BILL ANALYSIS
AB 649
Page 1
GOVERNOR'S VETO
AB 649 (Machado)
As Amended June 8, 2000
2/3 vote
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| | |(May 20, 1999) |SENATE: |28-8 |(June 15, |
| | | | | |2000) |
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|ASSEMBLY: | | | | | |
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(vote not relevant)
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|COMMITTEE VOTE: |6-0 |(June 21, |RECOMMENDATION: |concur |
| | |2000) | | |
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ASSEMBLY: 71-7 (August 25, 2000)
Original Committee Reference: L. & E.
SUMMARY : Makes various changes in the state negotiated
Memoranda of Understanding contracts (MOUs) for 1999-2001.
These MOU contracts need technical clean-up. Also included are
two provisions reflecting other negotiated agreements.
The Senate amendments delete the Assembly version of this bill,
and instead:
1)Conform drug testing policy with the Bargaining Unit 11 (BU
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11) collective bargaining agreement.
2)Include managers and supervisors in safety retirement
inadvertently omitted and includes only those units that
agreed to this provision in collective bargaining.
3)Add benefit contracts covering excluded employees to those
exempt from Department of General Services (DGS) review.
4)Appropriate funding to the Rural Health Subsidy Program.
5)Conform employee health benefit eligibility for BU 19 members
which was inadvertently omitted in the ratifying legislation
last year.
6)Allow State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) members who
become state employees to stay in CalSTRS, instead of joining
the Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS).
7)Permit Security Officers employed by the State Department of
Justice (DOJ) to have CalPERS State Peace Officer/Firefighter
(POFF) retirement benefits.
8)Double-join this bill to AB 1441 (Lempert), which is currently
awaiting the Governor's signature.
9)Declare that this bill is an urgency measure to take effect
immediately.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill required state agency
employers to make payment of overtime wages no later than the
payday for the next regular payroll period.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriates $65,414,288 from the General Fund
and various special funds for allocation for various state
employee benefits or programs, including state employee
compensation, the Work and Family Fund, and the Rural Area
Health Subsidy Program.
COMMENTS :
1)State BU 11 (i.e., Engineering and Scientific Technician,
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represented by the California State Employee Association) MOU,
which took effect July 1, 1999, provides for an election of
remedies/forums when employees are disciplined or rejected on
probation for positive drug test results.
Existing law does not allow the employee to choose between a
neutral third party grievance procedure or an appeal to SPB.
In addition, statutory language is needed to make it clear
that when an employee elects a third party, his/her access to
court review is under the law governing the arbitration
process, and not under the law governing SPB appeals.
This bill amends the Government Code and the Code of Civil
Procedure to conform with the BU 11 collective bargaining
agreement.
SPB states in opposition that, "This bill would, among other
things, make major changes in the way appeals from adverse
actions and rejections during probation involving civil
service employees in BU 11 (engineering and scientific
technicians) are adjudicated. Additionally, SPB states that
they are "?opposed to the provisions of the bill that infringe
on the board's constitutional obligations to review
disciplinary actions and rejections during probation taken
against employees in BU 11 elating to positive drug test
results. The California Constitution mandates that the board
administer and enforce the merit aspects of the state civil
service, including reviewing disciplinary actions against
state employees."
2)Existing law provides that the Department of Personnel
Administration (DPA) administers safety retirement benefits
for State employees through the collective bargaining process,
when this provision was added to law. The inclusion of
managers and supervisors in the safety requirement was
inadvertently omitted. In addition, not all bargaining units
agreed to the DPA process of inclusion of managers and
supervisors in safety retirement.
This bill amends the Government Code [Section 19816.20 and
Section 19816.20 (d)] to include excluded employees in the
definition of "state employees" who are not members of civil
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service and amends Section 20405.1 (c) to cover only those
units that agreed to the provision in collective bargaining.
3)Existing Public Contract Code was previously amended to
exclude DPA from the DGS review of contracts for benefits,
health and safety, and training services for those items
bargained in an MOU. Contracts covering "excluded employees"
(i.e., managers and supervisors), however, are not exempt from
DGS review.
This bill amends the Public Contract Code Section 10295.4 to
extend the exclusion to cover the benefit contracts covering
"excluded employees."
4)Existing law, pursuant to SB 514 (Chesbro), Chapter 743,
Statutes of 1999, authorizes a rural health subsidy for state
employees and retirees who live in areas of the state where
there is no health maintenance organization (HMO) available.
Monies were not appropriated to the Work and Family Program and
the Rural Health Subsidy Program pursuant to Chapter 743.
This bill appropriates money to fully fund the Employee
Compensation Package, fulfilling the state's obligations made
in MOUs negotiated with the 21 bargaining units.
This is a technical change that appropriates the monies that
were agreed to in bargaining.
5)As the result of an MOU agreed to in 1999, the employee
eligibility for representation in BU 19 (i.e., Health and
Social Services Professionals, represented by the American
Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, AFL,CIO)
was changed to be consistent with all other State employees.
When the legislation was passed that ratified the MOU for BU
19, the change in employee eligibility was inadvertently
omitted.
This bill would amend Government Code Section 22754.2 to remove
Subsection 4, which defines employee eligibility for BU 19.
6)Existing CalSTRS law provides, pursuant to 1997 legislation,
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that a CalSTRS member who subsequently was employed by the
state Community Colleges in a position requiring CalPERS
membership may elect to remain in CalSTRS.
This bill:
a) Allows any certificated teacher member of CalSTRS who
becomes employed by the state to stay in CalSTRS instead of
joining CalPERS;
b) Allows current State employees, who were vested member
of CalSTRS and became mandatory members of the CalPERS
Second Tier plan, to elect to return to CalSTRS membership;
c) Applies only to employees who were hired after June 30,
1991 and before the date the First Tier plan became
effective for new employees represented by this union; and,
d) Provides that employees hired on and after January 1,
2000 will have the option of membership under the Second
Tier or the First Tier plan.
5)Existing CalPERS law specifically provides that security
officers of DOJ shall be "state miscellaneous" members of
CalPERS. "State miscellaneous" members of CalPERS receive a
retirement benefit based on the "2% at age 55" formula, and
are covered by "Ordinary Disability Retirement" benefits.
This bill provides that security officers of DOJ shall be "state
POFF" members of CalPERS, receiving a retirement benefit based
on the "3% at age 50" formula, and are covered by "Industrial
Disability Retirement" benefits.
According to DPA, "Initially the Security Officer, DOJ was not
included in POFF because, when the class was established, the
existing Attorney General did not want them included.
However, over the past ten to 12 years, their duties have
significantly been expanded, necessitating recruitment of a
more highly trained officer. The DOJ supports the inclusion
of the Security Officer into the POFF and we (DPA) agreed to
including them in bargaining."
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GOVERNOR'S VETO MESSAGE :
"This bill would appropriate funding for various programs agreed
to during collective bargaining. However, the appropriation in
this bill for the special fund deficiency is in excess of the
amount needed to fund the employee compensation increases agreed
to through collective bargaining. Therefore, I am reducing the
special fund appropriation contained in this bill by $17,000,000
to reflect the actual amount needed to fund the employee
compensation increases. The revised appropriation shall be
$30,600,000."
Analysis Prepared by : Karon Green / P.E., R. & S.S. / (916)
319-3957
FN: 0007358