June 22, 2021

Budget negotiations related to an IHSS fiscal penalty proposal remain unresolved and CSAC requests counties to weigh in with their legislators and the Administration as soon as possible in opposition to this proposal. The UDW proposal would subject counties that fail to reach an IHSS collective bargaining agreement to an ongoing ten percent of the county IHSS MOE penalty. This proposal was not included in the Governor’s May Revision but was included in the legislative budget package. CSAC has been strongly advocating against this proposal throughout the budget process and our most recent opposition letter is linked here.

At this critical juncture in budget negotiations, CSAC appreciates any support individual counties can provide as this penalty could potentially impact all counties. Please call or text legislators and leaders in the Administration and send an opposition letter.

Call to Action Talking Points:

• Our county is strongly opposed to a tenfold increase to the IHSS fiscal penalty that was just enacted in 2019 as counties have made substantial progress on reaching new agreements. 46 counties, covering 95 percent of the IHSS workforce, have increased wages for IHSS providers since 2017, three other counties are currently negotiating, and six are waiting for outreach from the unions.
• In our county [highlight successful agreement/wage increase]
• A ten percent penalty would cost about as much as a $1.00 wage increase. It is inappropriate to have a penalty amount that would cost counties significantly more than wage increases that have been agreed to or amounts recommended by a neutral factfinder.
• This high penalty amount could be leveraged against all counties in future negotiations, not just those that have failed to reach an agreement. It essentially represents the state mandating counties to fund a certain level of wage increase and would put funding pressures on other Realignment programs.

Finally, CSAC is hearing that the proposed language may have a provision that requires a county that is subject to the penalty to submit a report to the union, Legislature, and Department of Finance which details the county’s overall budget. This provision was not discussed in budget hearings and would be inappropriate and inconsistent with the prior penalty statute.

Final decisions on budget issues will be made any day and we appreciate your immediate outreach on this issue. Thank you!