California Watch

A bill passed by the Legislature this week that would end furloughs for upwards of 80,000 state employees could save millions in banked vacation if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger chooses to sign it.

Of course, chances of that are slim. Schwarzenegger has stuck to his guns where furloughs have been concerned, and his spokesman, Aaron McLear, said earlier this week that the governor would probably veto the bill.

As we reported last week, one of the concerns about furloughs is that they have caused many state workers to bank more vacation than ever before.

The bill, known as SBX8 29 and carried by Senate President Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, would exempt employees from furloughs if their salaries are paid with 5 percent or less from the state’s general fund.

The Sacramento Bee put together a list of departments a couple weeks ago with large numbers of employees that would be exempt from furloughs should the bill pass. On that list were a number of departments whose employees had a history of racking up large leave balances between 2006 and mid-2009, among them:

• The Department of Developmental Services: $16,945,789
• The Department of Mental Health: $13,900,406
• The Department of Social Services: $7,219,063
• The Department of Fish and Game: $5,252,483

Other departments such as CalPERS ($3,194,743) would likely have large numbers of exempt employees as well. The State Compensation Insurance Fund ($11,684,458) was exempted from furloughs last year. You can check out other departments in our database.