Governor Proposes Merging State’s Personnel Agencies

Governor Jerry Brown on Tuesday proposed merging the State Personnel Board and the Department of Personnel Administration. The new agency would be called the California Department of Human Resources.

Changes would include a 15-20 percent reduction in staff, consolidation of office space and a new director to head the new agency.

Brown’s proposal must be drafted into legislation, which legislators will then have 60 days to pass. If approved, the restructuring would be implemented July 1, 2012.

Retirement Benefits

AB 340 (Furutani) - Oppose Unless Amended
As Amended April 25, 2011

AB 340, by Assembly Member Warren Furutani, would prohibit a variety of payments , including bonus payments, housing allowances, severance pay, vehicle allowances, and payments for unused vacation, sick leave, or compensatory time off, exceeding what may be earned and payable in a 12-month period, from being included in compensation earnable for the purpose of calculating retirement benefits for members of 1937 Act county retirement systems. AB 340 exempts from this prohibition any compensation a member is entitled to under a collective bargaining agreement that was deferred or modified due to a negotiated amendment to the agreement.

AB 340 includes new compensation reporting requirements for counties and authorizes 1937 Act county retirement boards to charge a county for an audit or corrections if a county knowlingly fails to comply with the reporting requirements.

Additionally, AB 340 prohibits a person who retires on or after January 1, 2012, from returning to work as a retired annuitant or as a contract 
employee for a period of 180 days after retirement.

AB 340 is currently awaiting assignment to a Senate policy committee.

Collective Bargaining

AB 646 (Atkins) - Oppose
As Amended May 11, 2011

AB 646, by Assembly Member Toni Atkins, would authorize an employee organization, if a mediator is unable to effect settlement of a contract impasse within 15 days of his or her appointment, to request that the matter be submitted to a factfinding panel. 

The bill would require that the factfinding panel consist of one member selected by each party as well as a chairperson selected by the Public Employment Relations Board or by agreement of the parties.  If the matter is not settled within 30 days, AB 646 would require the factfinding panel to make findings of fact and recommend terms of settlement, for advisory purposes only. 

AB 646 would require that these findings and recommendations be first issued to the parties, but would require the public agency to make them publicly available within 10 days after their receipt. The bill would require all costs associated with the factfinding panel to be shared equally by the public agency and employee organization.

AB 646 would prohibit a public agency from implementing its last, best, and final offer until at least 10 days after the factfinders’ written findings of fact and recommended terms of settlement have been submitted to the parties and the agency has held a public hearing regarding the impasse.

AB 646 will be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee on May 18.