BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1180
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Date of Hearing: June 28, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS
Jacqui Irwin, Chair
SB
1180 (Jackson) - As Amended April 26, 2016
SENATE VOTE: 37-0
SUBJECT: Public school employees: military veterans: leave of
absence for illness or injury
SUMMARY: Provides school employees who are military veterans
with service-connected disabilities paid leaves of absence for
illness or injury for the purpose of undergoing medical
treatment for those disabilities during their first year of
employment. Specifically, this bill:
1.Provides that, in addition to any other entitlement for leave
of absence for illness or injury with pay, a school employee
hired on or after January 1, 2017, who is a military veteran
with a military service-connected disability rated at 30% or
more by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs shall
be entitled to leave of absence for illness or injury with pay
of up to 10 days for certificated employees and up to 12 days
for classified employees for the purpose of undergoing medical
treatment for his or her military service-connected
disability.
2.Specifies that credit for leave of absence for illness or
injury shall be credited to a qualifying classified employee
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on the first day of employment and shall remain available for
use for the following 12 months of employment.
3.Provides that a leave of absence for illness or injury that is
not used during the 12-month period shall not be carried over
and shall be forfeited. 4) Authorizes governing boards to
require submission of satisfactory proof that a leave of
absence for illness or injury is used for treatment of a
military service-connected disability
4.Provides for a reduction of the leave of absence for part-time
employees as follows:
a. An employee who is employed for less than five days
per week shall be entitled to a percentage of 10 days
(for certificated employees) or 12 days (for classified
employees) of leave equal to the percentage of days
employed per week;
b. A classified employee who is employed five days per
week and less than a full fiscal year is entitled to a
percentage of 12 days equal to the percentage of 12
months employed; and
c. A classified employee who is employed less than five
days per week and who is employed for less than a full
fiscal year shall have his or her leave reduced in
proportion to the number of days per week and months per
year employed.
5.Specifies that these provisions shall not be construed to
diminish the obligation of a public school employer to comply
with any collective bargaining agreement entered into by a
public school employer and an exclusive bargaining
representative that provides greater leave of absence rights
to employees than the rights established under this section.
EXISTING LAW: Provides full time certificated employees with 10
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days of leave and full time classified employees with 12 days of
leave for illness or injury and authorizes governing boards to
allow additional days of leave. Provides that the leaves of
absence shall be reduced for part time employees in proportion
to the time employed.
FISCAL EFFECT: This bill is nonfiscal.
COMMENTS:
According to the author:
Many school employees accrue their sick leave slowly or face
limitations on how much sick leave they can take in their
first months of employment. Many veterans are returning from
Iraq and Afghanistan with physical and mental health issues
that require medical attention. Veterans Affairs (VA)
appointments can be difficult to schedule and even harder to
reschedule. A shortage of mental health specialists in the VA
makes it particularly important to follow up and attend
appointments as soon as they are received.
It is not clear that this bill will solve a problem facing
veterans; the material impact of this bill is speculative.
Although it is the case that, as the author states, many school
employees accrue sick leave slowly and face limitations on how
much sick leave they can take in the first months of employment,
no foundational data has been proffered for the benefit provided
by this bill nor is staff aware of any. Relevant data might
include: data showing that new school employee veterans are
experiencing challenges attending medical appointments for
service connected disabilities, data establishing the number of
new school veterans with disabilities, or any data about sick
leave usage for service connected disability appointments after
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the first year.
This bill would provide a small benefit to an unknown number of
veterans in response to a potential problem. In the sense that
the bill, even if speculatively, might provide a benefit to some
veterans, ties the additional leave to a veteran's significant
service connected disability, supports their access to federal
benefits and honors their service, the bill is aligned with
existing broad policies of the state. Further, the bill is
tailored to just the first year of employment during which most
school employees have little to no accrued sick leave. As a
concept, new veteran employees (or any school employees), if
they were likely to experience sick leave challenges in getting
to medical appointments, would probably be most likely to
experience those challenges in the first year of employment.
However, despite the foregoing, veterans experience unique,
known challenges and continue to have many well-documented,
critical issues that merit the attention of policymakers. The
risk is that bills that don't arise from a more clearly known
need may shift Legislative focus and bandwidth away from the
known important veterans policy issues and/or generate a broad
overall sense that veterans issues have been resolved.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
American G.I Forum of California
AMVETS-Department of California
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California Association of County Veteran Service Officers
California School Employees Association, AFL-CIO
California Teachers Association
VFW-Department of California
Vietnam Veterans of America, California State Council
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:John Spangler / V.A. / (916)
319-3550