State workers take telework fight to CA Legislature with bill to protect it
Last year, state workers fought back against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s return-to-office order through loud demonstrations outside state agencies and mocking billboards on Interstate 80.
This year, they’re taking that fight to the Legislature.
On Friday, the Professional Engineers in California Government introduced legislation that would require departments to develop a telework plan and a “detailed, written justification” as to why workers’ presence in person is critical to the agency’s operational needs.
Assembly Bill 1729, which is authored by Assemblymember Alex Lee, D-San Jose, is designed to protect telework options for eligible state workers, the state engineers union said in a news release. The legislation also aims to increase transparency around the costs of bringing employees back to offices four days a week.
When state employees first started working remotely during the pandemic, the Newsom administration published a public-facing dashboard that touted the reductions in emissions and monthly savings from telework. The state sunset that dashboard in 2024, but Lee’s bill would reestablish that website to publicize the benefits of remote work.
The bill would also codify findings from the California State Auditor’s report last year that estimated the state could save as much as $225 million annually by reducing state-owned and leased office space.
The Governor’s Office disagreed with that number and several other findings of the auditor’s report, which raises the question: Would Newsom allow AB 1729 to become law if legislators pass it this session?
The bill contains an urgency clause, meaning that it would take effect immediately after the governor signs it. In a statement, a spokesperson for the Governor’s Office said it does not typically comment on pending legislation.
Lee’s bill doesn’t require that state departments maintain the current policy, requiring eligible employees to work from government offices at least two days a week. Rather, the legislation encourages agencies to develop plans that offer remote work to the fullest extent possible, which the state engineers union noted is consistent with language already outlined in the Department of General Services existing Statewide Telework Policy.
The Association of California State Supervisors, a labor group that represents civil service managers, also sponsored the bill.
The state engineers union — which was the first state worker union to secure a one-year delay to Newsom’s four-day, in-office mandate that he issued in 2025 — said in a Friday news release that telework reduces traffic congestion, carbon emissions and helps recruit talented public employees as a job benefit.
In an interview, PECG Executive Director Ted Toppin said the union would like to work with Newsom on this issue. He said PECG plans to meet with the Newsom administration’s labor negotiators in March and again ask to delay the return-to-office order, which is scheduled to go into effect in July. The Newsom administration and the unions representing state workers agreed last year to meet in March to discuss the impacts of the return-to-office order.
“We have sought to work with (Newsom) on maintaining flexible telework and will continue to do that in all venues,” he said. “This is just another tool we can use to convey the benefits of telework and get this administration, the Legislature and the public to understand them and adopt them broadly.”
This story was originally published February 6, 2026 at 9:32 AM.
