BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 372
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Date of Hearing: April 24, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC EMPLOYEES, RETIREMENT AND SOCIAL
SECURITY
Rob Bonta, Chair
AB 372 (Eggman) - As Amended: April 8, 2013
SUBJECT : Civil service: veterans' preference in hiring.
SUMMARY : Deletes provisions granting veterans' preference
points in specified state examinations and instead requires that
whenever any veteran, widow or widower of a veteran, or spouse
of a 100% disabled veteran achieves a passing score on an
entrance examination, he or she will be ranked in the top rank
of the resulting eligibility list. Specifically, this bill :
1)Revises and recasts the provisions governing veterans'
preference.
2)Defines for purposes of these provisions, "veteran", "disabled
veteran", and "100 percent disabled veteran".
3)Deletes provisions establishing the existing system for
awarding veterans preference points in specified state
examinations.
4)Requires that whenever any veteran, widow or widower of a
veteran, or spouse of a 100 percent disabled veteran achieves
a passing score on an entrance examination, he or she will be
ranked in the top rank of the resulting eligibility list.
5)Prohibits application of the preference to any veteran who has
been dishonorably discharged or released.
6)Specifies that preference will not be awarded to permanent
civil service employees.
7)Makes other technical and conforming changes.
8)Makes various legislative findings and declarations related to
Legislature's intent to expand employment opportunities for
veterans and to improve the application of veterans'
preferences in state hiring.
EXISTING LAW :
AB 372
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1)Establishes the state civil service system, which requires a
hiring process that is to be based on merit ascertained by
competitive examination.
2)Allows state employing agencies to hold open exams for
nonpromotional positions in civil service, in which applicants
receive points, and based on their scores are placed on ranked
hiring lists and are then eligible to be hired into state
civil service. Applicants are ranked according to their scores
into six ranks. In general, applicants must be hired first
from the top three ranks and are said to be "reachable."
3)Establishes a number of provisions that provide additional
exam points for veterans, disabled veterans, spouses of 100%
disabled veterans, and widows and widowers of veterans who
obtain passing scores on open, nonpromotional state civil
service examinations that do not require college graduation
and two or more years of experience. These provisions do not
apply to a veteran who received a dishonorable discharge.
4)Allows veterans and widows or widowers of veterans, as well as
spouses of 100% disabled veterans, to receive a 10-point
veteran's preference and allows a disabled veteran to get a
15-point veteran's preference added, to a passing score on an
open, nonpromotional exam.
5)Requires that a veteran who has completed acceptable training
in the United States Armed Forces as a military law
enforcement officer receive 15 preference points in an
examination for an open peace officer position in state
employment.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "The current process does
not provide any advantage to veterans who pass the exam but do
not score in the highest three ranks, and have the minimum
qualifications for the job, because they will never be in the
higher ranks on the list. As a result the true objective, to
get veterans jobs in state government, is frustrated. This
legislation will ensure that more veterans will be competitive
for state positions by allowing veterans who pass exams to
automatically be placed in the top rank."
AB 372
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The author concludes, "This proposal simplifies the system and
gives every veteran, disabled veteran, and widow of a veteran an
equal advantage. The revised law would provide simply that any
one of those individuals who passes an open examination would be
automatically moved to the top rank of the list, meaning all of
those individuals would be eligible for consideration for hire.
With more reachable veterans, departments are more likely to
find a veteran who meets the particular needs of the job they
need to fill."
This bill has been double-referred to the Assembly Veterans
Affairs Committee where it was heard on April 2, 2012, and
passed out of the Committee on a vote of 9 to 0.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Legion-Department of California
AMVETS-Department of California
California Association of County Veterans Service Officers
California State Commanders Veterans Council
VFW-Department of California
Vietnam Veterans of America-California State Council
Veterans Democratic Club of Sacramento County
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Karon Green / P.E., R. & S.S. / (916)
319-3957