BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT & RETIREMENT BILL NO: AB 696
Patricia Wiggins, Chair Hearing date: June 25, 2007
AB 696 (Hernandez) as introduced 2/22/07FISCAL: YES
STATE EMPLOYEES: RETENTION OF CERTAIN TYPES OF MILITARY
HAZARD PAY
HISTORY :
Sponsor: California Correctional Peace Officers
Association (CCPOA)
Prior legislation: AB 276 (Baca)
Chapter 287 of 2005
SB 711 (Dunn)
Chapter 5 of 2002
ASSEMBLY VOTES :
PER & SS 5-0 3/28/07
Veteran Affairs 8-0 4/10/07
Appropriations 13-2 5/31/07
Assembly Floor 75-1 6/04/07
SUMMARY :
Would provide that a state employee, who is a member of the
California National Guard or a United States military reserve
organization and was ordered into active duty on or after
September 11, 2001, and who is employed by the state on or
after January 1, 2008, is entitled to retain any hazardous
duty pay, hostile fire pay, imminent danger pay or any other
special incentive pay provided by the federal government.
BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS :
2) Existing law :
a) authorizes, pursuant to Chapter 5 of 2002 , a state
employee who is a member of the California National Guard
or a United States military reserve organization to receive
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an amount equal to the difference between the military pay
and allowances and the pay the employee would have received
from the state and all of the benefits that would have been
received if he or she had not been called into active duty,
for a period not to exceed 365 days, which may be extended
by Executive Order by up to an additional 365 days, and
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b) exempts, pursuant to Chapter 287 of 2005 , hazardous
duty pay, hostile fire pay, or imminent danger pay from the
definition of "military pay and allowances" allowing a
state employee to retain these and any other special and
incentive pay provided by the federal government.
2) This bill :
a) makes retroactive payments equal to the hazardous duty
pay, hostile fire pay, imminent danger pay, or other
special incentive pay provided by the federal government
between 2002 and 2005, and which were deducted from state
payments at the time, and
b) requires that, to be eligible for the retroactive
payment, the individual be employed by the state on or
after January 1, 2008.
FISCAL EFFECT :
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, based on
preliminary information, about 800 state employees would be
affected by this bill .
Assuming average federal incentive payments of about $200 per
month and an average active duty period of one year, this
bill would result in about $2 million in one-time state costs
in 2007-08.
COMMENTS :
1) Arguments in support
According to the author, the intent of this bill is to
clarify that specific bonus pay will not be used to calculate
the difference in pay allowed under current law and would
make the provisions of AB 276 retroactive.
According to the sponsor, CCPOA:
"In 2004 it came to our attention that these state
employees/soldiers were returning from their Middle East
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deployment only to find that the State of California was
making these soldiers pay the state the hazardous duty,
hostile fire and imminent danger pay the federal government
had paid their families as an incentive to serve. At the
time CCPOA sponsored AB 276 (Baca) to correct the situation
and it passed the Assembly 79-0 and the Senate 33-2, and
was signed into law by the Governor in September of 2005,
prohibiting the state from any further levies on federal
deployment incentives.
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"For all those families who were forced to pay the state
those federal incentive monies between 2002 and 2005, and
are still current state employees, this bill would require
the state to give that money back. We believe this number
would be between 500-900 individuals and we will have a
more exact figure by the March 28th hearing. We believe
this is the right thing to do for the men and women who
have served this country in the War on Terrorism, and hope
through this legislation that we can right this wrong that
the state has unjustly levied on these families."
2) SUPPORT :
California Correctional Peace Officers Association
(CCPOA) Sponsor
California Association of Highway Patrolmen (CAHP)
California State Commanders Veterans Council
3) OPPOSITION :
None to date
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David Felderstein
Date: 6/18/07 Page 5