BILL NUMBER: AB 53	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Portantino
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Arambula and Caballero)

                        DECEMBER 3, 2008

   An act to add and repeal Section 18005 of the Government Code,
relating to state employment.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 53, as introduced, Portantino. State employment: salary freeze.

    Existing law requires the Department of Personnel Administration
to establish and adjust salary ranges for each class of position in
the state civil service, subject to specified merit limits. Existing
law requires the salary range to be based on the principle that like
salaries shall be paid for comparable duties and responsibilities.
Existing law allows the state to enter into memoranda of
understanding relating to employer-employee relations with employee
organizations representing certain state employees.
   This bill would make findings and declarations regarding the
budget deficit facing the state. The bill would, until January 1,
2012, prohibit a person employed by the state whose base salary on
the effective date of the bill is greater than $150,000 per year from
receiving a salary increase while employed in the same position or
classification, and from receiving payment for overtime work or a
bonus. The bill would exempt from this prohibition a person whose
compensation is governed by an operative memorandum of understanding,
as described above, a person employed in a classification that is
subject to oversight by a federal receiver, a person who has been
exempted by executive order of the Governor, as specified, and a
person whose salary is set pursuant to the California Constitution.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 18005 is added to the Government Code, to read:

   18005.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (1) For several years, the State of California has faced budget
deficits requiring cuts and changes in priorities in order to fund
state activities.
   (2) In recent months, the United States economy has been dealt
severe blows due to the credit crisis and the housing market crisis,
and their resulting effects upon the financial markets.
   (3) The ongoing structural deficit in state finances, complicated
by worsening economic developments, has created a fiscal crisis in
the governance of the state.
   (4) After a nearly three-month deadlock, the Legislature passed
the $103.4 billion Budget Act of 2008 that addressed a $15.2 billion
budget shortfall.
   (5) As the new fiscal year begins, the state is once again facing
a large budget shortfall. In the third quarter of 2008, the state
took in $1.1 billion less than projected. Economic conditions,
including declining property values and stock prices and soaring
unemployment rates, have generated capital losses rather than capital
gains and reduced sales tax, property tax, and income tax revenues.
These conditions have been estimated to lead to a $15 billion to $18
billion budget deficit entering the 2009-10 budget year.
   (6) In addition, the state may be required to spend as much as
$3.5 billion during the 2008-09 fiscal year on prison health care.
   (7) Freezing certain state salaries will help to alleviate the
budget shortfall currently facing the state.
   (b) Except as provided in subdivision (c), a person employed by
the state whose base salary on the effective date of this section is
greater than one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000) per year
shall not receive any of the following:
   (1) A salary increase while employed in the same position or
classification.
   (2) Payment for overtime work.
   (3) A bonus or other compensation in excess of the person's base
salary.
   (c) Subdivision (b) shall not apply to any of the following:
   (1) A person whose base salary or other compensation is governed
by an operative memorandum of understanding entered into pursuant to
Chapter 10.3 (commencing with Section 3512) or Chapter 12 (commencing
with Section 3560) of Division 4 of Title 1, or pursuant to another
collective bargaining agreement.
   (2) A person employed in a classification that is subject to
oversight by a receiver appointed by a federal court.
   (3) A person employed in a classification that has been designated
by the Governor to be necessary for protecting the safety and
security of the people of California. The Governor shall make such a
designation only by an executive order that lists the name of each
individual to whom the order applies, his or her job classification,
and the reason for exempting the individual from the requirements of
subdivision (a).
   (4) A person whose salary is set pursuant to the California
Constitution.
   (d) For the purposes of this section, a "person employed by the
state" means a person employed by the executive, legislative, or
judicial branch of state government, an appointee to a state board or
commission, and a person employed by the California State University
system.
   (e) The Controller may reject a request for a disbursement of
funds that violates this section.
   (f) The Legislature urges the Regents of the University of
California and the Board of Directors of the Hastings College of the
Law to adopt the policy expressed in this section for individuals
employed by those entities.
   (g) This section shall not be enforced to the extent it is
preempted by federal law.
   (h) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2012, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute
that is enacted before January 1, 2012, deletes or extends that
date.