Find contact information for your local Labor Relations Representative
Helpful documents to learn more about your rights
Step-by-step guide to the Grievance Process
A guide to help you through the Probationary Period
Learn more about salary issues
A list of Senators, Assemblymembers, and Government Officials that ACSS Endorses
Support Candidates that protect the best interest of Excluded Employees
Periodic updates on Legislative Bills that ACSS monitors
ACSS meetings held at YOUR Department
Annual Event held in the State Capitol
Upcoming Board Meeting Information and forms
The Triennial event for ACSS Elections and Policy Changes
New Excluded Employee Orientation Virtual Meetings
If you have not already received your copy of ACSS' Quarterly Newsletter, you can download it here! Q3 2015 focuses on ACSS protecting your interests in the State Budget Process and in Legislation. For back issues, check out our Quarterly newsletters on the ACSS website.
Just a friendly reminder that ACSS will be closed on Friday July 3 in observance of Independence Day. Hope you have a safe and happy holiday weekend!
On June 25, 2015, Governor Jerry Brown signed the $115.4 billion general fund budget and shortly after, tweeted “Budget signed. Onto the health care & transportation special sessions.” In a nutshell, the spending plan focuses heavily on increasing funding for state-funded preschools and universities and will also expand Medi-Cal coverage to undocumented children. Hot items like health care and construction/repairing roads were pushed out of the budget process and will be addressed separately.
Click here to read the full article on the SacBee website.
Chuck Reed and Carl DeMaio are back and are dishing out another attack on pensions. Their newest measure, released June 4, 2015, is called “The Voter Empowerment Act of 2016” and it would allow for voters to make adjustments to future pension plans without political interference. Essentially, it would shift all new public employees from the various defined-benefit plans currently in place to 401(k) plans and lock them in place beginning 2019. Voters would then be able to vote on pension enhancements and whether to continue offering traditional pensions after 2019.
Dave Low, chairman of Californians for Retirement Security, swiftly reacted by calling the measure as “yet another destined-to-fail attempt to eliminate the retirement security of public employees”. Labor leaders contest that this measure will be tied up in the courts for years and cost Reed and DeMaio an estimated $30 million to mount a credible campaign against an opposition that has vowed to spend twice that to defeat it.
As always, ACSS intends to stand up for the rights of state excluded employees and oppose pension reform. Your pension is your rightfully defined benefit that should not be diminished or modified. We will continue to monitor this issue and provide updates as they occur.
Click here to read more about this proposed measure in an article from the San Diego Free Press.
Chapter 503 voting closed on Monday June 8, 2015. The results are in! Here is a listing of your elected chapter officers and delegates for Chapter 503 (Sacramento and Yolo Counties). Congratulations to all the newly elected officials! Alternates are ranked in order, based on greatest number of votes received. If you are an elected candidate on this list who will attend the 2015 ACSS Delegate Assembly on July 17-19, click here to view details of the event and hotel information. Make sure you reserve your hotel room ASAP... the cut-off date for hotel reservations is June 22, 2015!
To see a list of the results of all other Chapters' elected candidates, click here.
ACSS wrapped up the 2015 CA Democratic Convention on Sunday, May 17, 2015. The convention was held in Anaheim, CA (May 15-17, 2015). There were three days of speeches, rallies, workshops, and important elections. Speakers at this year’s convention included Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Barney Frank (Ret.), CA Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, CA Senate President pro Tem Kevin De Leon and many other public officials. ACSS' Political Team met with many leaders from all levels of state government.
"It was an exciting time to be in Anaheim at the California Democratic Party Convention and to further advance the ACSS plight!” commented Frank Ruffino, ACSS VP of Governmental Affairs.
From left, Todd D'Braunstein (ACSS VP of Membership Development), Elnora Fretwell (ACSS Vice President), Michael Eggman (Congressional Candidate, 10th District), Susan Eggman (AD 13), Frank Ruffino (ACSS VP of Governmental Affairs).
From left Frank Ruffino (ACSS VP of Governmental Affairs), Shirley Weber (AD 79), Elnora Fretwell (ACSS Vice President), Mark Leno (SD 11), Todd D'Braunstein (ACSS VP of Membership Development).
Frank Ruffino (ACSS VP of Governmental Affairs) chats with Alex Padilla (CA Secretary of State).
Elnora Fretwell (ACSS Vice President) gets a signature from Kamala Harris (ACSS Attorney General).
ACSS has consistently pushed back on the “equal sharing” (50/50) of costs between employee and the state for funding retiree healthcare. We are pleased to report that on Friday June 5, the Administration agreed to drop language in the trailer bill requiring equal sharing of costs for retiree healthcare (as defined in Section 11 of the amended trailer bill). ACSS was concerned that 50/50 cost sharing would be implemented statutorily. We are declaring victory that this item is NOT becoming statue and is being dropped altogether from the budget. The Legislature has been supportive of our request to keep health care proposals out of state budget trailer bill language completely.
In addition, this week the Brown Administration tossed out the CalPERS high deductible health care plan. The Administration realized that without a high deductible plan, there is little use for an HSA. In addition, the Administration also removed some trailer bill language that applies to new hire’s formula for retiree healthcare plans, increases the vesting period for new hires, and removes some language in reference to Medicare reimbursements. The Administration has decided to drop these objectives from the budget and instead, pursue them in bargaining. Battling it out with the bargaining units may take months, which means that implementation for managers and supervisors may be drawn out even further.
The amended trailer bill language:
At this point, we can conclude that these objectives are the bottom line adjustments to the budget from the Administration.
Here is a listing of your elected chapter officers and delegates per chapter*. Congratulations to all the newly elected officials! (Alternates are ranked in order, based on greatest number of votes received.) If you are an elected candidate who will attend the 2015 ACSS Delegate Assembly on July 17-19, click here to view details of the event and hotel information. The cut-off date for hotel reservations is June 22, 2015!
* Chapter 503 Sacramento Area election closes June 8. Please make sure ACSS HQ receives your Chapter 503 ballot by 5pm on Monday June 8.
>> Read More...
The 2015 ACSS Chapter Elections voting period closed on 5/20/15. Thank you to those who
Jerry Brown's 2015-16 budget proposes a plan to wipe out an existing law that requires departments to eliminate state positions that go empty for six months. Departments have been deceptively manipulating personnel to inflate salary budgets and use money for other expenses. By shuffling around staff and making it appear that these positions are still being used, the positions are not eliminated and the department retains their funding. A series of investigations and audits are bringing transparency to this issue and are putting a stop to all the unnecessary shuffling. Read more on this issue in the full SacBee article.
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