Lingle orders state employee furloughs

According to Derrick DePledge of the Honolulu-Advertiser, "Gov. Linda Lingle said yesterday she would order state workers to take three days a month in furloughs for the next two years and would scale back state healthcare benefits for low-income adults to close what she described as a $730 million budget deficit.

The furloughs — 72 days in all — would start in July and are equivalent to a 13.8 percent pay cut for the state's 46,000 workers. The governor said furloughs would save the state $688 million, while the remainder of the deficit would be closed by $42 million in spending cuts to state healthcare benefits for low-income adults."

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