State scientist raises were cut from CA budget at the last minute. No one can say why
California state scientists ended last month anticipating a pay bump at the start of the new fiscal year in July. The union, which represents roughly 4,500 environmental scientists, toxicologists and other state scientists, was one of the only unions expecting salary increases this summer.
But on Tuesday evening, the union received notice from the California Department of Human Resources informing labor leaders that the Legislature did not appropriate funding for the raises employees were scheduled to receive the following day, said Jacqueline Tkac, the president of the California Association Professional Scientists, UAW Local 1115.
“I genuinely believe that it’s a mistake,” Tkac said. “I would like to think that members of the Legislature would not have intentionally left our contract out of the budget.”
Whether the raises being cut from the budget was a mistake is not clear. The Governor’s Office did not respond to questions about why salary increases the administration agreed to last year were removed from the recent budget agreement. Any remedy — if it comes at all — will have to wait.
“We’re aware of the issue and understand the concerns raised by Bargaining Unit 10 employees,” Sen. John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, said in a statement. “The Legislature is currently in recess, and because any action would require a vote of the members, this matter will be addressed when we return in August.”
CAPS-UAW negotiated one of few 2026 raises
To help address California’s large deficit last year, Newsom called the state’s 21 bargaining units back to the bargaining table to draft new agreements that helped reduce the state’s employee compensation costs.
As part of those agreements, many unions secured pay raises in 2025 that offset a program reducing workers’ pay in exchange for credited time off. The state also suspended a required employee contribution to retirement benefits, which resulted in many state workers receiving a pay bump. But most of those agreements did not include raises for 2026.
State scientists were one of the exceptions. In the CAPS-UAW agreement, which was signed weeks after other state workers union’, state scientists were scheduled to receive special salary adjustment ranging from 3% to 5% on July 1, 2026.
State worker contracts require the Legislature to fund the agreements negotiated between the administration and unions, outlined by the Ralph C. Dills Act. So the scientists’ 2026 raises were contingent on lawmakers’ approval in the latest budget negotiations. Tkac said the cost of those salary adjustments was roughly $25 million.
A spokesperson for CalHR said in a statement that the department respects the confidentiality of the bargaining process and does not speak on negotiations.
But the decision to not fund the raises came as a “huge surprise” to union leaders, Tkac said, given Newsom’s proclamation that the recently signed budget agreement leaves the state on “its strongest fiscal footing in generations.”
“It’s definitely a slap in the face to receive that notice, especially without any justification,” Tkac said.
Contentious bargaining history
State scientists and the Newsom administration have a particularly contentious bargaining history. Before CAPS-UAW signed a contract in 2024, the union had been out of contract for four years. The union went on strike — the first time a civil service union walked off the job — in November 2023.
CAPS-UAW found itself back at the bargaining table the following year when the Newsom administration reopened state workers’ contracts to trim payroll costs.
The union claimed victory last year after CalHR agreed to special salary adjustments in 2026 for state scientists. If the state does not allocate money for the raises that were included in CAPS-UAW’s 20205 agreement with the state, the union intends to “pursue every avenue possible and available to us to ensure that we maintain the (raises) that we’re entitled to,” Tkac said.
CAPS-UAW members were some of the thousands of state workers who participated in a Wednesday rally to protest the governor’s recent return-to-office order and build support for SEIU Local 1000’s contract negotiations with the state.
This story was originally published July 2, 2026 at 4:38 PM.
