Existing law requires that supervisors of state employees represented by State Bargaining Unit 5 Highway Patrol, State Bargaining Unit 6 Corrections, or State Bargaining Unit 8 Firefighters, receive salary and benefits changes at least generally equivalent to the salary and benefits granted to employees they supervise. Existing law requires that the benefit packages be economically equivalent, but does not compel the benefits to be identical. Existing law requires that the specific benefits that these supervisors receive be determined through a meet and confer process.

This bill would extend these requirements to the salary and benefits changes for supervisors of state employees represented by State Bargaining Unit 7 Protective Services and Public Safety. Safety, if they are classified as peace officers by the Department of Human Resources.

Existing law requires that supervisors of state employees represented by State Bargaining Unit 5 Highway Patrol, State Bargaining Unit 6 Corrections, or State Bargaining Unit 8 Firefighters, receive salary and benefits changes at least generally equivalent to the salary and benefits granted to employees they supervise. Existing law requires that the benefit packages be economically equivalent, but does not compel the benefits to be identical. Existing law requires that the specific benefits that these supervisors receive be determined through a meet and confer process.

This bill would extend these requirements to the salary and benefits changes for supervisors of state employees represented by State Bargaining Unit 7 Protective Services and Public Safety.

SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair

2017 - 2018 Regular Session

SB 293 (Pan) - State employment: supervisors

This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.

Bill Summary: SB 293 would add peace officer supervisors of employees in State Bargaining Unit 7 (California Statewide Law Enforcement Association) to the group of peace officer supervisors who are required to receive salary and benefits changes that are at least generally equivalent to the salary and benefits granted to employees they supervise. The specific benefits would be determined through the meet and confer process.

Fiscal Impact: The bill could result in unknown, potentially significant compensation costs associated with salary increases resulting from addressing compaction (General Fund and special funds). The precise amount would depend on the outcome of the meet and confer process.

Background: Salary compaction and parity are key issues facing the State in compensating management employees. Salary compaction occurs when the salaries of subordinate employees approach (and in some cases exceed) the salary of their supervisors. State policy is that supervisory and managerial employees receive salaries 10 percent above the pay of the classes they supervise.

The California Department of Human Resources (CalHR) is responsible for setting the salaries of exempt and excluded state employees. There is no statutory requirement to extend a pay package that was bargained for represented employees to related excluded employees.

Under current law, supervisors of employees represented by the following state bargaining units (BUs) shall receive salary and benefits changes that are at least generally equivalent to the salary and benefits provided to the employees they supervise:

• State Bargaining Unit 5: California Association of Highway Patrol
• State Bargaining Unit 6: California Correctional Peace Officers Association
• State Bargaining Unit 8: California Department of Forestry Firefighters

Peace officers in Bargaining Unit 7 include state parks rangers and fish and wildlife wardens, Alcoholic Beverage Control agents, Department of State Hospitals officers, special agents with the Department of Justice, deputy state fire marshals, and inspectors and investigators in various state departments who are designated as peace officers. Those who directly supervise these represented peace officers are also designated as peace officers.

Proposed Law: This bill would add peace officer supervisors of employees in Bargaining Unit 7 to those supervisors that shall receive salary and benefits changes that are generally equivalent to those provided to the employees they supervise.

Related Legislation:

• SB 1058 (Pan, 2016), was substantially similar to this bill, and was held under submission on the Suspense File of this Committee.
• SB 216 (Beall, 2013), would have required CalHR to address salary compaction for managerial and supervisorial employees and provide data to the Legislature when insufficient revenue is available to implement a salary determination to increase managerial and supervisorial salaries by 10 percent over the salaries of their subordinate rank and file employees. The bill was vetoed by the Governor.

