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Lawmakers press Department of Finance on plan to eliminate thousands of vacant positions; concerns raised about CDFW and State Parks impacts
Summary
Legislators, the LAO and department officials debated a budget resiliency exercise that proposes sweeping thousands of vacant state positions. Members warned that cuts to Department of Fish and Wildlife and State Parks could slow permitting, weaken enforcement and defer maintenance; LAO recommended selective retention of special‑fund positions.
Legislators and budget staff sparred over a proposal to eliminate vacant positions across state departments during an Assembly budget subcommittee hearing.
Sonia Pedic of the Legislative Analyst's Office walked members through the vacancy elimination exercise, saying that the governor initially proposed eliminating about 6,000 vacant positions, the enacted 2025‑26 budget reduced that to nearly 5,000 eliminations and left about 1,000 positions under JLBC review. Pedic told the committee the JLBC ultimately did not concur with eliminating roughly 650 positions and that about 174 of those retained positions fall in Fish & Wildlife, Parks and Food & Agriculture.
Department of Finance witnesses framed the reductions as a budget resiliency tool and said departments were asked to…
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