California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 61

Introduced by Assembly Member Beth Gaines

May 21, 2013

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 61—Relative to state employee merit awards.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

ACR 61, as introduced, Beth Gaines. State employee merit awards.

This measure would declare that merit award payments in specified amounts, authorized by the Department of Human Resources, are made to specified current or retired state employees whose proposals have resulted in annual savings and net revenue gain to the state.

Fiscal committee: yes.

WHEREAS, Section 19823 of the Government Code authorizes
the Department of Human Resources to make awards to current
or retired state employees who propose procedures or ideas that
are subsequently adopted and placed in effect and result in
eliminating or reducing state expenditures or improving state
operations; and

WHEREAS, Any award granted under Section 19823 of the
Government Code in excess of $5,000 must be approved by
concurrent resolution of the Legislature; and

WHEREAS, Lawrence Crawford, Glenn Mochel, and Steve
Sattler of the California Department of Transportation suggested
that rocker switches installed in department vehicles to activate
different lighting equipment be identified by engraving directly
on the switches, rather than requiring separate labels to be engraved
and subsequently installed on those switches, and to stock a supply
of commonly used prelabled switches, which resulted in a first-year
savings of $45,898; and

WHEREAS, Andrew Seames of the Employment Development
Department created a macro for use by the department’s Tax and
Wage Corrections Group, to reduce repetitive data entries and
expedite the processing of work items when correcting employer
information in the database, which resulted in a first-year savings
of $81,937; and

WHEREAS, Adrienne Redding of the Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation suggested replacing expensive and
heavily-padded exposure control jumpsuits required for inmates
with a history of indecent exposure, which were purchased from
an out-of-state sole source vendor, and instead using inmate labor
for the in-house manufacture of a lighter-weight version of the
exposure control jumpsuits at the California Correctional Center
in Susanville, which resulted in a first-year savings of $61,625;
and

WHEREAS, Steven Speck, Roger Shonafelt, and Dana White
of the Department of Water Resources suggested using
polypropylene material in lieu of steel material for radiator tank
ends for motor air coolers at 28 pumping plant units, which resulted
in a first-year savings of $204,965; and

WHEREAS, The savings generated by implementation of these
suggestions will continue to be realized on an annual basis; and

WHEREAS, As a result of actual savings generated from the
implementation of these suggestions, it is unnecessary to
appropriate additional funds for payment of awards to these
employees; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature of the State of California
hereby declares that merit award payments, authorized by the
five-member Merit Award Board and the Department of Human
Resources, are hereby made in amounts up to and including 10
percent of the first-year savings generated by each suggestion, as
follows:

(a) To Lawrence Crawford, Glenn Mochel, and Steve Sattler,
in the amount of $4,182, to be shared equally.

(b) To Andrew Seames in the amount of $11,387.

(c) To Adrienne Redding in the amount of $7,325.

(d) To Steven Speck, Roger Shonafelt, and Dana White in the
amount of $15,501, to be shared equally; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the Controller and to the Department of Human
Resources.