BILL ANALYSIS
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 621|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 445-6614 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 621
Author: Speier (D)
Amended: 8/22/05
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT & RET. COMMITTEE : 4-0, 4/11/05
AYES: Soto, Ashburn, Alarcon, Hollingsworth
NO VOTE RECORDED: Dunn
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SENATE FLOOR : 40-0, 6/1/05
AYES: Aanestad, Ackerman, Alarcon, Alquist, Ashburn,
Battin, Bowen, Campbell, Cedillo, Chesbro, Cox, Denham,
Ducheny, Dunn, Dutton, Escutia, Figueroa, Florez,
Hollingsworth, Kehoe, Kuehl, Lowenthal, Machado,
Maldonado, Margett, McClintock, Migden, Morrow, Murray,
Ortiz, Perata, Poochigian, Romero, Runner, Scott,
Simitian, Soto, Speier, Torlakson, Vincent
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not available
SUBJECT : Department of Personnel Administration:
posting of
Memoranda of Understanding
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill revises the process by which the
Legislature reviews and approves memoranda of understanding
CONTINUED
SB 621
Page
2
(MOUs) reached between the state employer and recognized
employee organizations representing state civil service
employees.
Assembly Amendments (1) added the requirement that the
Department of Personnel Administration must provide the
Joint Legislative Budget Committee with each side letter,
appendix, or other addendum to a ratified MOU that requires
an expenditure of $250,000, and (2) shortened the time the
Legislative Analyst has to review a MOU from 25 to 10
calendar days.
ANALYSIS : Existing law provides that (1) the Governor
and the representatives of recognized employee
organizations "endeavor to reach agreement on matters with
the scope of representation prior to the adoption by the
state of its final budget for the ensuing year," and (2)
while the parties have missed this preferred deadline in
the past, bargaining must be concluded prior to the
Legislature's recess because a written MOU must be
submitted to the Legislature for approval.
This bill:
1. Requires the Department of Personnel Administration
(DPA) to post, in a clear and conspicuous manner on
DPA's web site, each MOU that has been submitted to the
Legislature for determination pursuant to the Ralph C.
Dills Act and has been ratified by the affected union
membership, in its entirety.
2. Requires the DPA's web site posting to include a
declaration that the MOU has been submitted to the
Office of the Legislative Analyst and the Legislature,
including the date of that submission and a summary of
the MOU that is the same summary provided to the
Legislature by DPA.
3. Requires each MOU submitted by DPA to the Legislative
Analyst to include a DPA analysis of costs and savings.
4. Allows the Legislative Analyst 10 calendar days from the
date the tentative agreement is received to issue a
fiscal analysis to the Legislature.
SB 621
Page
3
5. Provides that the MOU will not be subject to legislative
determination until either the Legislative Analyst has
presented a fiscal analysis of the MOU to the
Legislature or until 10 calendar days have elapsed since
the MOU was received by the Legislative Analyst.
6. Requires the DPA to provide the Joint Legislative Budget
Committee (JLBC) with each side letter, appendix, or
other addendum to a ratified MOU that requires the
expenditure of $250,000 or more and is not included in
the Budget Act. The JLBC will have 30 days to determine
if legislative ratification was required.
Background
According to the Legislative Analyst:
"Under current practice, DPA is responsible for both
negotiating contracts with employee unions and
estimating the costs of the negotiated agreements.
Generally, information from DPA on new agreements is
available relatively soon after negotiations conclude.
For each bargaining unit, this includes a summary sheet
of major provisions and a costing sheet with estimates
of items that have a direct cost (like pay raises).
Sometimes these data are not immediately forthcoming,
however, even though negotiations may have concluded
and the bill approving the MOU may be before the
Legislature. Oftentimes, the text of new or changed
provisions is not provided until after legislative
deliberations.
"If the Legislature were to establish a more formalized
review process, it would be critical for DPA to
highlight MOU provisions with direct costs, potential
costs (such as policy changes), and the full-year cost
impact of provisions that take effect mid-year.
Similarly, DPA should be expected to provide the text
of all MOU changes. It would be important to start a
30-day review clock from the time DPA data became
available, rather than the end of bargaining, because
of the delay noted above. There is no reason, however,
these data should only be available to the LAO. Making
SB 621
Page
4
the data available to anyone by posting it on DPA's Web
site would cast the widest possible net for complete
oversight, enabling other parties to provide input to
the Legislature.
"With our current level of resources and the
availability of data noted above, we would treat these
MOU reviews like the current 30-day period for
preparing our initial, "title-and-summary" analyses of
proposed ballot initiatives and for mid-year budget
requests. In other words, we would respond to MOUs on
an episodic basis. In 30 days, with exiting staff, we
could accomplish the following:
- Provide a "reality check" on DPA's fiscal
estimates.
- Highlight the full-year impact of partial-year
provisions.
- Point out potential impacts of provisions on
managers and supervisors. An example is "salary
compaction", where subordinate employees make nearly
as much or more that their supervisors.
- Point out potential implementation or management
issues departments will face because of new
provisions.
- Highlight any provisions, and possibly estimates a
range of costs, for which DPA has not estimated an
impact. This might occur for several reasons. For
example, DPA might not estimate the cost of secondary
impacts-such as a change in Department of Corrections
sick leave approval policy-or DPA may have just
missed the item-such as an expansion to year-round
planned overtime for Department of Forestry and Fire
Protection firefighters."
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/30/05)
SB 621
Page
5
Consulting Engineers and Land Surveyors of California
JJA:mel 8/30/05 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****