The Golden 1 Credit Union is once again offering zero-interest State Budget Payroll Loans to workers experiencing pay cuts as a result of the California legislature's budget impasse.
Pay for approximately 1,100 legislative aides and gubernatorial appointees was cut July 1; those workers may already qualify for the Sacramento-based The Golden 1's assistance. As many as 200,000 state employees could be affected if the impasse continues, according to a release from the state's personnel department.
To qualify, members of the $7.3 billion The Golden 1 members must have an established checking account with direct deposit of their state payroll checks prior to the impasse.
In what has become an annual event, Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and a Democrat-led legislature are digging in their heels over a $19.1 billion deficit for the fiscal year that began July 1. The state has passed its budget by the fiscal year deadline only 10 times in the last 34 years.
Schwarzenegger won a Sacramento state appellate court decision July 2 upholding an order compelling state Controller John Chiang to reduce employee pay to minimum wage until the budget is passed. In previous years, Chiang had successfully stalled or avoided worker pay cuts by challenging Schwarzenegger's order in court.
