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The Triennial event for ACSS Elections and Policy Changes
A day before the constitutionally mandated deadline, both Houses of the California Legislature passed the main budget bill, which includes a rare surplus.
There are still some 20+ "trailer bills" for the Legislature to evaluate, however. It's fairly common for the Legislature to have to modify existing law to allow budget changes to be implemented. These minor law changes are known as trailer bills.
It is expected that the Legislature will convene on Saturday, June 15 for final votes on the trailer bills.
In the early morning of June 11th, SEIU Local 1000 reached a tentative bargaining agreement with the State which includes an across the board raise and prevents furloughs or PLPs for three years.
The raises in the agreement are tied to as-yet unspecified revenue targets. If the State meets said targets, a 2% raise will go into effect July 1, 2014, and another 2.5% raise will go into effect July 1, 2015. If the State fails to meet the revenue targets, a 4.5% raise will go into effect July 1, 2015.
In an effort to mitigate costs incurred by members, CalPERS has launched a "verification project" to weed out dependents who may be wrongly receiving healthcare benefits.
The audit will run through June 30, 2013, and lists former spouses, grandchildren, and children of former spouses among those ineligble to receive healthcare benefits as dependents.
See the full text of CalPERS' press release for additional details.
After being held in the suspense file until the release of Gov. Brown's revised budget, a 6-0 bipartisan vote on May 29th by the Senate Appropriations Committee sent ACSS' anti-compaction bill (SB 216) past its first major hurdle and on to the Assembly for review.
Our bill - which aims to resolve the phenomenon in which supervisors often earn less than those they supervise - has enjoyed widespread support from both sides of the aisle in its journey through the Senate, and we expect a similar progression through the Assembly.
SB 216 would require the state to maintain a recommended 10% salary differential between supervisors and the employees they oversee, or require CalHR to provide a detailed report on impacted classficiations and why they are unable to meet the 10% differential.
At acting CalHR Director Julie Chapman's confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Rules Committee, Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) briefly addressed the long standing issue of salary compaction - the phenomenon in which California state supervisors make less than those they supervise.
"As the economy improves and more jobs open in the private sector, it will be hard to retain higher level state employees because we're not matching the financial opportunities [they offer]," said Sen. Jackson.
"What do you think CalHR might be able to do to keep those skilled people in state service?"
Governor Brown released his revised budget on May 14th.
Though we expected the revised budget would be conservative, Gov. Brown seems to be anticipating a bleak few years for California.
In recent weeks, the Legislative Analyst's Office and State Controller John Chiang have stated that California is enjoying unanticipated revenues of $4.5 billion; however, Gov. Brown's new budget claims just $2.8 billion in revenues for this year.
Brown's budget focuses mainly on education spending, and largely avoids the hot button issue of state employee compensation, though the 3% top step raise for excluded and rank and file employees is still earmarked. Additionally, the budget confirms the end of the PLP 2012 program effective June 30th, 2013.
The budget will now be reviewed and adjusted by the Legislature. The Governor is constitutionally mandated to sign the budget by June 30th.
Both the summary and detailed budget breakdown are available via www.ebudget.ca.gov
ACSS has written to Gov. Brown urging him to end a DMHC policy that burdens state employees with autistic children with unneccessary costs and inadequate treatment.
Nearly 3,700 children of state employees enrolled in CalPERS-funded HMO plans currently are denied prompt and affordable treatment for autism due to an existing California law that forces parents to obtain an autism Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) administered by a state-licensed therapist, when no state licensing technically exists for ABA therapists.
From the letter to Gov. Brown:
In order to comply with the DMHC's troubling rule, parents of autistic children enrolled in CalPERS funded health care programs must instead seek ABA from uncertified, but state-licensed, marriage and family therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and speech therapists.
Read the full letter to Gov. Brown for additional details.
With a looming 5% premium increase for Long Term Care (LTC) policy holders scheduled to start in July 2013, CalPERS has released another official statement outlining various options for the 60,000 affected policy holders.
CalPERS stipulates that the change only impacts "Long Term Care Policy holders who purchased LTC Insurance between 1995 and 2002 with lifetime coverage and built-in inflation protection."
If you have any questions regarding your options, please call 888-877-4934 during working hours, or email your questions to calpersltc@ltcg.com
CalHR's new "Executive Perspectives" series presents new conversations weekly with leaders in public service that provide some interesting insights for state employees in leadership roles.
The first Executive Perspectives includes candid interviews with State Controller John Chiang, Franchise Tax Board Executive Director Selvi Stanislaus, and others.
The interviews cover topics such as creating an environment of success and cultivating creativity among the employees you supervise.
CalHR released a PML this week announcing the end - effective immediately - of additional appointments for state supervisors and managers.
The PML outlines acceptable alternatives to additional appointments.
Furthermore, CalHR states that it will be reviewing current additional appointments and will contact individual departments as needed to discuss their findings and "an action plan."
If you have any questions regarding the PML or additional appointments, please contact ACSS Senior Labor Relations Representative Nellie D. Lynn.
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