{"id":432601,"date":"2026-08-14T07:56:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T07:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/432601\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T07:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T07:56:11","slug":"did-californias-state-worker-telework-bill-survive-a-key-legislative-hurdle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/432601\/","title":{"rendered":"Did California\u2019s state worker telework bill survive a key legislative hurdle?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A bill encouraging telework for California state workers is headed to the state Senate floor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Senate Committee on Appropriations <a data-ylk=\"slk:passed AB 1729;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/leginfo.legislature.ca.gov\/faces\/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1729\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">passed AB 1729<\/a> Thursday, which would require the Department of General Services to establish a telework dashboard displaying the cost-effectiveness of work-from-home policies. It would also require state agencies to revisit telework policies every 10 years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">While the bill, spearheaded by Assemblymember Alex Lee, D-San Jose; encourages telework, it does not require it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Lee&#8217;s proposal comes as many state workers have returned to the office four-day a week due to Gov. Gavin Newsom&#8217;s mandate that went into effect July 1. Newsom has said the return-to-office order aims to boost creativity and foster relationships among the thousands of people who work for the state.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">About three weeks ago, Newsom stood by the mandate, saying current telework policies still allows state employees to work from home one day a week, which <a data-ylk=\"slk:he equated to a three-day weekend;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sacbee.com\/news\/politics-government\/the-state-worker\/article316600414.html\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">he equated to a three-day weekend<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;You get three-day weekends, you still do,&#8221; Newsom said last month at a news conference. &#8220;You know, four years ago that would have been a triumph. Now, it&#8217;s some burden.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Implementing telework policies could save California upwards of $225 million annually, according to a legislative analysis. It would cost the state $10 million annually.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Annual costs include $1.2 million for six positions who would maintain the system and $8.9 million to fund 50 analyst positions to collect and submit data, though the analysis notes the bill does not explicitly mandate departments to report this data to DGS.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The bill now heads to the full Senate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A bill encouraging telework for California state workers is headed to the state Senate floor. The Senate Committee&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[171826,7,9,8,35015,171827,457,15052,84373,83030],"class_list":["post-432601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-assemblymember-alex-lee","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-california-state","tag-committee-on-appropriations","tag-gavin-newsom","tag-state-senate","tag-state-workers","tag-telework"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}