BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT & RETIREMENT BILL NO: AB 385
Patricia Wiggins, Chair Hearing date: July 9, 2007
AB 385 (Ruskin) as amended 6/04/07 FISCAL: YES
STATE SCIENTISTS: SALARY SURVEY BEFORE THE EXPIRATION OF
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT
HISTORY :
Sponsor: California Association of Professional
Scientists (CAPS)
Prior legislation: AB 284 (Bermudez) 2005
Held in Senate Appropriations Committee
ASSEMBLY VOTES :
PER & SS 6-0 4/18/07
Appropriations 12-5 5/31/07
Assembly Floor 48-25 6/06/07
SUMMARY :
Would require the state and the exclusive representative for
State Bargaining Unit 10 (BU 10), Professional Scientific, to
jointly survey, one year prior to the expiration of a
ratified collective bargaining agreement, salaries in
scientific classifications in California public agencies and
to report their findings to the Legislature upon completion
of the survey.
BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS :
1) Existing law
Existing law requires DPA to set and adjust salaries for each
classification in state service. Additionally, at least six
months before the end of the term of an existing memorandum
of understanding, DPA is required to submit a report
containing the department's finding relating to the salaries
of employees in comparable occupations in private industry
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Date: 7/02/07 Page 1
and other governmental agencies.
2) This bill :
a) requires the Department of Personnel Administration
(DPA) and the exclusive representative for BU 10 to jointly
survey, one year prior to the expiration of a ratified
collective bargaining agreement, salaries of comparable
occupations in other public agencies, as specified,
b) requires the state and the exclusive representative for
BU 10 to meet and confer, pursuant to the Ralph C. Dills
Act, regarding the methodology to be used in conducting the
survey,
c) requires DPA to submit the resulting report to the
Legislature, upon its completion, containing the survey's
findings related to the salaries of employees in comparable
occupations in the other public sector agencies, and
d) declares that it is the policy of the state to consider
comparable salaries prior to making salary recommendations
and requires DPA to take into consideration the salary of
other scientists in public employment as determined by the
survey.
FISCAL EFFECT :
According to the Assembly Appropriations analysis:
1) DPA indicates that similar joint-survey provisions have
been included in the BU 10 MOUs since 2003. Thus, the
additional requirements would be minor. By codifying the
provisions, however, this bill could have future impacts on
DPA costs, to the extent that joint-survey provisions could
be deleted from future MOUs, and
2) by codifying provisions requiring DPA to take into
consideration the jointly surveyed salaries of other
additional cost pressure to raise salaries for BU 10
members and excluded employees. As an illustration, a 5%
average increase in the classifications covered by BU 10
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Date: 7/02/07 Page 2
translates into about $8 million in state costs.
According to the sponsor (CAPS), this bill was amended June
4, 2007, in the Assembly Appropriations Committee to mitigate
the impact detailed above. The sponsor states:
"A raise is not provided for in this bill. Amendments in
Assembly Appropriations make it clear that the state is not
required to consider the survey results in setting salaries
and any salary increases would be a result of a
collectively bargained MOU that must come to the
Legislature for approval."
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Date: 7/02/07 Page 3
COMMENTS :
1) Arguments in support
According to supporters:
"There is increasing evidence that substandard state
scientific salaries threaten California's vital
environmental and public health programs because state
agencies can't keep or recruit skilled scientific
personnel. According to a recent Cal/EPA report, "?fair
and equitable salaries must be part of the foundation for
securing and keeping our scientific expertise. If we lose
our scientific expertise, we will go unarmed in the battle
against greenhouse gas emissions, air quality, and the
overall protection of our children's health." According to
recent surveys, state scientists earn on average about 20
percent less than scientists working in other branches of
government."
Supporters also state that this bill :
"?will let policy makers know the current salaries of
state-employed scientific professionals and help them
assess the impact these salary levels will have on state
programs to protect the environment, natural resources and
public health."
2) Similar bill introduced in 2005 and held in Senate
Appropriations Committee
The committee is advised that this bill is similar to AB 284
(Bermudez) 2005 that required DPA and the exclusive
representative for BU 10 to jointly survey scientific
classifications in the public and private sectors. AB 284 of
2005 also would have provided that implementation of any new
pay scales based on the surveys for scientists in BU 10 would
be subject to collective bargaining, but was held in the
Senate Appropriations Committee.
3) SUPPORT :
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees (AFSCME)
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California Conference of Directors of Environmental
Health
California Environmental Rights Alliance
California State Employees Association (CSEA)
Clean Harbors Environmental Services
Health Officers Association of California
DeMenno/Kerdoon
Philbro-Tech
Safety-Kleen, Inc.
Sierra Club
4) OPPOSITION :
None to date
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Date: 7/02/07 Page 5