SB 1025, as amended, Torres. Department of the California Highway Patrol: Department of Human Resources.
Existing law authorizes the Department of Human Resources, when determining compensation for communications operators in the Department of the California Highway Patrol, to consider the total compensation for communications operators in comparable positions in the police departments of the Cities of Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego, and San Jose, and the City and County of San Francisco.
This bill would delete references to communications operators and would refer instead to public safety dispatchers and public safety operatorsbegin insert, and would delete findings related to those dispatchers and operatorsend insert.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 2266 of the Vehicle Code is amended to
2read:
(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
4following:
P2 1(1) The public safety dispatchers and public safety operators of
2the Department of the California Highway Patrol are among the
3lowest paid when compared to operators employed by other law
4enforcement agencies in the state. The department’s communication
5centers suffer from significant staff shortages and high turnover
6rates. Increasing the wages paid to these public safety dispatchers
7and public safety operators will increase their professionalism
8while reducing their rate of turnover.
9(2) The recruitment and retention problem is especially evident
10in the
classifications of Public Safety Dispatcherbegin delete I and IIend delete and Public
11Safety Operatorbegin delete I and IIend delete.
12(3) In order for the state to recruit and retain the highest qualified
13and capablebegin delete communicationsend deletebegin insert public safety dispatchers and public
14safetyend insert operators, those employees should be compensated in an
15amount equal to the estimated average total compensation for the
16classifications corresponding to
Public Safety Dispatcherbegin delete I and IIend delete
17 and Public Safety Operatorbegin delete I and IIend delete within the police departments
18in the Cities of Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego, and San Jose
19and the City and County of San Francisco.
20(4) According to the Department of the California Highway
21Patrol, it costs the department thirty-six thousand one hundred
22ninety-eight dollars ($36,198) to train a Public Safety Dispatcher
23I and Public Safety Operator I and sixty-five thousand two hundred
24two dollars ($65,202) to train a Public Safety Dispatcher II and
25Public Safety
Operator II to their respective classifications. After
26the department has trained a public safety dispatcher or public
27safety operator, all too often the new, fully trained dispatcher or
28operator will move to a local agency to a higher wage.
29(5)
end delete
30begin insert(4)end insert This section is not in violation of the Ralph C. Dills Act
31(Chapter 10.3 (commencing with Section 3512) of Division 4 of
32Title 1 of the Government Code), which requires that changes for
33salaries and benefits be collectively bargained between
34representatives of the state and the employee’s union. This section
35does not circumvent that process. This section simply authorizes
36the Department of
Human Resources, when determining
37compensation forbegin delete communicationsend deletebegin insert
public safety dispatchers and
38public safetyend insert operators in the Department of the California
39Highway Patrol, to consider the total compensation for
P3 1begin delete communicationsend deletebegin insert public safety dispatchers and public safetyend insert
2 operators in other jurisdictions.
3(b) When determining compensation for public safety
4dispatchers and public safety operators in the Department of the
5California Highway Patrol, the Department of Human Resources
6may consider the total compensation for public safety dispatchers
7and public safety operators in comparable positions in the police
8departments specified in paragraph (3) of subdivision (a).
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