On Friday, a California judge ruled against Governor Schwarzenegger's request to compel the state controller to pay state workers the minimum wage until a new budget is passed. The controller, John Chiang refused to make the changes to the payroll system, saying that the computers could not handle the changes, and that the changes would violate labor laws. The judge said that pay cuts would have caused workers 'undue harm', and that he would make a final ruling this summer. A spokeswoman for the government said that they thought they would win in the final ruling, but that they hope to have a budget by then. An official from the controller's office said that they were happy about the ruling, and that the Governor should not be allowed to manipulate the payroll system.
See "On State Pay Cuts, Judge Rebuffs California Governor", Jennifer Steinhauer, The New York Times, July 18, 2010