Assembly Passes ACSS-Sponsored Bill SB 216 in a 66-0 Vote

ACSS Executive Director Rocco R. Paternoster provides an update on SB216 (Compaction - Public employment: salary ranges). After 2 years of discussion with the legislature and several recent meetings with Governor Brown's Administration, ACSS-sponsored bill SB216 has moved out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee and to the Assembly Floor for a vote. With overwhelming bipartisan support, the Assembly passed SB216 today on a 66-0 vote.

ACSS Executive Director Rocco R. Paternoster explains:

"I wanted to provide an update to ACSS members on the ACSS-sponsored compaction bill, SB 216. To meet an impending legislative deadline last week, the ACSS Executive Committee, with the advice of the Chair and Vice-Chair of the ACSS Legislative Committee, made the decision to request that SB 216 be passed out of Assembly Appropriations Committee and moved to the Assembly floor for a vote. At ACSS' request, on Thursday August 14, 2014, SB 216 was amended and passed out of Appropriations Committee to the floor. (The amendment made no substantive changes to the bill but removed declarative language that the Administration believed inaccurate.) I am pleased to report that today SB 216 was taken up by the Assembly and passed with clear bi-partisan support on a 66-0 vote. SB 216 now needs to return to the Senate floor for a vote to concur in the Assembly amendments. ACSS has continued its efforts in lobbying for the passage of SB 216 and we do not anticipate any substantive opposition or obstacles to its passage in the Senate. At that point, SB 216 would be in the hands of the Governor and ACSS will strongly urge that he sign SB 216 into law.

"In a recent meeting of the ACSS Board of Directors, it was decided that ACSS should pursue further discussions with the Brown Administration on the issue of salary compaction prior to sending SB 216 to the Governor's desk. This decision was made because the Governor has been consistent in his position that he did not think a legislative bill is the correct approach to resolving compaction because salary setting is an administration function. During this time period, the dialogue with the Brown Administration has been informative and, for the most part, collaborative. ACSS has been meeting with the Brown Administration over the past few months in an effort to gain a better understanding of the Governor's position on compaction and perhaps reach agreement on a legislative approach to address it. Most recently, ACSS has worked closely with the Acting Director of CalHR, Richard Gillihan. A recent meeting with Mr. Gillihan was open and to the point. In these meetings ACSS has shared very specific classification information highlighting compaction. This information included classifications that make less than those they supervise (in some cases up to 12% less); 0%-3% more; 3%-5% more and 5%-10% more. ACSS will continue these efforts and is committed to finally resolving the very real issue of salary compaction faced by its members. We will update you as these efforts continue."