BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                    SB 1180  


                                                                    Page  1





          Date of Hearing:  August 3, 2016


                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS


                               Lorena Gonzalez, Chair


          SB 1180  
          (Jackson) - As Amended April 26, 2016


           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Policy       |Education                      |Vote:|7 - 0        |
          |Committee:   |                               |     |             |
          |             |                               |     |             |
          |             |                               |     |             |
          |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------|
          |             |Veterans Affairs               |     |7 - 0        |
          |             |                               |     |             |
          |             |                               |     |             |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 


          Urgency:  No  State Mandated Local Program:  NoReimbursable:  No


          SUMMARY:


          This bill provides school employees, hired on or after January  
          1, 2017, and who are military veterans with service-connected  
          disabilities, additional paid leave for the purpose of  
          undergoing medical treatment for those disabilities during their  
          first year of employment.  Specifically, this bill:


          1)Provides certificated employees 10 additional days of paid  








                                                                    SB 1180  


                                                                    Page  2





            leave during their first year of employment to receive medical  
            treatment for military service-related disabilities if their  
            disability is rated 30% or more by the United States  
            Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). This is in addition to  
            the 10 days of paid leave authorized under existing law. 


          2)Provides classified employees 12 additional days of paid leave  
            during their first year of employment to receive medical  
            treatment for military service-related disabilities if their  
            disability is rated 30% or more by the VA. This is in addition  
            to the 12 days of paid leave authorized under existing law.


          3)Specifies that credit for the paid leave must be provided on  
            the first day of employment and remain available for use for  
            12 months of employment. If the leave is not used during the  
            12-month period, it cannot be carried over.


          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


          5)Provides for a reduction of the leave of absence for part-time  
            employees in proportion to the amount of time actually  
            employed during the week and year.


          6)Specifies that these provisions may 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 bill.










                                                                    SB 1180  


                                                                    Page  3





          FISCAL EFFECT:


          Unknown one-time Proposition 98/GF cost pressure, likely in the  
          low hundreds of thousands of dollars, to support local education  
          agency (LEA) costs to provide extended leave benefits to  
          classified and certificated employees who are veterans with a  
          military service-connected disability rated at 30% or more by  
          the VA.  


          


          COMMENTS:


          1)Purpose.  According to the author, sick leave is immediately  
            granted to school employees once they begin a job, but many  
            school employees face limitations on the numbers of sick days  
            they can use. The author states this leave may not be  
            sufficient to attend to the needs of veterans with significant  
            service-related disabilities. For instance, classified  
            employees can only use up to 6 days of sick leave in their  
            first six months on the job. 
            


            This bill provides disabled veterans with a military  
            service-connected disability rated at 30% or more by the VA,  
            twice the amount of paid time off authorized under existing  
            law during their first year of employment. This additional  
            benefit will allow these veterans more time to attend medical  
            and VA appointments to treat their service-related  
            disabilities. 












                                                                    SB 1180  


                                                                    Page  4






          2)Non-fiscal bill. This bill is keyed non-fiscal.  This  
            committee, however, requested to hear this measure to  
            determine any potential costs or savings associated with  
            extending paid leave benefits to school employees. 



          3)Comments. The absence of data makes it difficult to determine  
            the fiscal impact this bill will have on LEAs. According to  
            2014-15 data, there were 231,887 classified employees and  
            295,800 certificated employees in California. There is no data  
            on the number of school employees who are veterans.  It is  
            also difficult to predict how many veterans would be hired by  
            an LEA on or after January 1, 2017, and be eligible for  
            additional paid leave due to a military service-connected  
            disability rated at 30% or more.  



            According to CalHR, there were 147 disabled veterans hired by  
            the state in 2014.  For illustration, assuming a daily  
            substitute rate of $120 or $15 an hour rate for classified  
            employees, costs per employee could range from $1,200 to  
            $1,400. If 150 school employees qualified for additional paid  
            leave, costs would range from $180,000 to $210,000.





          4)Prior related legislation. SB 221 (Jackson), Chapter 794,  
            Statues of 2015, provided new state employees who are disabled  
            veterans additional sick leave during their first year in the  
            state workforce to seek treatment for their service-related  
            disabilities. 
            










                                                                    SB 1180  


                                                                    Page  5





          Analysis Prepared by:Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081