The provision of the governor's executive order suspending contracts is being felt in some obscure corners of state government.
Consider the special smog testing program at 30 community colleges up and down the state. Vehicle owners are referred to the special smog centers if, for instance, they failed at a regular station and can't find the part that would reduce their emissions. Or they may have spent the statutory limit of $450 on repairs to pass the smog test, said Department of Consumer Affairs spokesman Russ Heimerich
The Foundation for California Community Colleges has a contract to provide 60 workers for the "referee" program - half at the smog centers, the other half at a Sacramento call center. But the workers were sent home when Schwarzenegger signed his executive order. The 3,000 vehicle owners referred to the smog centers each month now must wait for a budget to get their smog waivers, Heimerich said. Luckily, the Department of Motor Vehicles has granted extensions so the owners won't run afoul of vehicle registration law.
In response to the executive order, the Department of Consumer Affairs suspended its contracts for copier and printer repair, Fed-Ex, and Westlaw legal research. For now, workers whose copiers break have to hunt for one elsewhere, and use the regular mail, Heimerich said. The department's lawyers, who advise 21 consumer boards and 14 bureaus, may have to head to the nearest law library to do research.
"It's an inconvenience," Heimerich said. " But that's the way it's going to have to be until the contract is no longer suspended."
The Department of Public Health suspended contracts, many of them with the University of California, for various surveys and studies, including one on heart disease and stroke prevention and another on the economic toll of second-hand smoking.
"This is all important work," said spokeswoman Suanne Buggy. "What we had to look at what was critical" to exempt from the executive order.
- John Hill, Bee Capitol Bureau
jhill@sacbee.com
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