BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1308|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 1308
Author: Senate Public Employment and Retirement Committee
Amended: 8/21/12
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT & RETIRE. COMM : 4-0, 3/26/12
AYES: Negrete McLeod, Walters, Gaines, Vargas
NO VOTE RECORDED: Padilla
SENATE FLOOR : 37-0, 4/12/12
AYES: Alquist, Anderson, Berryhill, Blakeslee, Calderon,
Cannella, Correa, De León, DeSaulnier, Dutton, Emmerson,
Evans, Fuller, Gaines, Hancock, Harman, Hernandez, Huff,
Kehoe, La Malfa, Leno, Lieu, Liu, Lowenthal, Negrete
McLeod, Pavley, Price, Rubio, Simitian, Steinberg,
Strickland, Vargas, Walters, Wolk, Wright, Wyland, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Corbett, Padilla, Runner
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 6/28/12 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : State Human Resources Department: functions
SOURCE : Department of Human Resources
DIGEST : This bill contains statutory changes included in
the Governors plan (GRP 1, 2011) to consolidate the
Department of Personnel Administration (DPA) and the State
Personnel Board (SPB) into a single agency: the California
Department of Human Resources (HR).
CONTINUED
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Assembly Amendments specify any bills enacted this year
that take effect on or before January 1, 2013, would
prevail over this bill.
ANALYSIS : The California Constitution establishes SPB
and requires SPB to, among other things, enforce the civil
service statutes, prescribe probationary periods and
classifications, adopt rules authorized by statute, and
review disciplinary actions. The Constitution also
requires the executive officer of the board to administer
the civil service statutes under the rules of SPB.
Existing law establishes the Department of Personnel
Administration for purposes of managing the nonmerit
aspects of the state's personnel system.
GRP 1, operative July 1, 2012, creates HR, which is vested
with the duties, purposes, responsibilities, and
jurisdiction exercised by SPB as its designee with respect
to SPB's administrative and ministerial functions. The
plan also abolishes the DPA, and transfers the functions
and duties performed by the DPA to HR. The plan eliminates
certain functions of SPB relating to investigating and
hearing complaints of discrimination in the civil service.
The plan also authorizes HR to establish disciplinary
criteria applicable to adverse actions taken by appointing
bodies pursuant to causes of discipline for employees and
individuals established pursuant to specified provisions of
law. The plan requires SPB to give consideration and
respect to any applicable disciplinary criteria established
by HR in making certain decisions relating to disciplinary
proceedings.
This bill is identical to GRP 1 and codifies the statutory
changes to law that were put into effect upon passage of
GRP 1:
1.Combines the day-to-day staff operations of the DPA and
SPB organizations into a new, consolidated agency: HR,
and will result in relocating the two former departments
into a single location (ideally by July 1, 2013.).
2.Identifies a staff-reduction goal of 15-20 percent
following consolidation, which will be achieved over
approximately three years through attrition of existing
staff in the two departments.
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3.Specifies that the authority of the DPA director is
transferred to the HR director, who will be appointed by
the Governor and approved by the Senate.
4.Preserves the constitutionally created, five-member State
Personnel Board and its constitutional role as an
independent and objective merit oversight organization,
and retains staff dedicated to the specific work of the
Board, including a board-appointed executive officer, an
appeals division, and legal staff. SPB will have its own
budget, which will not require approval by HR.
5.Transfers appeals of discrimination in state employment
that are not based on violations of the merit principle
to the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH)
(for example, general complaints of discrimination would
go to DFEH; appeals of state examination results based on
gender, race, or other protected factors would continue
to be heard by SPB). These types of cases comprise fewer
than 100 of the 2,500-2,800 cases heard by SPB annually.
6.Preserves intact some of the current operations and
divisions within DPA, such as the labor-relations
division and certain benefit programs, while combining
other functions that overlap with current administration
of SPB into two new divisions: the Personnel Management
Division and the Statewide Services Division.
7.Includes mostly technical statutory changes, but also
includes provisions allowing HR to establish disciplinary
criteria applicable to adverse actions taken by
appointing bodies, and stating that SPB, in arriving at a
decision or proposed decision regarding an appeal on a
disciplinary matter, shall give consideration and respect
to the disciplinary criteria, as specified, consistent
with its discretion and authority.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
The Department of Finance has scored annual savings of
$5.5-$5.8 million as a result of the reorganization,
chiefly due to position reductions and fully effective when
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consolidation occurs and the two departments become
co-located. Staff reductions are expected to be achieved
through attrition over the next few years. In addition, it
is expected that efficiencies will be achieved in the line
agencies with regard to more effective human resources
functions, resulting in additional unquantified savings.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/23/12)
Department of Human Resources (source)
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/23/12)
Association of California State Employees with Disabilities
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the Department of
Human Resources, this bill replicates the language in GRP 1
that the Little Hoover Commission and the Legislature
reviewed last year when they considered the reorganization
plan. Overlapping functions will be aligned and outdated
processes will be eliminated, providing more efficient and
coordinated personnel management. Over the next two fiscal
years, HR will eliminate 60 positions (15 percent
reduction) and save $8.6 million ($3.7 General Fund). GRP
1 also preserves the independence and constitutional
jurisdiction of the Board. Specifically, SPB's five-member
Board will maintain oversight and authority over the civil
service merit system, disciplinary appeals process, and
other constitutionally defined duties.
