BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON BUDGET AND FISCAL REVIEW
Senator Mark Leno, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 129 Hearing Date: August 27,
2015
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|Author: |Committee on Budget |
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|Version: |August 24, 2015 Amended |
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|Urgency: |Yes |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant|Anita Lee |
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Subject: State civil service.
Summary:This bill provides for statutory changes to enact state
civil service-related provisions of the Budget Act of 2015.
Proposed Law: This bill makes the following statutory changes
to laws governing the civil service system for state employees.
Specifically, this bill impacts two key areas of law governing
1) the competitive ranking of state civil service employees and
applicants, and 2) eligibility and hiring of state employees in
"Career Executive Assignments (CEA).
Ranking of Civil Service Employees and Applicants:
In general, state employment is based on a system of merit
achieved through competitive examination. Applicants for
promotion or employment are ranked based on exam scores and
employers may promote or hire from either the top three names or
ranks, as specified. An employee may receive a passing score on
an exam, but not score high enough to place in the top three
ranks, and therefore, may not be eligible for hire or promotion.
As people in the top three ranks are hired, promoted, or
otherwise fall off the hiring list, individuals who have passed
the exam may move up into the top three ranks and become
eligible for hire or promotion. Specifically, this bill:
1.Eliminates the "Rule of Three Names," which requires hiring
managers to consider only the top three individuals on
promotional hiring eligibility lists whose examination scores
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result in them being in the top three names.
2.Eliminates the "Rule of Six Ranks," which requires all
managerial hiring eligibility lists to be organized into six
ranks, depending on the scores applicants receive on the
classification's exam, and limits a department's hiring
manager to only consider applicants whose examination scores
result in them being in the top three ranks.
3.Eliminates the "Rule of One Rank," which requires departmental
hiring managers to only consider individuals whose examination
scores result in them being in the first rank for supervisory
positions.
4.Consolidates various hiring eligibility list requirements into
a single process, the "Rule of Three Ranks", which would apply
to all promotional or open state jobs. This change will allow
hiring managers to consider eligible persons whose examination
scores result in them being in the top three ranks for rank
and file and managerial lists, as specified.
CEA Assignments
CEAs are state employees in high-level managerial positions that
serve at the top levels in a department. Their responsibility
includes developing and implementing policy, and may serve in a
department director's cabinet or form a department's executive
staff.
In general, CEAs in state employment must be hired from among
individuals with permanent civil service status. In addition,
CEA applicants can include legislative employees, executive
branch appointees (i.e., exempt employees), or former military,
as specified. CEAs are not subject to the same job protections
or hiring and disciplinary standards as apply to non-executive
state civil service employees. CEAs may be terminated "at will."
CEAs must be hired or promoted via a competitive process that is
overseen by the State Personnel Board (SPB). Former civil
service employees who become CEAs and are subsequently
terminated have certain rights to return to civil service
positions following termination, as specified.
This bill expands the pool of CEA candidates by making the
following changes:
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5.Eliminates the requirement that a former legislative or
non-elected exempt employee be separated from employment for
no more than 12 months prior to applying for the CEA position.
6.Expands the pool of eligible candidates that can be appointed
to a CEA position to include individuals from the private
sector who meet the requirements of the applicable position.
7.Provides terminated CEAs hired from outside state civil
service the right to appeal to the State Personnel Board for
restoration of their assignment.
8.Clarifies that terminated CEAs who were previously employed by
the state and had permanent civil service status, have return
rights to a (non-CEA) civil service position, with at least
the same salary level as the last position they held. If the
employee had a minimum of five years of state service, he or
she may return to a position that has the same salary level as
the last position or at least the same salary level that is at
least two steps lower than the CEA position from which the
employee is being terminated. These provisions are consistent
with existing law.
Additionally, this bill states that terminated CEAs hired from
outside civil service would be eligible to compete in any
promotional examination for which they meet the minimum
qualifications. Employees with passing scores shall have their
names placed on promotional hiring lists.
9.Eliminates rules prohibiting a CEA applicant from competing in
multiple civil service promotional exams at more than one
department in the same class.
10. Provides $300,000 one-time General Fund for the Department
of Finance to post all budget requests included as a part of
the Governor's Budget on DOF's website. The funds will be used
to purchase of high-speed industrial scanners and additional
software programming.
Fiscal Effect:$300,000 General Fund on a one-time basis.
Support: None on file.
Opposed: None on
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file.
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