BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
Senator Patricia Wiggins, Chair
BILL NO: AB 863 HEARING: 6/17/09
AUTHOR: Niello FISCAL: No
VERSION: 4/14/09 CONSULTANT:
Weinberger
SMUD'S CIVIL SERVICE SYSTEM
Background and Existing Law
The general manager of a municipal utility district (MUD)
must establish a civil service system for the district's
employees. In a MUD with at least 600 employees, the board
of directors can appoint, and exempt from civil service, up
to 15 employees to fill positions requiring peculiar and
exceptional qualifications, including scientific,
professional, expert, or managerial backgrounds (SB 122,
Breed, 1943). If a MUD has owned and operated an electric
distribution system for at least eight years and has a
population of at least 250,000, its board can exempt
additional employees from the district's civil service if
the total number of exempt positions is not more than two
percent of the district's total civil service positions (SB
107, Greene, 1987).
The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) owns an
electric distribution system, has 2,180 civil service
employees, and serves a population of approximately 1.4
million people. Of the state's five MUDs, SMUD is the only
one that can exempt more than 15 employees from civil
service, up to the two percent maximum. SMUD wants the
Legislature to raise the limit on the number of employees
it can exempt from civil service.
Proposed Law
Assembly Bill 863 increases, from two percent of a
district's civil service positions to five percent of a
district's civil service positions, the maximum number of
positions that a MUD which has owned and operated an
electric distribution system for at least eight years and
has a population of at least 250,000 can exempt from civil
service.
AB 863 -- 4/14/09 -- Page 2
Comment
More flexibility . To help it respond to the competitive
demands of the rapidly changing energy industry, SMUD wants
greater flexibility in hiring non-civil service employees.
The District has nearly filled the maximum number of exempt
positions it is allowed under current law. AB 863 allows
SMUD to respond to complex and highly-technical new
statutory and regulatory requirements relating to
greenhouse gas emission reductions and the use of renewable
energy sources by designating additional exempt positions
for employees who possess unique qualifications.
Assembly Actions
Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee:14-0
Assembly Floor: 77-0
Support and Opposition (6/11/09)
Support : Sacramento Municipal Utility District, California
Special Districts Association.
Opposition : Unknown.