helped reduce turnover, Abbott walked back the move.
Newsom, meanwhile, told reporters during a May state budget presentation that he is “empathetic to change,” but that returning to the office helps build a sense of community. The governor has also contended that in-person work fosters collaboration and accountability.
The governor’s commitment to in-person work has baffled Steve Maviglio, a Democratic political consultant who has worked with public employee unions on pension issues. For Newsom, a Democratic politician who is likely eyeing a bid for the presidency, “it’s political malpractice to come across as anti-labor,” said Maviglio.
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Other Stories You Should Know
The keyword search that killed 1,000 grants
Lawyers for researchers from the University of California argue that federal agencies under President Donald Trump violated the First Amendment when they terminated the researchers’ grants, writes CalMatters’ Mikhail Zinshteyn.
Since last year agencies cancelled nearly $2 billion in grants. UC professors affected by the move are suing to challenge the cancellations. In signed stipulations filed in court last week, agencies admitted they used keywords related to diversity, gender and other terms to screen for projects that did not align with the Trump administration’s priorities.
The Department of Transportation, for example, identified grants to terminate because they sought “transportation equity,” prioritized “disadvantaged communities,” or focused on “diversifying the transportation workforce” and “equity.”
Lawyers for the professors contend that by using keyword searches to review and terminate grants en masse — instead of reviewing them on their individual merits — the Trump administration targeted research it found politically disfavorable, and violated the constitutional rights of researchers in doing so.
Soft landing for CSU president after lawsuit payout
An outgoing California State University president at the center of a $12 million discrimination lawsuit may transfer to a different role in the system while securing a coveted job transition package, reports Phoebe Huss of CalMatters’ College Journalism Network.
The Cal State Board of Trustees on Wednesday is expected to review the transition plan for Cal State San Bernardino President Tomás Morales and decide whether to approve an executive transition package for him that would allow him to continue working as a faculty member and remain on the university’s payroll.
In 2023, two female employees at Cal State San Bernardino accused Morales and another former campus dean of harassment and discrimination. The lawsuit alleged Morales acted aggressively toward female Cal State employees — excessively criticizing, intimidating and undermining them.
Cal State settled the lawsuit and denied any wrongdoing. Morales resigned at the end of this school year.
San Bernardino’s chapter of the California Faculty Association has urged the trustees board to deny Morales the package, arguing that the lawsuit casts serious doubt about whether he “should be regarded in good standing for those benefits.”
California Voices
The ineffectiveness of a California artificial intelligence law exemplifies how regulating AI through transparency fails to spark change and inform the public about what the government is up to, write Victoria Copeland and Stevie Glaberson, a research fellow at the UCLA Center on Resilience and Digital Justice, and the director of research and advocacy for Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy and Technology, respectively.
Other things worth your time:
The $10M race to save a CA lake town’s last undeveloped shoreline // SFGATE (free)
As college graduates fret over new jobs, a record shortage of workers is projected // The Hechinger Report (free)
Why Silicon Valley can’t stop looking over its shoulder at China // The New York Times (gift link)
Who teaches homeschoolers how to teach? Parents have their own studying to do // Abridged (free)
Odor complaints could lead to big penalties after LA warehouse fire // Boyle Heights Beat (free)
Paramount-Warner Bros. merger paused as CA lawsuit proceeds // The Hollywood Reporter (free)
13 carmakers sign up for CA’s EV rebate initiative // The San Diego Union-Tribune (gift link)
Central Valley farmers reluctantly turn to solar as water supplies dry up // Los Angeles Times (paywall)
