The governor's office says the cuts are needed to help close the state's huge budget hole.
As a result, workers with the least seniority are being targeted. And correction's is expected to see the biggest hit, with 3,600 of the 5,000 pink slips going out. Correctional officers say the cuts are simply too deep.
Lance Corcoran with California Correctional Peace Officers Association said, "If they go through with it, there will be calamity; this is a short-term proposed savings with long-term costs, which are going to be paid by the citizens of California through lives and property."
Aaron McLear, Governor's Press Secretary, "We have to cut back. Every California family and business is cutting back. They don't want to do it any more than we want to do it. But when we're making these severe cuts, we certainly need to look inward."
State workers who receive a pink slip have four months to find another state job that isn't paid by the state's general fund. That includes jobs at the D.M.V., which are paid by registration and license fees.
