BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT & RETIREMENT BILL NO: AB 372
Jim Beall, Chair HEARING DATE: June 10, 2013
AB 372 (Eggman) as amended 4/08/13 FISCAL: YES
STATE CIVIL SERVICE: VETERANS' PREFERENCE IN HIRING
HISTORY :
Sponsor: Author
Other legislation: AB 1930 (Gorell),
Chapter 142, Statutes of 2012
ASSEMBLY VOTES :
Veterans Affairs 9-0 4/02/13
PER & SS 7-0 4/24/13
Appropriations 17-0 5/08/13
Assembly Floor 70-0 5/16/13
SUMMARY :
AB 372 deletes current provisions granting veterans'
preference points in specified state civil service
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.
BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS :
1) Existing law :
a) establishes the state civil service system, which
requires a hiring process that is to be based on merit
ascertained by competitive examination.
b) 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
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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."
c) 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.
d) 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, and in
certain cases awards additional points, as specified.
e) 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.
2) This bill :
a) revises and recasts the provisions governing veterans'
preference.
b) defines for purposes of these provisions, "veteran",
"disabled veteran", and "100 percent disabled veteran".
c) deletes from law the existing system for awarding
veterans preference points in specified state
examinations.
d) 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.
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e) prohibits application of the preference to any veteran
who has been dishonorably discharged or released.
f) specifies that preference will not be awarded to
permanent civil service employees.
g) makes other technical and conforming changes.
h) 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.
FISCAL :
The Assembly Appropriations Committee notes "minor
administrative costs to the Department of Human Resources."
COMMENTS :
1)Argument in Support :
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."
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."
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2)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
3)OPPOSITION :
None to date
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