State employees: memorandum of understanding.

(1) Under existing law, a provision of a memorandum of understanding reached between the state employer and a recognized employee organization representing state civil service employees that requires the expenditure of funds does not become effective unless approved by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act. This bill would approve provisions that require the expenditure of funds pursuant to memoranda of understanding entered into between the state employer and State Bargaining Units 1, 3, 4, 11, 14, 15, 17, 20, and 21, the Service Employees International Union, Local 1000, and would provide that these provisions will become effective even if these provisions are approved by the Legislature in legislation other than the annual Budget Act. (2) The Public Employees' Retirement Law and the State Teachers' Retirement Law provide retirement benefits based upon final compensation and years of credited service. Both laws provide that state employees in the personal leave program shall receive credit for service that would have been credited had the employee not been in the personal leave program. This bill would provide that the calculations of retirement allowances under the Public Employees' Retirement Law for state employees in the Mandatory Personal Furlough Leave Program, as defined, shall include earnings, contributions, and compensation earnable that would have been reported had the employee not been in the Mandatory Personal Furlough Leave Program. The bill also would provide, for all retirement purposes under the State Teachers' Retirement Law, including benefit eligibility and calculations of retirement allowances for state employees in the Mandatory Personal Furlough Leave Program, credit for service shall be based on the amount of service that would have been credited had the employee not been in the Mandatory Personal Furlough Leave Program. (3) The annual Budget Act appropriates specified amounts from the General Fund, unallocated special funds, and unallocated nongovernmental cost funds, for state employee compensation. This bill would appropriate $9,474,000 from those funds for state employee compensation in augmentation of the Budget Act of 2008. (4) This bill would provide that provisions of the memoranda of understanding approved by this bill that require the expenditure of funds will not take effect unless funds for these provisions are specifically appropriated by the Legislature, and would authorize either party to reopen negotiations on all or part of the memoranda of understanding if the Legislature does not approve or fully fund any provision of the memoranda of understanding that requires the expenditure of funds. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.