BILL NUMBER: AB 124 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 644
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 7, 2005
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 7, 2005
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 30, 2005
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 25, 2005
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 15, 2005
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 28, 2005
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Dymally
JANUARY 13, 2005
An act to amend Sections 19790, 19791, 19792, 19792.5, 19793,
19794, 19795, 19796, 19797, and 19798 of, to amend the heading of
Chapter 12 (commencing with Section 19790) of Part 2 of Division 5 of
Title 2 of, and to add Section 19798.5 to, the Government Code,
relating to state civil service.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 124, Dymally Civil service: equal opportunity programs.
The State Civil Service Act requires each state agency and
department to establish an effective affirmative action program with
specified components, and to establish goals and timetables designed
to overcome any identified underutilization of minorities and women
in their respective organizations. Existing law requires the State
Personnel Board to conduct specified activities in this regard.
Portions of these provisions have been held to be in violation of
the California Constitution and the United States Constitution.
This bill would revise and recast these provisions to instead
require each state agency to establish an equal opportunity program
to ensure that the state policy of providing equal access to state
jobs, work assignments, training, and other employment-related
opportunities for all qualified job applicants and employees, based
on merit and nondiscrimination in every aspect of personnel policies
and employment practices, is fully implemented. It would require the
State Personnel Board to conduct specified activities, including the
collection of specific employment data based on race, ethnicity,
gender, and disability in this regard.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The heading of Chapter 12 (commencing with Section
19790) of Part 2 of Division 5 of Title 2 of the Government Code is
amended to read:
CHAPTER 12. STATE CIVIL SERVICE EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
PROGRAM
SEC. 2. Section 19790 of the Government Code is amended to read:
19790. Each state agency is responsible for establishing an
effective equal employment opportunity program. The State Personnel
Board shall be responsible for taking all steps necessary to provide
statewide advocacy, coordination, enforcement, and monitoring of
these programs.
SEC. 3. Section 19791 of the Government Code is amended to read:
19791. As used in this chapter, the following definitions apply:
(a) "Equal employment opportunity" mean ensuring nondiscrimination
and providing equal access to state jobs, work assignments,
training, and other employment-related opportunities for all
qualified job applicants and employees.
(b) "Underutilization" means having a statistically significant,
smaller percentage of persons of a group in an occupation or at a
level in a state agency than would reasonably be expected by their
percentage representation in the relevant labor force. An identified
underutilization is not necessarily indicative of a denial of equal
employment opportunity, but warrants an analysis of the cause of the
underutilization.
SEC. 4. Section 19792 of the Government Code is amended to read:
19792. The State Personnel Board shall do all of the following:
(a) Provide statewide leadership, designed to achieve equal
employment opportunity in the state civil service.
(b) Develop, implement, and maintain equal employment opportunity
guidelines.
(c) Provide technical assistance to state agencies in the
development and implementation of their equal employment opportunity
programs.
(d) Review and evaluate departmental equal employment opportunity
programs to ensure that they comply with state and federal statutes
and regulations.
(e) Establish programs to ensure equal employment opportunity for
all state job applicants and employees through broad, inclusive
recruitment efforts and other measures as allowed by law.
(f) Provide statewide training to departmental equal employment
opportunity officers who will conduct training on equal employment
opportunity.
(g) Review, examine the validity of, and update qualifications
standards, selection devices, including oral appraisal panels and
career advancement programs.
(h) Maintain a statistical information system designed to yield
the data and the analysis necessary for the evaluation of equal
employment opportunity within the state civil service. The
statistical information shall include specific data to determine the
underutilization of groups based on race, ethnicity, gender, and
disability. The statistical information shall be made available
during normal working hours to all interested persons. Data generated
on a regular basis shall include, but not be limited to, all of the
following:
(1) Current state civil service workforce composition by race,
ethnicity, gender, age, department, salary level, occupation, and
attrition rates by occupation.
(2) Current local and regional workforce and population data for
groups based on race, ethnicity, gender, and age.
(i) The data analysis referred to in subdivision (h) above shall
include, but not be limited to, all of the following:
(1) Data relating to the utilization of groups based on race,
ethnicity, and gender compared to their availability in the relevant
labor force.
(2) Turnover data by department and occupation.
(3) Data relating to salary administration, including average
salaries for groups based on race, ethnicity, gender, and disability
and comparisons of salaries within state service and comparable state
employment.
(4) Data on employee age, and salary level compared among groups
based on race, ethnicity, gender, and disability.
(5) Data on the number of individuals of each race, ethnicity,
gender, and disability who are recruited for, participate in, and
pass state civil service examinations. This data shall be analyzed
pursuant to the provisions of Sections 19704 and 19705.
(6) Data on the job classifications, geographic locations,
separations, salaries, and other conditions of employment that
provide additional information about the composition of the state
civil service workforce.
SEC. 5. Section 19792.5 of the Government Code is amended to read:
19792.5. (a) In order to permit the public to track upward
mobility and the impact of equal opportunities on persons,
categorized by race, ethnicity, gender, and disability in state civil
service, the State Personnel Board shall annually track, by
incremental levels of ten thousand dollars ($10,000), the salaries of
persons, categorized by race, ethnicity, gender, and disability in
state civil service. For purposes of this subdivision, "upward
mobility" means the advancement of persons, categorized by race,
ethnicity, gender, and disability to better paying and higher level
positions.
