BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1406|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1406
Author: Emmerson (R)
Amended: 5/21/09 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC EMP. & RET. COMMITTEE : 7-0, 6/22/09
AYES: Correa, Ashburn, Benoit, Ducheny, Liu, Padilla,
Wiggins
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-1, 5/26/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : County Board of Retirement: hiring of
employees
SOURCE : San Bernardino County Board of Supervisor
DIGEST : This bill allows the board of retirement of San
Bernardino County, which operates a retirement system
established under the County Employees Retirement Law of
1937 (37 Act), to appoint, outside the county civil service
system, supervisors and employees who have specialized
training and knowledge in the following areas: (1) pension
and benefit member services; (2) investment reporting
compliance; (3) investment accounting; (4) pension benefit
tax reporting; (5) pension benefit financial accounting;
and (6) pension law.
ANALYSIS : Existing law authorizes the boards of
retirement of Orange County and San Bernardino County upon
adoption by the board of retirement, to appoint, outside of
CONTINUED
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the county civil service process, the following positions:
an administrator, an assistant administrator, a chief
investment officer, subordinate administrators, and senior
management employees next in line of authority to
subordinate administrators, and legal counsel. These
employees are classified as "at will" employees, are
considered employees of the retirement system, not the
county, and are subject to the terms and conditions of
employment established by the retirement board.
Comments
According to the author's office, this bill allows the
Board of Retirement of the San Bernardino County Employees'
Retirement Association (SBCERA) to directly hire
supervisors and employees with specialized training and
knowledge, instead of having to hire these employees within
the civil service system. This bill allows San Bernardino
County to better recruit qualified employees for these
positions in a timelier manner.
"Current law allows SBCERA to hire their own administrator,
management employees, investment officers and legal counsel
rather than having to hire from the list of applicants
available under the civil service process. However,
existing law does not include this quick and efficient
hiring process for the supervisors and employees with
specialized training and knowledge who serve the tens of
thousands of active and retired members and their
beneficiaries. Unfortunately, the county Board of
Retirement is experiencing a high turnover rate with its
supervisors and employees with specialized training and
knowledge. These employees obtain training and expertise
at the expense of the Board of Retirement and then leave to
take a better paying position with the counties. The
continuous instability for these positions is hurting the
overall service levels that SBCERA is able to provide to
its members and beneficiaries."
Supporters state, "In these economically challenging time,
SBCERA has been able to maintain a superior level of
service to our members due to extensive training of
specialized employees. This bill offers these employees
the opportunity to remain with SBCERA as SBCERA employees
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rather than County employees and maximize their
professional training to the benefit of our members."
Previous legislation
AB 2666 (Plescia) of 2008, which would have authorized the
San Diego County Board of Retirement to adopt provisions
classifying personnel appointed to administer the
retirement system as employees of the retirement system
instead of county employees. These employees would have
been subject to the terms and conditions of employment
established by the board of retirement. This bill died on
the Senate Inactive File.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/23/09)
San Bernardino County Board of Supervisor (source)
County of San Bernardino
Safety Employees' Benefit Association
San Bernardino County Professional Firefighters, Local 935
San Bernardino Public Employees Association
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Arambula, Beall, Bill Berryhill, Tom
Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield, Brownley,
Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro,
Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, Duvall,
Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes,
Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore,
Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber,
Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu, Logue,
Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava,
Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel
Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva,
Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson,
Torlakson, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, Bass
NOES: Anderson
NO VOTE RECORDED: DeVore, Torres
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DLW:do 6/24/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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