BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 807
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 807 (Correa)
As Amended June 21, 2012
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :38-0
VETERANS AFFAIRS 9-0 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Cook, Pan, Atkins, Block, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, |
| |Gorell, Nielsen, V. | |Blumenfield, Bradford, |
| |Manuel Pérez, Williams, | |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
| |Yamada | |Davis, Donnelly, Gatto, |
| | | |Hall, Hill, Lara, |
| | | |Mitchell, Nielsen, Norby, |
| | | |Solorio, Wagner |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Specifies that the state active duty force consists of
service members in active state service when ordered by the
Governor. This bill would specify and revise conditions for
state active duty for service members, as provided, and would
authorize the Adjutant General to promulgate regulations in
conformity with these provisions.
Specifically, this bill :
1)States that the state active duty force consists of service
members in active state military service when ordered by the
Governor in accordance with the Military and Veterans Code.
2)Requires an order to state active duty for assignments of less
than six years to be based on using the most qualified service
member for the assignment.
3)Mandates that a service member's orders shall expire annually
unless renewed or the service member is separated for cause.
4)Provides that a service member ordered to state active duty in
accordance with this section who remains on state active duty
for a cumulative total of six years shall be eligible for the
career state active duty system and may remain on state active
duty until the service member reaches 60 years of age or is
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separated for cause. At 60 years of age, a service member's
orders shall be temporary and may be renewed annually.
5)Mandates that when a service member reaches 64 years of age,
or when federal recognition of his or her grade or rank is
withdrawn, whichever occurs later, the service member shall be
retired from state active duty.
6)Requires that a new service member ordered to state active
duty on or after January 1, 2013, with the Military Department
(department) pursuant to this section shall be a current
member of the California National Guard, retired or otherwise
honorably separated from federal active military or California
National Guard service with current membership in the State
Military Reserve, or be a current member of the State Military
Reserve with a minimum of two years of state service. Service
members on state active duty who retire federally from the
California National Guard shall be automatically assessed into
the State Military Reserve.
7)Directs that a commissioned officer on state active duty
assigned to a general officer position who, previous to that
duty, held a state active duty position at a lower grade may
revert to the grade last held upon vacation of the general
officer position, if a position is available.
8)Abolishes a position and assigns duties elsewhere,
notwithstanding any other law, a service member who is on
state active duty may be relieved from state active duty if
the Adjutant General, acting in good faith and on behalf of
the Governor,.
9)Directs the Adjutant General, under the authority of the
Governor as Commander in Chief, to promulgate regulations in
conformity with this section.
10)Requires the Governor to direct the Adjutant General to make
rules and regulations in conformity with this code which shall
conform as nearly as practicable to those governing the United
States Army, United States Air Force Force, and United States
Navy.
11)Renames some of the offices within the Military Department.
The office of the Adjutant General consists of one officer of
the rank of lieutenant general who is the Adjutant General,
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one officer of the rank of brigadier general who is the Deputy
Adjutant General, one officer who may be of the rank of
brigadier general who is the Assistant Adjutant General, Army
Division, one officer who may be of the rank of brigadier
general who is the Assistant Adjutant General, Air Division,
one officer who may be of the rank of brigadier general who is
the Chief of Staff and Director of the Joint Staff.
12)Requires the Governor to appoint the Adjutant General on
State Active Duty, in the Grade of Lieutenant General.
13)Provides that the Adjutant General will be paid and receive
benefits in accordance with Military and Veterans Code Section
320.
14)States that the Adjutant General may designate an officer to
perform his or her duties in the event the Adjutant General is
absent or unable to perform the same.
15)Repeals Military and Veterans Code Section 167 which
contained language which has been reformed by this bill and
incorporated into other sections of the Military and Veterans
Code.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, this bill creates no additional costs for the state
or the Military Department. The Military Department anticipates
that in the long-run the bill will make the full-time state
military force more efficient, and therefore more cost
effective.
COMMENTS : In June of 2006, the Bureau of State Audits released
a report entitled, "Military Department: It Has Had Problems
With Inadequate Personnel Management and Improper Organizational
Structure and Has Not Met Recruiting and Facility Maintenance
Requirements." Among other findings, the report concluded with
regard to the department that:
1)It has not effectively reviewed its state active duty
positions, and as a result may be paying more for some
positions than if they were converted to state civil service
or federal position classifications.
2)It has convened a panel to review the propriety of its 210
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state active duty positions and estimates it will take three
to five years to implement the panel's recommendations.
