Will Government Lawyers in Calif. Have to Give Up Their Cellphones? Gov Orders Statewide Cuts
California Gov. Jerry Brown says he’s giving up his state-issued cellphone, and he wants 48,000 state employees to do the same.
Currently, 96,000 state workers have cell phones at a cost of $20 million a year, the Associated Press reports. Brown has issued an executive order requiring department heads to cut the number of state-issued phones by half.
Will state lawyers be among those who give up their phones? Patrick Whalen, general counsel for California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment, said that wouldn’t be practical.
“We’re all checking e-mails at midnight and that sort of thing,” Whalen told AP. “I would suspect that if you’re working on a big case, you want to get in touch with your lawyer around the clock.
“Having said that, this is not our biggest issue,” he added.
