Walking In Wuhan

I came home tonight and made the rounds on the Web sites. On the SF Chronicle Web site, I ran across this piece of into in a Web story.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans next week to slash the pay of more than 200,000 state workers to the federal minimum of $6.55 per hour to deal with the state's budget crisis, according to a draft executive order obtained by the Chronicle today.

The governor also will order an end to overtime pay for all but critical services, a freeze on state hiring and the immediate layoff of 22,000 temporary, seasonal and student workers.

"As a result of the late state budget, there is a real and substantial risk that the state will have insufficient cash to pay for state expenditures," the executive order states.

The proposed pay cut for hourly employees takes their wages well below the state minimum wage of $8 an hour. A 2003 California Supreme Court decision allows the state to chop workers' pay to the federal minimum when a state budget is not in effect.

Schwarzenegger's action comes as the state has been without a budget for nearly a month since the fiscal year began on July 1.

Although Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature remain at odds over how to close the state's anticipated $17 billion budget deficit, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, has called for a vote Tuesday on the Democrats' budget proposal.

I admit, in the nearly 11 months we've lived in California, I've pictured our governor as Detective Richard Kimble. He substitutes as a Kindergarten teacher; He warns people to get to the CHOPPAH!; and he occasionally slays robots intent on taking over the world. I agreed with his progressive positions on the environment and generally overlooked the fact that California is billions of dollars in the hole. But when I learned that I might be making $6.55 a week next week, that was the last straw. I'm no pawn. The Guv just lost himself a fan. Either way, we'll always have this: