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Shameful: Republicans help SEIU defy Gavin Newsom’s return to work order

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Gavin Newsom did something remarkable last year: He told California state workers to come back to work.

His executive order directed agencies and departments under his administration to make at least four days a week in the office the default. Newsom said in-person work improves collaboration, innovation and accountability.

On this issue, he was right.

Remote work has its place. Some jobs can be done effectively from home, and taxpayers can save on office space. But working from home should not become an entitlement or the default for a government workforce.

My good friend David Bahnsen, author of Full-Time: Work and the Meaning of Life, puts the mentorship problem bluntly: “Young talent yearns to observe, interact, and collaborate, and Gen Z, far more so than Gen Y, seeks mentorship. In-office work exponentially improves this prospect!”

Zoom is useful. It is not a substitute for an organization.

And if anybody should decide how often executive-branch employees show up for work, surely it is the chief executive.

Enter Assembly Bill 1729.

Authored by Democratic Assemblyman Alex Lee and coauthored by Republican Assemblyman Josh Hoover, the bill throws a statutory obstacle in Newsom’s way. 

Existing law already requires agencies to maintain telework plans where teleworking is “both practical and beneficial.” 

AB 1729 adds another requirement: When operational needs require employees to........

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