SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A California state senator is warning state bureaucrats if they don’t spend federal taxpayer’s money, they may lose it.

The California Energy Commission is sitting on $185 million dollars. And the California Department of Community Services has $80 million in the bank that they were told to spend to create construction jobs.

Senator Alex Padilla says if the state does not spend that money the feds will want it back.

“The conversation about raising th federal debt ceiling in Washington and this federal budget, they’re looking at any place they can cut,” said Padilla.

The money from federal taxpayers was sent to California two years ago to create jobs.

Since then, the unemployment rate in California has gone up.