Senate Bill No. 1025

Introduced by Senator Torres

February 14, 2014

An act to amend Section 2266 of the Vehicle Code, relating to public employment.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 1025, as introduced, Torres. Department of the California Highway Patrol: Department of Human Resources.

Existing law authorizes the Department of Human Resources, when determining compensation for communications operators in the Department of the California Highway Patrol, to consider the total compensation for communications operators in comparable positions in the police departments of the Cities of Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego, and San Jose, and the City and County of San Francisco.

This bill would delete references to communications operators and would refer instead to public safety dispatchers and public safety operators.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 2266 of the Vehicle Code is amended to
read:

2266.  

(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:

(1) The begin delete communications end delete begin insert public safety dispatchers and public
safety end insert operators of the Department of the California Highway
Patrol are among the lowest paid when compared to operators
employed by other law enforcement agencies in the state. The
department’s communication centers suffer from significant staff
shortages and high turnover rates. Increasing the wages paid to
these begin delete communications end delete begin insert public safety dispatchers and public safety end insert
operators will increase their professionalism while reducing their
rate of turnover.

(2) The recruitment and retention problem is especially evident
in the classifications of begin delete Communications end delete begin insert Public Safety Dispatcher
I and II and Public Safety end insert Operator I and II.

(3) In order for the state to recruit and retain the highest qualified
and capable communications operators, those employees should
be compensated in an amount equal to the estimated average total
compensation for the classifications corresponding to
begin delete Communications Operator end delete begin insert Public Safety Dispatcher I and II and
Public Safety Operator end insert I and II within the police departments in
the Cities of Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego, and San Jose and
the City and County of San Francisco.

(4) According to the Department of the California Highway
Patrol, it costs the department thirty-six thousand one hundred
ninety-eight dollars ($36,198) to train a begin delete Communications end delete begin insert Public
Safety Dispatcher I and Public Safety end insert Operator I and sixty-five
thousand two hundred two dollars ($65,202) to train a
begin delete Communications end delete begin insert Public Safety Dispatcher II and Public Safety end insert
Operator II to their respective classifications. After the department
has trained begin delete an end delete begin insert a public safety dispatcher or public safety end insert operator,
all too often the new, fully trained begin insert dispatcher or end insert operator will move
to a local agency to a higher wage.

(5) This section is not in violation of the Ralph C. Dills Act
(Chapter 10.3 (commencing with Section 3512) of Division 4 of
Title 1 of the Government Code), which requires that changes for
salaries and benefits be collectively bargained between
representatives of the state and the employee’s union. This section
does not circumvent that process. This section simply authorizes
the Department of Human Resources, when determining
compensation for communications operators in the Department of
the California Highway Patrol, to consider the total compensation
for communications operators in other jurisdictions.

(b) When determining compensation for begin delete communications end delete begin insert public
safety dispatchers and public safety end insert operators in the Department
of the California Highway Patrol, the Department of Human
Resources may consider the total compensation for
begin delete communications end delete begin insert public safety dispatchers and public safety end insert
operators in comparable positions in the police departments
specified in paragraph (3) of subdivision (a).