Civil service: the Upward Mobility Act of 2022.

The California Constitution establishes the State Personnel Board (board) and requires the board to, among other things, enforce the civil service statutes, prescribe probationary periods and classifications, adopt rules authorized by statute, and review disciplinary actions. The Constitution also requires the executive officer of the board to administer the civil service statutes under the rules of the board. Under existing law, the board is authorized to conduct audits and investigations of the personnel practices of the Department of Human Resources and appointing authorities to ensure compliance with civil service policies, procedures, and statutes. Existing law exempts regulations of the board from the Administrative Procedure Act, except as specified. Existing law establishes the Department of Human Resources and provides that, subject to the requirements of the California Constitution, it succeeds to and is vested with the duties, purposes, responsibilities, and jurisdiction exercised by the board as its designee with respect to the board's administrative and ministerial functions. This bill, among other things, would require the board to post notices of proposed changes to regulations for public comment. The bill would require the Department of Human Resources and the board to enter into a memorandum of understanding to determine areas of compliance for nonmerit-related audits and to train board staff on the areas of compliance. Existing law requires that lists of eligible applicants for civil service positions be established as a result of free competitive examinations. Existing law, with regard to the requirements governing examinations for establishing employment lists, authorizes the Department of Human Resources to designate an appointing power to design, announce, or administer examinations and requires the board to establish minimum qualifications for determining the fitness and qualifications of employees for each class of position. This bill would require instead that the Department of Human Resources establish best practices for each aspect of the design, announcement, and administration of the examinations for the purpose of increasing diversity of applicant pools on employment lists and develop standards for statements of qualifications used as the examination method in determining the fitness and qualifications of applicants for each class of position, when applicable. The bill would also require the announcement for an examination to include the core competencies, as defined, and the type of exam method, including the standard statement of qualifications, if applicable. Existing law requires all appointing authorities of state government to establish an effective program of upward mobility for employees in low-paying occupational groups. Existing law requires each upward mobility program to include annual goals for upward mobility and a timetable for when progress will occur, and requires the department to approve the goals and timetables. Existing law authorizes an appointing authority that determines that it will be unable to achieve the goals to ask the department for a reduction in the goals, as specified. This bill would, no later than July 1 of each year, require each department to provide a report to the Department of Human Resources that demonstrates the department's progress made toward meeting its upward mobility goals. The bill would repeal the authorization for an appointing authority to ask the Department of Human Resources for a reduction in their annual upward mobility goals, and would instead require the appointing authority to include in the progress report an explanation for the failure to achieve the goals and what requirements are necessary to facilitate achieving the goals, as specified. The bill would, on or before July 1, 2024, require the Department of Human Resources to post each department's upward mobility goals on its internet website. The bill would, on or before January 1 of the following year after each department provides these reports, require the Department of Human Resources to provide a copy of the upward mobility goals and these progress reports to the Legislature.