The State Worker

The Greek Village Inn Restaurant is offering $7.25 "California State Worker Dinner Entrees" until a budget for 2010-11 is signed.

The restaurant, located in the University Village Shopping Center at 65 University Ave. (see map below) offers the deal on select dinner items Monday through Thursday to customers with a valid California State employee I.D. card. The restaurant is open nightly until 9 p.m. Call (916) 922-6334 for more information.

The Golden 1 Credit Union, which counts about 100,000 state workers among its members, on Friday said that it will offer "State Budget Payroll loans" to members with checking and direct deposit if their pay is withheld to zero or the federal minimum because of California's budget impasse.

Click here to read the Sacramento-based credit union's press release.

For more information, contact The Golden 1's call center at (916) 732-2900 or (877) 465-3361. It's open Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Schools Financial Credit Union also announced a "Budget Impasse Loan" program for members with direct deposit. "In addition, extensions of loan payments are available for existing members with a Schools loan whose loss of income has resulted from the budget impasse," according to the Sacramento-based cooperative's press release.

Call (916) 569-5400 or (800) 962-0990 for more details about those programs. Hours: Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Thanks to about a dozen State Worker blog users who let us know immediately when Golden 1 made its announcement. Hat tip to blog users T and J for flagging the Schools info.

Added July 7: We reported last week that SAFE Credit Union announced a state worker member loan program. Click here for more information.

IMAGE: www.hasslefreeclipart.com

Today from noon to 4 p.m., the first 500 state workers who visit the new "Bodies Revealed" exhibit get free admission for themselves and one guest. To take advantage of the special deal, state workers have to show a state paycheck stub or their state government ID.

Then every Friday starting on April 30 all state government employees will receive a 20 percent discount on admission while the engagement is in Sacramento. Regular admission starts at $14.

Location:
2040 Alta Arden Way, Sacramento
(Alta Arden at Arden Way; across from Arden Fair Mall)

Date:
General opening to the public Saturday, April 24, for a "limited engagement"

Hours:
Sunday - Thursday: 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Friday - Saturday: 10 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Last admission one hour prior to closing

For more details call 1-888-263-4379 or go to www.bodiessacramento.com.

Sacramento comedy club Laughs Unlimited, is bringing back "Furlough Friday" free admission in March for city, county and state employees. (The club is also extending the deal to the fourth non-furlough Friday this month, Mar. 27.)

A few details from an e-mail sent to The State Worker from club representative Jennifer Canfield:

Each Friday there are two shows at 8:00 or 10:30. There is a two item minimum in the showroom and due to limited seating, reservations are encouraged. For more information or to make a reservation please call 916-446-8128.

The 2 item minimum does still apply which can be anything from our bar (Alcoholic or Non-Alcoholic) or kitchen (Food or Dessert items). Seats are limited and we will "sell out" so make your reservations early!!

Click here to download a flier about the promotion. And here's the link to the Laughs Unlimited Web site.

Boreal Mountain Resort is offering a discounted Friday lift tickets to state government employees. The "Frickin' Friday" deal is $15 for "college, military and furloughed CA State Employees," the company's Web site says. "Some restrictions apply," so call or e-mail ahead. The regular price for an adult ticket: $47.

Squaw Valley also has a Furlough Friday discount deal for state workers on the following dates: March 5, 12, 19 and April 2, 9, 16. Squaw adult tickets usually cost $83. The discounted price is $49. Click here for more info.

IMAGE: File photo, 2005 / Sacramento Bee, Randy Pench

Some of our "Recommended Links" on the right side of this page, including stories you may have missed over the weekend:

Squaw Valley USA is cutting lift ticket prices for state workers on "Furlough Fridays" starting this week. (Check the company's Web site for more info by clicking here .) ... Bee colleague Dale Kasler reported that, "CalPERS is reviewing its relationship with a Los Angeles investment firm after its principal pleaded guilty in a pension corruption case in New York." ... San Joaquin County government leaders are talking about cutting pensions for new employees, noting that momentum is building statewide for changes to public employee pensions for new hires. One union leader says government workers are being pinched for the local's own fiscal mismanagement ...

And scroll down The State Worker home page for documents and links for a story about a official who signed off his own permit to use a state vehicle home for his weekly 540-mile commute ... On Saturday we reported that FTB has proposed exempting its employees from furloughs -- in fiscal 2010-11.

In an unexpected development, the state Senate has passed AB 376, a measure aimed at shielding businesses from discrimination lawsuits for offering discounts or freebies to furloughed or laid off workers.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has 12 days to sign or veto the bill. Administration spokeswoman Rachel Arrezola said that he hasn't taken a position yet.

Sen. Gloria Negrete McLeod, D-Chino, authored the measure and brought it through the Assembly without a single no vote, only to watch it stall in the Senate, as we explained in this post.

On Wednesday, Senate Republicans who had blocked AB 367 along with other urgency measures that require a few GOP votes to reach two-thirds passage had a collective change of heart. The chamber passed the measure 35-0.

"It all happened so quickly," McLeod press secretary Alfonso Sanchez told The State Worker this morning. Sanchez had told us just a few days ago that the bill probably wouldn't resurface until next year.

It's worth noting that a Republican, Sen. Tom Harman of Huntington Beach, co-authored the measure. And it probably helped that no one opposed the bill, including the trial lawyers' lobby.

Click here to read the bill. This link opens the Senate Judiciary Committee analysis of the measure.

In a little-noted gesture, the Sacramento Kings have given away 20,000 preseason tickets to state workers through the California State Employees Association. The tickets were gone in one day, the team said.

"We appreciate all the wonderful people who work so hard for California and are such valuable members of our community," Kings team co-owner Gavin Maloof said in a statement e-mailed to The State Worker. "It was the team's way to say, 'Thank you' ... to furloughed state workers."

The giveaway allowed state employees to take two tickets for one of three preseason games at Arco Arena, including last Wednesday's exhibition contest against the Portland Trailblazers, the Oct. 17 game vs.the Golden State Warriors and an Oct. 23 date with the Utah Jazz.

"It was a terrific gesture, a really fine thing to do for state workers," said CSEA spokesman Danny Beagle. "We appreciate it."

IMAGE: Sacramento Bee file graphic

Laughs Unlimited at 1207 Front St. in Old Sacramento (click here for a map) is offering free Friday night admission to public workers who show their ID badges at the door. There's a two-item minimum. Shows start at 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Because the place fills up, the club encourages you make reservations by calling (916) 446-5905.

Click here to view the club's Web site. Tap this link to see the "Furlough Friday" flier.

IMAGE: www.laughsunlimited.com, used with permission

Thousands of state workers and employers enrolled in CalPERS will get a break on their health care premium payments for two months this fall.

The governor just signed a bill allowing CalPERS to use more than $265 million in its excess reserves in the PPO health trust to relieve members and state agencies from health care payments. They'll provide provide about $43 million in paycheck deductions for 324,000 public employees enrolled in a preferred provider insurance plan, or PPO. Workers with HMO plans - the majority - would not not be eligible.

The savings will trickle down from employers.

"Once the savings are passed along to our employers, it will be up to them to ensure they get to our members," CEO Anne Stausboll said.

The press release from CalPERS also states that it will free up nearly $131 million for the state's general fund.

Click here to see the press release that CalPERS sent out.

For more information, here's what we've written about it before in the blog and in the newspaper.

Buca di Beppo, the Las Vegas-based Italian restaurant chain, is offering a 20 percent discount to state workers through October.

Read the Buca press release with the details by clicking here..

IMAGE: Associated Press file photo / Sacramento Bee