BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 372
                                                                  Page  1

          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."









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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