State worker union tries novel legal angle to stop Newsom’s return-to-office order

A state worker union hopes to use a California environmental law notorious for obstructing the construction of new homes to block a very different kind of project: Gov. Gavin Newsom’s impending return-to-office order. On Wednesday, the union representing state attorneys and administrative law judges sent “exhaustion” letters to over 100 state departments, arguing that the return-to-office order will require more than 90,000 state workers to commute four days a week, which will negatively impact California’s environment.