BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                    AB 1753


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          Date of Hearing:   April 20, 2016


                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS


                               Lorena Gonzalez, Chair


          AB  
          1753 (Obernolte) - As Amended March 30, 2016


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          |Policy       |Public Employees,              |Vote:| 6 - 0       |
          |Committee:   |Retirement/Soc Sec             |     |             |
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          Urgency:  No  State Mandated Local Program:  NoReimbursable:  No


          SUMMARY:


          This bill: 


          1)Specifies that the date of an overpayment involving leave  
            credits is the later of the following two dates: 


             a)   When the employee receives compensation in exchange for  








                                                                    AB 1753


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               erroneously credited leave. 


             b)   The date that the state discovers fraud, embezzlement,  
               or falsification, if applicable. 


          1)Requires administrative action to recover overpayments to be  
            initiated by providing written notice to the employee within  
            three years of the date of overpayment.  


          FISCAL EFFECT:


          Negligible state costs as the California Department of Human  
          Resources (CalHR) already provides guidance to state agencies  
          that reflects the provisions of this bill.   


          COMMENTS:


          1)Purpose and background: According to the author, this bill  
            will help the state recover overpayments to state employees by  
            clarifying when an overpayment actually occurs. This bill  
            adopts recommendations from the California State Auditor on  
            possible strategies to recover the overpayment of leave  
            credits. These recommendations came from their 2014 report  
            that found that as of the end of 2013, the value of erroneous  
            leave hours was nearly $6.4 million. The State Auditor report  
            argues that the state faces obstacles in recovering these  
            overpayments because while state agencies are required to  
            initiate collection efforts on overpayments within three years  
            of an overpayment occurring, existing law does not explicitly  
            define when an overpayment occurs. As a result, in the event  
            of litigation a court may find that the state waited too long  
            to recover overpayments. 









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          Analysis Prepared by:Luke Reidenbach / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081