BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



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          Date of Hearing:   January 21, 2016


                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS


                                 Jimmy Gomez, Chair


          ACR  
          98 (Beth Gaines) - As Introduced July 16, 2015


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          Urgency:  No  State Mandated Local Program:  No Reimbursable:   
          No


          SUMMARY: 


          This Resolution authorizes the payment of State Merit Awards  
          approved by the California Department of Human Resources (CalHR)  
          to three state employees in various departments whose proposals  








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          resulted in the reduction of state expenditures or improvement  
          in state operations.


          FISCAL EFFECT:


          Authorizes the payment of $64,709.67 to three state employees.  
          Awards are paid by the individual departments from the savings  
          generated from implementation of the award recipients'  
          respective suggestions.


          COMMENTS:


          1)Purpose.  Existing law authorizes CalHR to grant awards to  
            public employees whose proposals result in state savings.   
            Awards in excess of $5,000 must be approved by the  
            Legislature.  Each of the three recipients named in this  
            resolution has been paid $5,000. This resolution authorizes  
            payment of the remaining balances of the awards. 

          2)Background.  The State Merit Award Program provides cash and  
            honorary awards to state employees who propose ideas that  
            result in savings, efficiencies, or safety improvements to a  
            state program. Under the program, administered by CalHR, when  
            a suggestion is implemented and results in savings, the  
            employee (or employees) may be eligible to receive up to 20%  
            of the savings captured in the first year. Awards of up to  
            $5,000 may be paid by departments, and awards in excess of  
            $5,000 must be approved by the Legislature.

            According to CalHR, the state merit award program has proven  
            to be an effective program for taxpayers. This resolution  
            recognizes individuals whose combined suggestions have  
            resulted in a first year savings to the state of $615,657. 










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          3)Prior legislation.  This resolution is similar to the  
            following resolutions which approved merit award payments:

            ACR 61 (Gaines), Chapter 138, Statutes of 2013                  



            ACR 178 (Niello), Chapter 159, Statutes of 2010


            ACR 116 (Blakeslee), Chapter 85, Statutes of 2006


            SCR 41 (Soto), Chapter 143, Statutes of 2001


            ACR 135 (Wesson), Chapter 122, Statutes of 2000


            SCR 15 (Ortiz), Chapter 85 Statutes of 1999


            ACR 98 (Hurtt), Chapter 168, Statutes of 1998 


            SCR 26 (Schiff), Chapter 116, Statutes of 1997


            SCR 58 (Rogers), Chapter 52, Statutes of 1996


            


            Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081









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