Employment

AB 218 (Dickinson) – Oppose
As introduced on February 4, 2013

Assembly Bill 218, by Assembly Member Roger Dickinson, would prohibit a state or local agency (defined in the bill as a county, city, city and county, including a charter city or county, or any special district) from inquiring about a job applicant’s criminal history on an initial employment application. The bill would exempt law enforcement positions from this requirement.

Counties will recall that Assembly Member Dickinson carried a substantially similar bill in the 2011-2012 legislative session, AB 1831. That bill, which was held in the Senate Governance and Finance Committee and only applied to cities and counties. Like AB 1831, CSAC opposes AB 218 because it would remove a county’s discretion to design an employment policy that works locally.

AB 218 will be heard on April 2 in the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

SB 407 (Hill) – Watch 
As introduced on February 20, 2013

Senate Bill 407, by Senator Jerry Hill, would expand to a local agency deputy chief executive officer or assistant chief executive officer existing law prohibiting an employment contract for a local agency executive from providing an automatic increase of a cost-of-living adjustment. SB 407 specifies that the addition of these provisions upon automatic renewal of a contract is not intended to require renegotiation of the terms of the contract unless both parties to the contract agree to renegotiate the terms of the contract.

SB 407 will be heard in the Senate Governance and Finance Committee on April 3.

Veterans

AB 151 (Olsen) – Support
As introduced on January 18, 2013

Assembly Bill 151, by Assembly Member Kristin Olsen, would provide county boards of supervisors with the authority to reduce or waive building inspection or permit fees for ADA-type modifications to homes owned by veterans with service-related disabilities. CSAC supports AB 151 as it would allow counties to further accommodate disabled veteran residents 

AB 151 will be heard in the Assembly Veterans Affairs Committee on April 3.

Brown Act

AB 246 (Bradford) – Watch
As introduced on February 6, 2013

Assembly Bill 246, by Assembly Member Steven Bradford, would permit meetings between local agencies and the Governor to be exempted from Brown Act requirements under certain conditions.

Current law permits the legislative body of a local agency to hold closed sessions with the Attorney General, district attorney, agency counsel, sheriff, or chief of police, or their respective deputies, or a security consultant or a security operations manager, on matters posing a threat to the security of public buildings, a threat to the security of essential public services, or a threat to the public’s right of access to public services or public facilities. AB 246 would add the Governor to that list of officials and is sponsored by Los Angeles County.

AB 246 will be heard in the Assembly Local Government Committee on April 3.

AB 792 (Mullin) – Support
As introduced on February 21, 2013

Assembly Bill 792, by Assembly Member Kevin Mullin, would allow local agencies to continue holding public meetings as scheduled even when the agency is unable to post the meeting agenda to its website due to technological reasons.

Counties will remember that AB 1344 (Chapter No. 692, Statutes of 2011), amended the Brown Act to require that the legislative body of a local agency post the meeting agenda on its website at least 72 hours prior to the applicable regular or special public meeting. Since the passage of AB 1344, it has become clear that a solution is necessary to the problem that local agencies experience when they cannot post the agendas in the required time frame due to technical accessibility issues. AB 792 would amend current law to allow local government agencies to hold scheduled meetings despite losing their website posting capabilities as long as specific requirements are followed that ensure public access and transparency.

AB 792 will be heard in the Assembly Local Government Committee on April 2.

Public Safety

AB 398 (Fox) – Request for Comment
As Introduced on February 15, 2013

Assembly Bill 398, by Assembly Member Steve Fox, would add coroners and deputy coroners under the protection of the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act (POBOR). POBOR contains procedures to be followed whenever any public safety officer is subject to investigation for alleged misconduct which may result in punitive action.

Under existing law, such protection under POBOR is afforded to peace officers, including all city police, deputy sheriffs, court marshals, district attorney investigators, California Highway Patrol, university police, state regulatory investigators, park rangers, housing authority police, community college and school district police, port and transportation officers, public utility security officers, and parole and state correctional officers. AB 398 would include coroners and deputy coroners within the definition of “peace officer” for purposes of POBOR.

AB 398 will be heard in the Assembly Public Safety Committee on April 2.