Staff Comments: Salary and wage compaction is often an unintended consequence of collective bargaining agreements that result in increased salaries for rank and file employees, but do not guarantee a correlating salary increase for the excluded and exempt employees who supervise those covered under collective bargaining agreements. Often, when an agreement or MOU is reached with a state bargaining unit, certain provisions are also extended to related classes of employees who are excluded from bargaining. However, there is no statutory requirement to extend a pay package that was bargained for represented employees, or to study the impact of the MOU on related excluded classes. Over many years of not extending salary increases to managers and supervisors, the problem of salary compaction has increased to the point where many departments have difficulty filling excluded positions.

CalHR indicates that Bargaining Unit 7 currently has 7,459 rank and file members. The number of supervisors totals 1,147, comprised of over 70 supervisor classifications spanning 49 state departments. No single department employs more than 16 percent of Bargaining Unit 7 supervisors.

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SENATE COMMITTEE ON

PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT AND RETIREMENT

Dr. Richard Pan, Chair

2017 - 2018 Regular

Bill No: SB 293 Hearing Date: 3/27/17

Subject: State employment: supervisors

SOURCE: California Correctional Supervisors Organization

DIGEST: This bill adds peace officer supervisors of employees in State Bargaining Unit 7 (California Statewide Law Enforcement Association) to the group of peace officer supervisors who are required to receive salary and benefits changes that are at least generally equivalent to the salary and benefits granted to employees they supervise.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Requires that supervisors of employees represented by the following state bargaining units (BU) receive salary and benefits changes that are at least generally equivalent to the salary and benefits provided to the employees they supervise:

BU 5: California Association of Highway Patrol

BU 6: California Correctional Peace Officers Association

BU 8: California Department of Forestry Firefighters

1. Defines, for purposes of this requirement, “salary” to mean base pay and is not to include overtime.
2. Provides that the benefit package to covered supervisors shall be the economic equivalent of that provided to their rank and file employees but that it need not be identical.
3. Requires that the specific benefits that these supervisors receive shall be determined through a meet and confer process as defined in GC section 3533.
4. Specifies in GC section 3533 that upon request, the state shall meet and confer with verified supervisory organizations representing supervisory employees on matters within the scope of representation, as specified.
5. Defines for this purpose “meet and confer” to mean that the state employer shall consider as fully as it deems reasonable such presentations as are made by the verified supervisory employee organization on behalf of its supervisory members prior to arriving at a determination of policy or course of action. The final determination of policy or course of action shall be the sole responsibility of the state employer.

This bill:

1. Would add supervisors, of BU 7 employees to the group of supervisors that shall receive salary and benefits changes generally equivalent to those provided to the employees they supervise.
2. Would limit its provisions to those supervisors defined as peace officers by CalHR.

Background

State BU 7 is primarily comprised of approximately 7,000 peace officers and state safety personnel working in various state departments.

Peace officers in BU 7 include state parks rangers and fish and wildlife wardens, Alcoholic Beverage Control agents, Department of State Hospitals officers, special agents with the Department of Justice, deputy state fire marshals, and inspectors and investigators in various state departments who are designated as peace officers. Those who directly supervise these represented peace officers are also designated as peace officers.

Related/Prior Legislation

SB 1058 (Pan, 2016), substantially similar to this bill, died on suspense in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

SB 216 (Beall, 2013), was vetoed by the Governor. This bill would have required CalHR to address salary compaction for managerial and supervisorial employees and provide data to the Legislature when insufficient revenue is available to implement a salary determination to increase managerial and supervisorial salaries by 10% over the salaries of their subordinate rank and file employees.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No

SUPPORT:

California Correctional Supervisors Organization (source)

Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs

California Association of Code Enforcement Officers

California College and University Police Chiefs Association

California Narcotic Officers’ Association

Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association

Los Angeles Police Protective League

Riverside Sheriffs’ Association

OPPOSITION:

None received

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the sponsor, existing law ensures that most state peace officers and firefighters “receive the general equivalent to the salary and benefits granted to the employees they supervise. Unfortunately, those same protections are manifestly not afforded to the non-represented police supervisors in the Department of State Hospitals.” SB 293 “will assure workplace equity for the excluded police supervisors in bargaining unit 7.”