Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger now plans to reveal the impacts of layoffs on state services, despite an earlier stance by his Department of Finance that such information was not subject to public disclosure.

In a memo this week, the Department of Finance ordered state departments to describe how they have slashed payroll costs in the past several months and to describe the effect on public services.

"This administration believes that the public should be told of the anticipated effects of government decisions," Mike Genest, chief deputy director, wrote in the letter. "Specifically, the governor has stated his intention that the public be informed of the effects of these reductions."

That's in marked contrast to a letter written in January by a department lawyer denying a Public Records Act request from The Bee.

In that letter, Susan Geanacou said that releasing documents describing the effects of workforce reductions would "discourage candid discussion and inhibit the free flow of ideas" among government officials.

The department still does not intend to release the records originally sought by The Bee, but maintains that the information it is collecting now will be "more accurate."

The reversal resulted from ongoing discussions within the administration and Schwarzenegger's promise at an appearance at the Sacramento Press Club to make the records public, said H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for the Department of Finance.

At that January event, the governor denied he was breaking a promise to release the records, saying: "As soon as we have the full information available, you will get it. And believe me, because I see that there is a lot of pressure building from the press, I told my team to speed the process up as fast as they can so we can get the information out there."

But the records won't be released until after March 12, too late for voters who must decide several budget matters on the March 2 ballot, including whether to borrow to cover part of the state's accumulated debt.

The state budget approved last summer called on then-Gov. Gray Davis to cut about $1.1 billion from payroll through a combination of layoffs, abolishing vacant positions, canceling personnel contracts and other measures.

The Davis administration ordered departments to submit reduction plans, including "description of program impacts" and "effects on service levels."

After the plans were completed, The Bee in October submitted a formal request under the state Public Records Act to review the documents. The Department of Finance denied the request, citing a 1991 ruling by the state Supreme Court that the release of some kinds of records can interfere with officials' ability to deliberate freely on public policy.

Schwarzenegger promised as a candidate to make government more open. In January, after he took office, The Bee renewed its request to review the documents, prompting another rejection on the same grounds.

Some legislators have also been stymied in their attempts to get details.

While Davis was still governor, his Department of Transportation director, Jeff Morales, told the chairs of the Legislature's two transportation committees that he couldn't respond to questions about the layoff plans because the Department of Finance deemed them "confidential."

The chairs, Sen. Kevin Murray, D-Culver City, and Assemblyman John Dutra, D-Fremont, renewed their request with Schwarzenegger's finance director, Donna Arduin.

In a Jan. 14 letter, Arduin said agencies such as Caltrans had been told they were free to answer questions. But on Feb. 14, Arduin wrote the two lawmakers that the new secretary who oversees Caltrans, Sunne McPeak, wanted to reconsider the plans approved under Davis. That led to another delay.

Palmer, the finance spokesman, said the administration is reconsidering several plans in light of the state's experience so far in trimming payroll costs. Last week, for instance, the Department of Motor Vehicles got an exemption from the state's hiring freeze to add 400 workers to alleviate long waits at DMV offices.

The new analyses of cutback effects, to be released to the public and the Legislature by the end of March, will take into account these changes, Palmer said.

The original analyses sought by The Bee, by contrast, were "preliminary," according to the Department of Finance memo sent out Tuesday.