BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 546| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- UNFINISHED BUSINESS Bill No: SB 546 Author: Wright (D) Amended: 6/19/13 Vote: 21 SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 8-0, 5/8/13 AYES: Liu, Wyland, Block, Hancock, Hueso, Huff, Jackson, Monning NO VOTE RECORDED: Correa SENATE FLOOR : 37-0, 5/16/13 (Consent) AYES: Anderson, Beall, Berryhill, Block, Calderon, Cannella, Corbett, Correa, De León, DeSaulnier, Emmerson, Evans, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Hancock, Hernandez, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson, Knight, Lara, Leno, Lieu, Liu, Monning, Nielsen, Padilla, Pavley, Roth, Steinberg, Walters, Wolk, Wright, Wyland, Yee NO VOTE RECORDED: Price, Vacancy, Vacancy ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 6/25/13 (Consent) - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Education employment: termination: hearing SOURCE : Los Angeles Unified School District DIGEST : This bill renames, for purposes of the school district reduction in force process, the accusation" document a "District Statement of Reduction in Force" and renames the "notice of defense" document the "Notice of Participation," as CONTINUED SB 546 Page 2 specified. Assembly Amendments delete provisions which specify that if references to a "District Statement of Reduction in Force" or references to a "notice of defense" create conflicts with other sections of law, the Education Code shall prevail. ANALYSIS : Existing law requires school districts to provide preliminary notification to district employees that his/her services will not be required for the ensuing year no later than March 15th and final notification for termination of his/her services by May 15th. The "reductions in force" process begins when a school district issues an "accusation" to an employee, also known as a pink slip. If the employee wants to challenge the layoff notice, the employee must file a "notice of defense." Existing law allows employees that receive a preliminary layoff notice to request a hearing to determine if there is cause for not reemploying him/her for the ensuing year. The hearing shall be conducted by an administrative law judge who shall prepare a proposed decision, containing findings of fact and a determination as to whether the charges sustained by the evidence are related to the welfare of the schools and students. Copies of the proposed decision, which is not binding on the school district governing board (SDGB), shall be submitted to the SDGB and to the employee on or before May 7th. This bill: 1. Changes the names of the following documents that are required during employee layoff proceedings: A. "Notice of defense" to "notice of participation." B. "Accusation" to "District Statement of Reduction in Force." 2. Specifies that in a hearing involving a reduction in force, a "District Statement of Reduction in Force" shall have the same meaning as an "accusation." The respondent's responsive pleading shall be entitled "Notice of Participation in Reduction in Force Hearing." CONTINUED SB 546 Page 3 3. Specifies for hearings involving a reduction in force that are conducted, a "Notice of Participation" shall have the same meaning as a "Notice of Defense." FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 6/24/13) Los Angeles Unified School District (source) California Teachers Association ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office, over the past several years school districts have experienced budget cuts and as a result, have had to make reductions in the teacher workforce. The forms currently required for school districts during layoff proceedings have titles that may be inappropriate for certificated employees who are losing their jobs due to budget cuts or lack of school funding. According to the author's office, employees that receive their pink slips or "accusations" may believe they are losing their jobs because they have committed some type of offense. This bill re-labels these documents with more appropriate titles and replace "notice of defense" with "notice of participation" and "accusation" with "district statement of reduction in force." ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 6/25/13 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom, Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NO VOTE RECORDED: Harkey, Logue, Lowenthal, Morrell, Perea, Vacancy PQ:d 6/26/13 Senate Floor Analyses CONTINUED SB 546 Page 4 SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED