The employees will begin moving to the ITD at the end of the month as part of Massachusetts' IT consolidation, which is in progress. "This is a very complex process and ITD staff has been working closely with [the two agencies'] leadership to ensure as smooth a transition as possible," according to a post on the ITD's website.
California Controller Says Payroll System Not up to Minimum Wage Change
California State Controller John Chiang says that the state's payroll system isn't capable of quickly switching hundreds of thousands of state workers to minimum wage, as ordered by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger until the state passes a budget.
"This is not a simple software problem," Chiang said in a statement. "Reducing pay and then restoring it in a timely manner once a budget is enacted cannot be done without gross violations of law unless and until the state completes its overhaul of the state payroll system and payroll laws are changed."
Chiang made a similar claim last year during California's protracted budget impasse. In a letter sent last week to Debbie Endsley, director of the California Department of Personnel Administration, Chiang urged Endsley to meet with the designers of the legacy system, who Chiang said could explain why the legacy system is incapable of quickly switching wage rates for 250,000 state workers.
Redesigned USA.gov Offering Mobile Apps
A wider array of mobile applications is among the new offerings on the redesigned USA.gov, which the General Services Administration (GSA) unveiled during the Independence Day weekend.
"Initially featuring the following 17 mobile applications, USA.gov anticipates expanding the number and invites the public to share feedback on apps they would find useful by using government information available on Data.gov and Usaspending.gov," according to a statement on the GSA portal. "The USA.gov mobile apps gallery features product recalls, U.S. Postal Service tools, U.S. Transportation Security Administration's MyTSA, USA.gov mobile, National Institutes of Health's mobile MedLinePlus and body mass indicator calculator, Environmental Protection Agency's ultraviolet index, U.S. Department of Agriculture's My Food-a-Pedia, National Renewable Energy Laboratory's alternative fuel station locator and FuelEconomy.gov, Department of State's America.gov mobile and U.S. embassy locator, EPA mobile, FBI's most wanted, Federal Emergency Management Agency mobile, NASA app, and Veterans Affairs mobile."
USA.gov's new search engine is nine times faster than the previous website, according to the GSA, and helps citizens navigate through government information with "related search-as-you-type" function.
