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Senate approves AB 138 to ratify state employee agreements; motion to shorten review draws objections
Summary
The Senate passed Assembly Bill 138, a budget trailer bill that ratifies multiple state labor agreements and suspends a return‑to‑office order for certain employees. A separate motion to shorten review time for the measure drew objections from a senator who argued the Legislature lacked detailed analyses from the LAO.
The California State Senate on July 17 approved Assembly Bill 138 (AB 138), a budget trailer bill that ratifies recently negotiated labor agreements and implements short‑term changes to state employee policies.
Senator Scott Wiener (D–San Francisco), who brought AB 138 to the floor, said the measure ratifies a new contract with bargaining unit 16 (physicians and dentists), authorizes a one‑year suspension of a return‑to‑office executive order for members of the professional scientists unit, and codifies 16 labor agreements signed between June 21 and June 30 as connected to the budget package. "I respectfully ask for an aye vote," Wiener said before the roll call.
Before the bill vote, Senator Anilo (recorded as Anilos on the floor) objected to a separate motion to suspend Senate Rule 29.4 so the measure could be advanced more quickly without a full Legislative Analyst’s Office memorandum on recently negotiated memoranda of understanding (MOUs). Anilo argued the rule exists so the LAO has adequate time to review MOUs; without that analysis senators were being asked to accept terms negotiated by the executive branch with employee groups without legislative oversight.
The Assembly bill passed on the floor with a recorded vote of Ayes 28, Nos 9. Earlier in the session there was a separate roll call—on a motion to suspend rules—where the chamber recorded Ayes 24, Nos 8 and the motion to suspend Senate rules carried.
Why it matters: AB 138 performs authorizing steps connected to the 2025 budget package and the administration’s bargaining agreements with multiple state employee groups. The ratified agreements affect compensation and workplace rules for specific bargaining units; the bill also includes a temporary pause of an executive return‑to‑office directive for one unit.
Discussion vs. action: The floor debate included both policy explanation by the bill’s floor sponsor and procedural objections from at least one senator who warned against truncating review time for complex labor MOUs. The Senate ultimately adopted the bill and moved related measures to concurrence and appropriations as required by budget process rules.
Speakers quoted in this article include the senator who presented the measure and the senator who objected to the expedited process.
