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 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
AB 129 (Committee on Budget) Page 2 of ?
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:
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
AB 129 (Committee on Budget) Page 3 of ?
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 for deferred examination
for any open position at the department they were employed at and
meet the minimum qualifications.
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 / Opposed: None on file.
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