From "GOVERNING" magazine.  This is what our local Mayors, Commissioners, and City Council members are reading this month about public sector unions.

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"Being a cop, George Beattie doesn’t use loaded expressions lightly. But when he considers the terms San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed is dictating to city workers, the president of the San Jose Police Officers Association can’t help himself. “He’s basically putting a gun to our head,” Beattie says. “He is saying either do what we say, or this is what is going to happen.”

San Jose has suffered 10 straight years of budget shortfalls. It will certainly face another one in the new fiscal year just getting under way. Like so many other cities, San Jose is looking at retirement health and pension costs that are set to grow at a rate that threatens to swallow enormous chunks of the municipal budget.

That’s why Reed has just declared a state of “fiscal emergency.” He has put forward a proposal that would raise the retirement age for city workers, abolish cash payments for sick leave and recalculate how pension benefits are accrued. Because the plan changes retirement rules for both current workers and new hires, it’s certain to be challenged in court -- that is, if it passes muster with voters first.

Gov. Rick Scott's first session has been true on-the-job training and Florida's new governor has clearly learned how to find the silver lining. In a statement issued Saturday, he commended lawmakers for "a great first step" in requiring state workers to contribute three percent of their salaries into their retirement system.

In yet another example of legislative leaders using their budget document to adopt legislation they can't pass on the floor, budget negotiators tonight have agreed to include a provision in the budget that paves the way for a union dues for several state worker unions. The measure was offered by the House, and accepted by the Senate, with no explanation and no discussion.