According to the GRP 1 summary provided by the Governor:
California state government could not operate without
hard-working employees. Unfortunately, due to the
bifurcated personnel system, our own bureaucracy makes
it difficult to recruit, hire, promote, classify,
discipline, train, and reward those employees. It is
time to remedy the procedural and organizational
problems that confound our system and create one
unified state Department of Human Resources. Study
after study point out that the state's personnel
management system with its redundant responsibilities
is outmoded, inefficient, unresponsive, and lacks the
organizational focus necessary for the management of
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an effective public service. It wastes money and is a
bureaucratic impediment to implementing reforms that
would make all state agencies more effective in
serving the public. The State of California can no
longer afford disjointed, duplicative, and wasteful
programs. It is in the public's interest for economy
and efficiency in government to consolidate the human
resource management functions performed by SPB and DPA
into one Department of Human Resources. It is also in
the public interest to accomplish this reorganization
while preserving the merit principle in state
government as required by Article VII of the State
Constitution."
NOTE: In response to the opposition, the author's office
states that this bill is necessary to ensure that the
statues accurately reflect changes to law that occurred in
2011 when GRP1 was passed. This bill is exactly, word for
word, the language passed in GRP1 in 2011. GRP1 ensured
that the SPB would continue to hear discrimination
complaints relative to the civil service merit system. It
streamlined a duplicative governmental process by
eliminating a small number of cases from SPB's docket that
were also being heard by DFEH regarding more generalized
discrimination in the workplace (i.e., not related to the
merit system). Unlike SPB, DFEH can impose civil remedies
for cases of discrimination in the workplace. CalHR is
currently reaching out to this and other constituent groups
in personal meetings to ensure that they understand how the
state will continue to ensure non-discrimination, including
reasonable accommodation, in the workplace following
implementation of GRP1.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The Association of California
State Employees with Disabilities (ACSED) states in
opposition that, "On January 26, 2012, the final report of
the California Model Employer Initiative (CMEI) was
published. This report is the culmination of a years-long
project to make recommendations for much-needed
improvements in the procedures for hiring, retention, and
upward mobility of persons with disabilities in state
government. SB 1308, as written, Section 19702 of the
Government Code would be repealed, thereby depriving the
State Personnel Board of authority to accept and rule on
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complaints of unlawful discrimination. ACSED believes
that, in order to effectively implement the reforms
recommended by the CMEI Policy Task Force and make
California a model employer of persons with disabilities,
it is essential that either SPB or the new Human Resources
Agency continue to have authority to handle discrimination
complaints." ACSED supports keeping Section 19702 exactly
as it appears in current law. They state, "The rationale
for repeal of Section 19702 is that the Department of Fair
Employment and Housing ÝDFH] could handle discrimination
complaints of state employees, since they handle such
complaints from the private sector. ACSED would dispute
this." ACSED's position is that "rules of state employment
are different from the private sector, and in many ways
more advanced as far as policies on employees with
disabilities. The State Personnel Board has long
experience handling these unique issues, whereas DFEH does
not, nor do they have the needed staff. There is potential
for great harm to employees with disabilities. In
addition, if discrimination complaints from employees with
disabilities go directly from individual departments to
DFEH where cases from all public and private sector
employees are mixed, the opportunity for state
government-wide consistency of policy in areas such as
reasonable accommodation would be diminished. Many
discrimination complaints of persons with disabilities do
involve problems, or failure of, reasonable accommodation
because it is critical to successful job performance for
many people. If it is not possible to retain Section 19702
as is, then at a minimum they request an amendment be added
to include language clarifying that SPB would still be able
to hear complaints alleging denial of reasonable
accommodation while on the job, not only during the exam or
hiring process or during disciplinary action."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 06/28/12
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson,
Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Beth
Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Gorell, Grove,
Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger Hernández, Hill,
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Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lara,
Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller,
Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby,
Olsen, Pan, Perea, Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Solorio,
Swanson, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Yamada, John A.
Pérez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Donnelly, Halderman, V. Manuel Pérez,
Smyth, Torres, Williams
DLW:nd 8/23/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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