BILL ANALYSIS �
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 372
Author: Eggman (D)
Amended: 4/8/13 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT & RETIREMENT COMM. : 5-0, 6/10/13
AYES: Beall, Walters, Block, Gaines, Yee
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 70-0, 5/16/13 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT : Civil service: veterans preference in hiring
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill 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/she will be ranked in the top rank of the resulting
eligibility list.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Establishes the state civil service system, which requires a
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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, and in certain cases awards
additional points, as specified.
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.
This bill:
1. Revises and recasts the provisions governing veterans'
preference.
2. Defines for purposes of these provisions, "veteran",
"disabled veteran", and "100% disabled veteran."
3. Deletes from law the existing system for awarding veterans
preference points in specified state examinations.
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4. 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/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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/21/13)
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
ARGUMENTS 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. 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
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those individuals would be eligible for consideration for hire."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 70-0, 5/16/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,
Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Garcia,
Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Hagman, Hall, Harkey,
Roger Hern�ndez, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue,
Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Mitchell, Mullin,
Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea,
V. Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner,
Ting, Torres, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk,
Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Allen, Buchanan, Eggman, Beth Gaines, Grove,
Holden, Melendez, Morrell, Stone, Vacancy
JL:d 6/24/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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