A lawsuit against the State was filed on Friday by the Service Employees International Union over Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s decision to sign an order that cuts 20,000 State Government jobs and temporarily slashes the pay of 200,000 other State Employees to Federal Minimum wage of $6.55 an hour. In addition, the governor froze hiring and restricted over-time. In Amador County, potentially 190 jobs are expected to be affected by the order. Public Safety services, such as Cal-Fire, will be exempted from the lay-offs and pay cuts. Schwarzenegger said that the action was necessary to save California from “a full blown cash crisis,” due to the legislature’s failure to enact a budget for the current fiscal year, which began on July 1st.

The State currently faces a $15.2 billion budget deficit and Democratic and Republican lawmakers have yet to reach an agreement on a spending plan. The State’s Financial Analysts say that if a State Budget is not approved within the next few weeks, State bills will have to be paid with expensive loans acquired on Wall Street. “I have a responsibility to make sure that our state has enough money to pay its bills…This is not an action that I take lightly, as I know it will affect people at a time when they are already struggling,” Schwarzenegger said after the signing. State Controller John Chiang, however, has told the governor he does not intend to implement the pay cuts. Over the weekend, union workers protested in front of the state Capitol with a huge mock-up of a pink slip addressed to Schwarzenegger. In its lawsuit, SEIU argues that the governor illegally ignored the procedure for State layoffs, mandated by the Legislature and the State Department of Personnel Administration.