BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                            



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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, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,  
            Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Garcia,  
            Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Hagman, Hall, Harkey,  
            Roger Hernández, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue,  
            Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Mitchell, Mullin,  
            Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea,  
            V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner,  
            Ting, Torres, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk,  
            Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
          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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