The Assembly Committee on Public Employees, Retirement and Security voted today in favor of legislation that will, among other things, impact the timeline of adverse actions and will give priority to state employees when filling public positions.
In February, Assemblymember Roger Dickinson (D-Sacramento) introduced Assembly Bill 1655 - dubbed the Public Employees' Bill of Rights Act - that would reduce the statute of limitations on serving an adverse action against any state employee from three years to one year. In addition, the bill stipulates that state employees shall be entitled to priority over third-party contractors when filling public positions.
The original version of Assm. Dickinson's bill gave rank-and-file state employees preference in filling positions ahead of excluded employees (in addition to outside contractors); however, Assm. Dickinson has since revised the bill to remove the reference to excluded employees.
The bill also contains language that may impact the ability of unlicensed supervisors to manage their professionally licensed employees. In particular, section 3524.10 contains broad language that states that a licensed employee's "professional judgment...shall not be interfered with...by nonprofessional or unlicensed employees or supervisors."
ACSS is committed to maintaining the right of excluded employees to fulfill their administrative and logistical job requirements, regardless of professional licensing, and will continue to monitor the progress of AB 1655.
AB 1655 will proceed to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.