State civil service: examination and hiring processes.

(1) Existing law creates the Department of Human Resources, which succeeds to and is vested with all of the powers and duties exercised and performed by the Department of Personnel Administration. Existing law specifically grants the department the powers, duties, and authority necessary to operate the state civil service system in accordance with Article VII of the California Constitution, the Government Code, the merit principle, and applicable rules duly adopted by the State Personnel Board. Existing law requires the State Personnel Board to prescribe rules consistent with a merit-based civil service system to govern classifications, examinations, probationary periods, disciplinary actions, appointments, and other matters related to the board's authority under the California Constitution. Under existing state civil service law, the Department of Human Resources administers the Limited Examination and Appointment Program (LEAP) to provide an alternative to the traditional civil service examination and appointment process to facilitate the hiring of persons with disabilities. Until January 1, 2021, the program includes persons with a developmental disability, as defined. Existing law, until January 1, 2021, specifies that LEAP is a voluntary, additional method of applying for state employment and is not a mandate on any state agency employer or job applicant, except as specified. Existing law also, until January 1, 2021, requires the department to develop and create an internship program, in coordination with specified state entities, and establish several related requirements to that effect. This bill would extend all of the above described LEAP program provisions indefinitely. (2) Existing law requires the Department of Human Resources, when an appointing power seeks to fill a vacant position by using an employment list, to provide the appointing power with a certified list of the names and addresses of all eligible candidates whose scores at the time of certification represent the 3 highest ranks on the list and who have indicated a willingness to accept appointment. Under existing law, if there is more than one employment list or LEAP referral list, the department is required to provide a single certified list of eligible candidates that combines the names and addresses of all eligible candidates. This bill would authorize an appointing power to fill a vacancy by making an examination appointment of a candidate from a LEAP referral list. The bill would also require the department, upon request of the appointing power, to provide the appointing power the referral list without combining that list with any parallel employment list. The bill would also require the Department of Human Resources, by July 1, 2020, after consultation with specified state entities and organizations representing persons with disabilities, to develop and implement a plan for expansion of LEAP. The bill would require the plan to identify statewide classifications that are not currently in the LEAP program, as specified, and to ensure that all statewide classifications are designated as LEAP-certified classes by June 30, 2022. The bill would authorize an individual who is eligible for LEAP to request the Department of Human Resources to assess if that individual meets the minimum qualifications and various other criteria for the program, and would require the department, if it concludes the individual meets those qualifications and criteria, to place that individual on the applicable referral list, as provided. The bill would also require the department to post information concerning LEAP on its internet website. (3) Existing law requires each state agency to develop and implement an affirmative action employment plan for individuals with a disability, including goals and timetables. The bill, until December 31, 2027, would additionally require the department to identify 5 state agencies or departments which, as of June 2019, have at least 100 employees and have the lowest representation rate of persons with disabilities, averaged over the 5-year period from July 1, 2014, to June 30, 2019, inclusive. The bill would require the department, by June 30, 2020, to confer with each appointing power and require it to adopt or revise its affirmative action employment plan to ensure that individuals with disabilities have access to positions in state service, and to set new goals and timetables for hiring persons with disabilities. The bill would require each appointing power to specify in that plan 2 or more of specified hiring strategies, and to agree to utilize those strategies by June 30, 2023. The bill would further require the department, by December 31, 2023, in consultation with specified state entities and organizations representing persons with disabilities, to report to the Legislature on the number of persons with disabilities hired by each appointing power, along with other specified information.