3)It did not follow its regulations when it temporarily
appointed many state active duty members to positions that do
not appear to be temporary, failed to advertise some vacant
positions as required, and inappropriately granted an
indefinite appointment to one state active duty member after
he reached the mandatory retirement age.
In the approximately 18 months past there have been a
substantial number of allegations of misconduct at the
department, allegations raised in multiple venues, including via
the press, to legislators and staff, through formal complaints,
and through whistleblower allegations, among others. Some of
these allegations concerned the use of the State Active Duty
(SAD) program.
The bill is intended to codify ambiguities concerning the SAD
program and alter some aspects of it which have been
controversial, including some aspects noted in the report by the
Bureau of State Audits.
Status of SAD members as military : This bill clarifies that
there is a status known as SAD. To the extent that there is any
ambiguity as to whether SAD members are military (and not, for
example, civil service employees), this bill resolves that
ambiguity in favor of military status.
SAD members must be competitively selected : Servicemembers
ordered to SAD will be selected using a military competitive
selection process. This responds to allegations that
servicemembers have been placed on SAD status without being
qualified or in otherwise improper fashion.
SAD "tenure" system reform : Under current law, servicemembers
on "permanent" active duty with the office of the adjutant
general generally may remain on active duty until age 60. One
concern with the present system is that it does not discuss
whether a servicemember may be removed for cause. The bill
contains a specific allowance for career state active duty (the
equivalent under the bill of the present tenure/permanent SAD
system) servicemembers to be removed for cause. The bill also
contains provisions (discussed more fully below) for those on
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career SAD to be removed in the event of a reduction in force.
Eligibility for SAD : To address concerns that SAD members have
not always been held to minimum military experience
qualifications, the bill proposes certain eligibility
requirements. In order to be eligible for SAD, a servicemember
must be a current member of the California National Guard,
retired or otherwise honorably separated from federal active
military or California National Guard service with current
membership in the State Military Reserve, or be a current member
of the State Military Reserve with a minimum of two years of
service.
Current Guard, retired, or honorably service separated personnel
will have completed required basic military training at some
point in their military careers, so their level of military
training is of minimal concern. Primary allegations and
concerns have arisen in terms of using the State Military
Reserve as a conduit to bring people onto SAD who have had no
military training.
According to the author the bill will prevent such practices
because State Military Reserve personnel receive a minimum
amount of military training:
The Basic Orientation Course is 4 days and is
required for everyone within two years. It
takes the place of Basic Training, and has some
of the same course content, without land
navigation and weapons training.
Then there are scaled down versions of BNCOC
(Basic NCO Course), ANCOC
(Advanced NCO Course), and SGM Course. All are
intensive over one or more
weekends at Camp Parks?.
New Officers have to graduate from OCS, which is
a 12 month course that
requires at least 1000 hours of work. ?
While there are minimum training standards for SMR personnel,
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these do not seem equivalent to the training completed in the
traditional service components of the National Guard. For
example, Regular Army enlisted personnel must attend a nine week
basic training course and then a follow on Advanced Individual
Training of varying length. The total length for an army
infantry soldier is approximately 14 weeks. The bill does
provide for a two year minimum SMR service requirement, so the
SMR cannot easily be used as a quick end-around minimum military
experience requirements.
Reductions in force/Abolishment of position : Without regard to
whether an SAD member has attained permanent/career status, the
bill provides for reductions in force of such members.
"Notwithstanding any other law, a service member who is on state
active duty may be relieved from state active duty if the
Adjutant General, acting in good faith and on behalf of the
Governor, abolishes a position." Also, in the event of a
reduction in force or abolishment of a position, the department
will attempt to place the servicemember in a job for which the
servicemember is qualified. This latter provision is similar to
some protections offered to civil service employees.
Regulations for SAD : The statute mandates that, pursuant to an
order from the Governor, SAD regulations must conform as nearly
as possible to those applicable to active duty military. As
stated by the author, "This section applies not only to the
regulations that govern of the SAD force, but also those
regulations that apply to rest of the Department's activities
and operations. This is necessary to ensure that the Department
uses Department of Defense rules and regulations, which
represent best business practices for managing a military force,
whenever possible." The clear directive in the bill removes
permissive language in the existing statutes.
Adjutant General as regular SAD member : The bill amends
Military and Veterans Code, Section164.1 to clarify that the
Adjutant General serves on SAD and shall receive the same pay
and benefits pursuant to Section 320, as all other SAD members.
This resolves any ambiguities concerning the pay and benefits to
which the Adjutant General is entitled.
Analysis Prepared by : John Spangler / V. A. / (916) 319-3550
FN: 0004813
SB 807
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