Calif. seeks to save by cutting state cellphones

January 13, 2011|Associated Press

SACRAMENTO — Governor Jerry Brown is hanging up his state-issued cellphone, and he’s ordered half the state bureaucrats who have government-paid cellphones to do the same.

“It is difficult for me to believe that 40 percent of all state employees must be equipped with taxpayer-funded cellphones,’’ the new governor said Tuesday. “The current number of phones out there is astounding.’’

Brown used his first executive order since taking office a week ago to instruct department heads to cut off 48,000 state employee cellphones by June.

That’s half of the 96,000 phones issued to state bureaucrats. Brown said in a statement that reducing the number of phones will save $20 million a year as the state works to bridge a $25.4 billion budget gap over the next 18 months.

Brown said he would turn in his own phone by day’s end.

The contracts each cost taxpayers an average $36 a month, or $432 a year, according to the Department of Finance. Some phones may be under long-term contracts, Brown said, but the state can cancel others more quickly. He said he wants the state to avoid any early termination penalties that would exceed the potential savings.

Reaction among state employee unions was mixed.

Patrick Whalen, general counsel for California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment, said Brown’s order was the subject of lunch-table discussion among state employees. But he said it is impractical for many of his members.

“We’re all checking e-mails at midnight and that sort of thing,’’ Whalen said.