(b) The board shall report salary data collected pursuant to
subdivision (a) to the Governor and the Legislature in its Annual
Census of State Employees and Equal Employment Opportunity Report, as
required in Section 19793, and shall include in this report
information regarding the progress of individuals by race, ethnicity,
and gender in attaining high-level positions in state employment.
The salary data shall be reported in annual increments of ten
thousand dollars ($10,000) by job category, race, ethnicity, gender,
and disability in a format easily understandable by the public.
SEC. 6. Section 19793 of the Government Code is amended to read:
19793. By November 15 of each year, the State Personnel Board
shall submit to the Governor, the Legislature, and the Department of
Finance a census report that shall include demographic information on
employees in the state civil service, based upon the analysis of the
data collected pursuant to Section 19792. The report shall
specifically include, but not be limited to, identified
underutilizations and, where warranted by analysis of the
underutilizations, steps taken to ensure equal employment opportunity
in the state civil service. The report shall also include
information to the Legislature on laws that discriminate or have the
effect of discriminating on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, and
disability. The Legislature shall evaluate the equal employment
opportunity efforts of state agencies during its evaluation of the
Budget Bill.
SEC. 7. Section 19794 of the Government Code is amended to read:
19794. In cooperation with the State Personnel Board, the
appointing power of each state agency shall have the major
responsibility for monitoring the effectiveness of the equal
employment opportunity programs of the state agency. To that end,
the appointing power shall do all of the following:
(a) Issue a policy statement committing to equal employment
opportunity.
(b) Issue procedures for filing, processing, and resolving
discrimination complaints within the state agency, consistent with
state laws and rules, and for filing appeals from agency decisions on
these complaints.
(c) Issue procedures for providing equal upward mobility and
promotional opportunities to state employees.
(d) Cooperate with the board by providing access, in accordance
with subdivisions (o) and (p) of Section 1798.24 of the Civil Code,
to all files, documents, and data necessary for the board to carry
out its mandates under this chapter.
SEC. 8. Section 19795 of the Government Code is amended to read:
19795. (a) The appointing power of each state agency and the
director of each state department shall appoint, at the managerial
level, an equal employment opportunity officer, who shall report
directly to, and be under the supervision of, the director of the
department, to develop, implement, coordinate, and monitor the agency'
s equal employment opportunity program. In a state agency with less
than 500 employees, the equal employment opportunity officer may be
the personnel officer. The agency equal employment opportunity
officer shall, among other duties, analyze and report on appointments
of employees, bring issues of concern regarding equal employment
opportunity to the appointing power and recommend appropriate action,
submit an evaluation of the effectiveness of the total equal
employment opportunity program to the State Personnel Board annually,
monitor the composition of oral panels in departmental examinations,
and perform other duties necessary for the effective implementation
of the agency equal employment opportunity plans.
(b) (1) Each state agency shall establish a separate committee of
employees who are individuals with a disability, or who have an
interest in disability issues, to advise the head of the agency on
issues of concern to employees with disabilities, and matters
relating to the formulation and implementation of the plan to
overcome and correct any underrepresentation determined pursuant to
Section 19234.
(2) Departments shall invite all employees to serve on the
committee and shall take appropriate steps to ensure the final
committee is comprised of members who have disabilities or who have
an interest in disability issues. Each department shall ensure that
at least two-thirds of the members of the committee are individuals
with disabilities or retain documentation that demonstrates that the
number of employees invited to participate, and willing and able to
serve, was insufficient to meet this requirement.
SEC. 9. Section 19796 of the Government Code is amended to read:
19796. Bureau or division chiefs within a state agency shall be
accountable to the appointing power for the effectiveness and results
of the equal employment opportunity program within their division or
bureau.
All managers and supervisors shall provide program support and
take any positive action necessary to ensure and advance equal
employment opportunity at their respective levels.
SEC. 10. Section 19797 of the Government Code is amended to read:
19797. Each state agency shall develop, update annually, and
implement an equal employment opportunity plan which shall, at a
minimum, identify the areas of significant underutilization of
specific groups based on race, ethnicity, and gender, within each
department by job category and level, contain an equal employment
opportunity analysis of all job categories and levels within the
hiring jurisdiction, and include an explanation and specific actions
for removing any non-job-related employment barriers.
SEC. 11. Section 19798 of the Government Code is amended to read:
19798. In establishing order and subdivisions of layoff and
reemployment, the board, when it finds past discriminatory hiring
practices, may authorize modification of the order of layoff, in
accordance with board rule, only if failure to do so by a department
would result in ineligibility for a federal program with a loss of
federal funds or if required by federal law or the United States
Constitution.
SEC. 12. Section 19798.5 is added to the Government Code, to read:
19798.5. State departments, agencies, and the State Personnel
Board shall continue to carry out their respective duties required by
Sections 19230 to 19237, inclusive, with respect to establishing,
monitoring, and reporting on an affirmative action plan, including
goals and timetables, for ensuring individuals with disabilities
access to state employment. These activities shall be coordinated
with and integrated into the planning, reporting, and monitoring
activities required by this chapter.