Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration announced Friday that California will be closed for business the first and third Fridays of each month starting Feb. 6 as the state grapples with a $40 billion budget deficit.
State officials acknowledged that services to the public will suffer. Drivers, for instance, should start acquainting themselves with the Department of Motor Vehicles' Web site.
After eliminating its Saturday service last year, the DMV will be among various state departments to shut its doors two more days each month to help the state save an estimated $1.3 billion through June 2010.
Motorists at the crowded DMV outlet at Broadway and Stockton Boulevard were frustrated Friday upon hearing the office would reduce its operations starting next month. Kim Crawford, a 42-year-old activity director for seniors, clutched a puppy while she waited to renew her license.
"It's already an inconvenience to come down here to DMV," Crawford said. "The lines and the wait is much too long. Now it is going to be worse. There are going to be more angry people than there already are ? especially if they take time off from work to come down here and the doors are closed."
Californians make an estimated 30 million visits to 169 DMV offices each year, according to DMV spokesman Mike Marando. He said his department is still figuring out how it will respond to the governor's order but confirmed that the department plans to shut its doors twice each month.
"We've always encouraged use of our online options for customers to do business," he said, noting that 5.6 million drivers registered vehicles online last year.
The state shutdown schedule would take effect Feb. 6 and would last through June 2010. State worker unions have challenged the governor's furlough plan in court, and a Sacramento Superior Court judge has scheduled a hearing for Jan. 29, eight days before the first closure would occur.
With California unemployment at its highest rate in 12 years, the state Employment Development Department already has been swamped with calls and visits to its offices. The governor's furlough order threatens access to unemployment services even more.
"We actually release the state's new unemployment numbers on every third Friday of the month," said EDD spokeswoman Loree Levy. "Will that be affected? We don't know yet. But if we shut down two days a month, there will be an impact on claimants."
Workers in fields regulated by the Department of Consumer Affairs, from mechanics to beauticians, could experience slowdowns in the licensing process.
Operations deemed critical, such as state hospitals and prisons, will remain open under Schwarzenegger's twice-monthly furlough plan. But employees there will still be required to take two days off each month on a rotation.
Other services considered revenue generators, such as state parks, should remain open but also have employees take unpaid days off on a rotation, said Lynelle Jolley, spokeswoman for the state Department of Personnel Administration.
At Sutter's Fort, the Ding family of Stockton was about to leave after a visit to the Sacramento landmark. They hoped that state parks would go unaffected.
"I think it would be sad," said Katie Ding, holding her 3-month-old daughter, Alexis. "They are trying to take everything away from families and kids. All we will have left is shopping and eating."
Schwarzenegger on Friday sent lawmakers his formal proposal for tackling a $40 billion budget deficit through June 2010. The plan includes a temporary 1.5-cent sales tax hike, spending cuts and borrowing, among other solutions.
"Certainly shutting down state services for two days a month will have an effect, but we are faced with few options to keep the state solvent," said Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear. "The governor does not want to make these cuts in state programs, he does not want to raise taxes, but we have a responsibility to lead this state through a financial crisis."
The governor last month told 238,000 state workers that he had signed an executive order mandating that they take two unpaid days off each month starting in February because the budget crisis "requires sacrifices from everyone."
The governor's order does not affect parts of state government over which he has no authority, including the Legislature, the judicial branch, and the University of California, California State University and California Community College systems.
Even so, California State University Chancellor Charles Reed announced Friday that he is freezing all but essential hiring throughout the 23-campus CSU system and banning salary increases for all vice president level positions and above.
"One reason to do first and third Fridays was so we could obtain cost savings by also shutting down facilities," McLear said. "We asked agency secretaries for input beforehand, and the consensus was to do it on Fridays. Typically state government is not as active on Fridays. And we felt that since we are giving workers a day off without pay, to soften that blow we felt it was fair to give them a three-day weekend."
Flozell Smith, a 53-year-old cab driver at the Sacramento DMV office, blamed the governor for the state's shutdown.
"I think he is crazy to close the DMV offices twice a month," Smith said. "I think he could do a whole lot more to iron things out with the Democrats and Republicans."
Because the savings account for a small portion of the $40 billion budget shortfall, some state workers have speculated that the governor's move is symbolic and intended to build political pressure against the Legislature.
But Tim Hodson, director of the Center for California Studies at California State University, Sacramento, said he thinks it's more a matter of Schwarzenegger trying to find savings whereever he can.
"I doubt if he was motivated by thinking, 'Let's turn the heat up and make people suffer so they put pressure on others,' " Hodson said. "I don't think that's the calculation. I think it's the reality that we're running out of money, and something has to be done."
Being a state employee, I'm going to have to cut off TV service and figure out other things to cut...
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