Change for state workers. They will no longer be able
to work from home full time starting in mid June.
The state will require them to be in the office
at least two days a week.
Governor Newsome, Cabinet Secretary released a statement saying in part
quote.
We continue to support telework and believe this transition to
a hybrid structure will promote greater collaboration and cohesion across
our teams.
The announcement from the governor's office is getting some mixed
reactions,
of course. KCRA 3's Danika Hill joins us live from
downtown Sacramento this afternoon.
Danika, this could be a benefit to some of those
businesses in the area,
but other businesses are saying more action needs to be
taken.
Yeah. Anyone that you talk to will tell you that
there has been a lot of changes here in downtown
Sacramento since the pandemic about four years ago.
Less people working here and less people overall,
leading to some businesses to close.
But those that oppose the governor's decision say they feel
blindsided and caught off guard.
It's been really frustrating. I have thousands of constituents that
are currently teleworking for the state,
working for the people of California.
Under the governor's mandate, state workers will be required to
return to work at least two days in office,
starting June 17th. Their own state agencies have praised telework,
talked about how effective it is,
how it's enhanced productivity. The governor had committed to it
during obviously during the pandemic,
but now appears to be walking that back.
Assembly member Josh Hoover now calling for a formal audit
of the Governor's return to work mandate.
You know how much do these buildings cost the state,
right? How much are we spending on on maintenance and
building operation,
What impact is this having on our environment,
right. Like, I think these are all questions that we
need to figure out
before we pursue a a change of this kind.
Just a few weeks ago,
Mayor Darrell Steinberg said Downtown Sacramento was set to lose
billions over the next 20 years because of the number
of state workers who haven't come back to their offices.
When you have 10s of thousands of people who are
not downtown five days a week,
it affects the restaurants, It affects the other businesses.
Mike Testa, president and CEO of Visit Sacramento,
says this could be a key move for the area.
I think this gives a glimmer of hope,
not only that it will help revive some of their
businesses,
but, you know, there's there's folks still hanging on by
a thread since COVID and and any kind of revenue
is helpful.
So I think there's a a little bit of of
excitement and hope that that maybe this would change things
moving forward a bit.
We have to have the support from other people to
do it.
And if they don't come back,
then you can, you know,
kiss us all goodbye. Debbie Rajkumar,
the owner and one of only two employees at Cafe
Connection,
directly across the street from the state Capitol,
says she's contemplated closing the restaurant in recent years.
Since the pandemic, we struggled quite a bit and everything
is so sky high we can't increase the price.
And because we want people to come in
and because of that reason,
we struggled. We struggled quite a bit
having people come back to work.
It's a big plus despite the potential benefits for downtown
businesses,
Hoover says. The state should go about it a different
way.
We have a lot of work to do to revitalize
downtown Sacramento.
We need to add more housing.
We need to address homelessness.
We have to address homelessness in downtown Sacramento.
We have to spur economic development,
but it should not be done on the backs of
state workers.
If Hoover's audit is approved,
they'll begin digging into what led to the
governor's decision, which could delay the start of this mandate.
However, Hoover tells me it's ultimately going to be left
up to Governor Newsom here in downtown Sacramento.
Danica Hill, Casey Rae 3 News All right,
Danica, thank you. In the Downtown Sacramento Partnership released a
statement in response to the mandate saying this in part.
We appreciate the comments from Governor Newsom on the values
of in person collaboration and while we're grateful for increased
daytime visitation coming this summer,
we will also continue to do our part in making
downtown a destination of choice for employees,
residents, businesses and visitors.