BILL ANALYSIS
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 1718
Author: Perata (D)
Amended: 8/8/08
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC EMP. & RET. COMMITTEE : 3-1, 4/14/08
AYES: Wiggins, Migden, Negrete McLeod
NOES: McClintock
NO VOTE RECORDED: Ashburn
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 8-4, 5/22/08
AYES: Torlakson, Cedillo, Corbett, Florez, Kuehl, Oropeza,
Simitian, Yee
NOES: Cox, Aanestad, Ashburn, Dutton
NO VOTE RECORDED: Ridley-Thomas, Runner, Wyland
SENATE FLOOR : 34-4, 5/27/08
AYES: Ackerman, Alquist, Ashburn, Calderon, Cedillo,
Cogdill, Corbett, Correa, Cox, Ducheny, Dutton, Florez,
Harman, Kehoe, Kuehl, Lowenthal, Machado, Maldonado,
Margett, Migden, Negrete McLeod, Oropeza, Padilla,
Perata, Romero, Runner, Scott, Simitian, Steinberg,
Torlakson, Vincent, Wiggins, Wyland, Yee
NOES: Aanestad, Denham, Hollingsworth, McClintock
NO VOTE RECORDED: Battin, Ridley-Thomas
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 50-28, 8/13/08 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Public employment: State Bargaining Unit 2:
compensation
CONTINUED
SB 1718
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2
SOURCE : California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges
and
Hearing Officers in State Employment
DIGEST : This bill requires the Department of Personnel
Administration to annually conduct a survey of specified
public entities relative to salary, compensation, and
benefits paid to their legal professionals in order to
provide the state with an accurate assessment of the
relevant labor market. This bill requires the Department
of Personnel Administration to report the findings and
analysis of the survey to the Legislature, Governor and the
exclusive representative of State Bargaining Unit 2, by
March 15 of each year.
Assembly Amendments were clarifying and recast the bill
with a similar intent as it left the Senate.
ANALYSIS : Existing law, the Ralph C. Dills Act, also
known as the State Employer Employee Relations Act,
provides that state employee compensation is determined in
collective bargaining with the state.
If agreement is reached between the state and its 21 State
Bargaining Units, Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) are
sent to the Legislature for ratification. If the MOUs are
ratified by the Legislature and members of the respective
bargaining units, they go into effect and the agreed upon
employee compensation package is implemented.
State Bargaining Unit 5 (Department of the California
Highway Patrol) has a statutory salary survey. Salaries of
State Traffic Officers are determined based on a salary
survey of the compensation provided to similar occupations
in specified California governmental entities.
State Bargaining Unit 9 (Professional Engineers) has a
salary survey agreed to in their current MOU (effective
7/2/03 to 7/2/08). Salaries of professional engineers
employed by the State of California are determined based on
a salary survey of the compensation provided to similar
occupations in specified California governmental entities.
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This bill:
1. Requires the Department of Personnel Administration
(DPA) conduct a survey of the following public entities
with respect to the state's attorneys:
A. The Sacramento County District Attorney's Office.
B. The Sacramento City Attorney's Office.
C. The San Francisco District Attorney's Office.
D. The Alameda County District Attorney's Office.
E. The Oakland City Attorney's Office.
F. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
G. The Los Angeles City Attorney's Office.
H. The San Diego County District Attorney's Office.
I. The San Diego City Attorney's Office.
J. The Fresno District Attorney's Office.
K. The Fresno City Attorney's Office.
L. The Habeas Corpus Resource Center.
2. Requires DPA, with respect to the state's administrative
law judges, hearing officers and commissioners, conduct
a survey of the compensation of federal administrative
law judges in California and judges on the California
State Bar Court.
3. Requires the surveys gather the following data:
A. The entire pay scale, including all steps and
ranges, from entry level to the highest
non-managerial position.
B. All duty statements, minimum qualifications,
time-in-grade requirements and promotional standards.
C. All compensation in addition to base salary paid
by the employer, including retirement, health care,
and other allowances, premiums or differentials.
D. Complete and accurate descriptions of all benefits
available.
E. The average salary actually paid to all attorneys
or judges employed by all the surveyed entities.
SB 1718
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F. The salaries actually paid to incoming, entry
level attorneys and judges.
G. The number of attorneys and judges at each salary
level with each entity.
H. The average years of postbar legal experience of
attorneys or judges at each salary level with each
entity.
4. Requires DPA to issue an annual report, and provide it
to the Legislature, Governor, and the exclusive
representative of State Bargaining Unit 2, by March 15
of each year which shall include the above data as well
as the following analyses:
A. The average salary actually paid to incoming,
entry level attorneys and judges.
B. The average salary actually paid to the highest
paid non-managerial attorney or judges.
5. Requires the report be accompanied by a declaration from
the Director of DPA certifying the report is true and
accurate to the best of his or her knowledge.
6. Contains legislative findings and declarations relative
to the state's legal professionals.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 Fund
Compensation survey
-----------unknown-----------------General
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/15/08)
California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing
SB 1718
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Officers in State Employment (source)
Attorney General Jerry Brown
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The bill's sponsor, California
Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers
in State Employment, states:
"Three decades of collective bargaining between the state
and its legal professionals has resulted in the State
becoming, according to Dr. David Lewin of UCLA's Anderson
School of Business, 'the legal employer of last resort'
with salaries as much as 50% below comparable salaries at
other public agencies in California and far below the
salaries paid to private attorneys suing the state. The
cost to the State of allowing its legal foundation to
crumble is incalculable. For this reason, in litigation
now pending in the Third District Court of Appeal, the
State's Attorney General recently appeared in court and
urged the judge to find the Dills Act unconstitutional as
applied to legal professionals noting that the State's
low salaries were forcing him to choose between adhering
to a broken civil service system and his constitutional
duty to enforce the law and protect the citizens of the
State of California."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Aghazarian, Arambula, Beall, Berg, Brownley,
Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Coto, Davis, De La
Torre, De Leon, DeSaulnier, Dymally, Eng, Evans, Feuer,
Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Hancock, Hayashi, Hernandez,
Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Karnette, Krekorian, Laird,
Leno, Levine, Lieber, Lieu, Ma, Mendoza, Mullin, Nava,
Nunez, Parra, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana,
Solorio, Spitzer, Swanson, Torrico, Wolk, Bass
NOES: Adams, Anderson, Benoit, Berryhill, Blakeslee, Cook,
DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson, Fuller, Gaines, Garcia,
Garrick, Horton, Houston, Huff, Keene, La Malfa, Maze,
Nakanishi, Niello, Plescia, Silva, Smyth, Strickland,
Tran, Villines, Walters
NO VOTE RECORDED: Sharon Runner, Soto
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JJA:mw 8/15/08 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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