BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 453
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Date of Hearing: April 13, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 453 (Skinner) - As Introduced: February 15, 2011
Policy Committee: Public Employees,
Retirements and Social Security Vote: 4-2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires a state employee appointed to any state
scientist class on or after January 1, 2012 to have the minimum
qualification of a baccalaureate degree in a scientific
discipline from a foreign or domestic accredited university.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Directs that this new education requirement be met by a person
appointed to any state scientist class on or after January 1,
2012. A state scientist class is any class assigned to State
Bargaining Unit 10.
2)Extends this educational requirement to any supervisory,
managerial or confidential classes that is related to Unit 10.
FISCAL EFFECT
1) Administrative costs of approximately $200,000 to state
agencies, including the State Personnel Board, to rewrite
classifications for the specified scientific classes.
2) Possible increase in salary schedules for scientific
classes as the minimum educational requirements for the
classes become more demanding.
COMMENTS
1) Rationale . According to the author, "It is important to
ensure that the State's scientists have a scientific
background appropriate for their classifications. In the
absence of such a requirement, employees without a degree in
AB 453
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a scientific discipline may be eligible for appointment or
promotion to state scientist positions."
Supporters conclude, "This bill ensures that California's
scientists in toxicology, air quality, biology, and other
disciplines have the specialized expertise required for
those positions.
2) Background . The minimum qualifications established by the
State Personnel Board (SPB) for roughly 220 of the 300
scientific classifications in state service do require
four-year degrees in a scientific discipline from an
accredited university. Thus, there are 80 scientific
classifications that do not require the scientific degree,
consisting of several classifications of biologists,
hazardous substance scientists, environmental specialists,
ecologists, industrial hygienists and others.
3) State Personnel Board (SPB) opposition. In their
opposition letter, SPB points out that there is an
administrative process for changing classification
requirements. They also argue that by mandating
qualifications, SPB believes that AB 453 infringes on its
constitutional and statutory authority regarding
qualifications for civil service classifications.
4) Possible amendment . The author may want to consider
limiting the scope of the bill. As currently drafted, it
applies to "?any supervisory, managerial, or confidential
class related to State Bargaining Unit 10." This
restriction would seem to require that the executive
management, including the director, of departments and
agencies have the appropriate science degree. In addition,
by applying this definition to supervisors and managers, it
would construct barriers to use of scientists in
interdisciplinary teams that would be directed by a
nonscientist supervisor.
5) Related legislation . This bill is substantially similar
to AB 271 (Blakeslee) of 2005, which was held in Senate
Public Employment and Retirement Committee, and AB 619
(Wayne) of 2001, which was introduced, but not heard.
Analysis Prepared by : Roger Dunstan / APPR. / (916) 319-2081
AB 453
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