State Worker columnist and blogger Jon Ortiz hosted an online chat Friday about Gov. Jerry Brown's budget plan. Here are some highlights:

>I've heard rumors about a new hiring freeze. Have you heard about this?

I've heard that too, but haven't been able to verify it. My guess is that if Brown's tax initiative is a no-go that freezes will come back. Sheer speculation.

>My thoughts about a hiring freeze are that they have included no lateral transfers between departments, which makes no sense to me. Maybe I have a special interest in it because I am "stuck" in a toxic job environment and want to transfer out. No hiring from outside seems more effective.

Hiring freezes can also tie management's hands. It forces what can be a hard choice: Should I run someone out and then not be able to replace them?

>All the folks I speak with are not going to vote in his direction of higher taxes. Deal with waste, fraud and abuse.

Waste, fraud and abuse, like streamlining, are convenient ways to score savings, but very difficult to accomplish, don't you think? How much can really be saved through those moves?

>What are your thoughts on the new "blowing up the boxes" proposals? What cost savings and program improvements really accrue to eliminating, for example, (the Department of) Alcohol and Drug Programs and scattering its current function (and personnel) to other departments?

I think that generally there is little saved through moving the boxes around, especially compared with wholesale program eliminations. But reorganizations have good optics, and this governor understands the power of that.

>Can the Democratic-controlled Legislature put the tax increase proposal on the ballot without Republican support?

No. It requires a two-thirds vote from both chambers. The Democrats are two votes short of that in both the Senate and Assembly.

>Funny that (Brown) is undoing things that Schwarzenegger did to "improve" things, like getting rid of the California Emergency Management Agency and moving it back as an office in the Governor's Office, like it was for years.

Interesting observation. I think that on the whole, there's little daylight between Schwarzenegger and Brown when it comes to labor relations and government operations. Brown is more tactful, that's about it.

© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

Call Jon Ortiz, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 321-1043.

• Read more articles by