Department of Insurance: sworn members: compensation

CSLEA Position on AB 2872 Department of Insurance: sworn members: compensation     CSLEA has received a number of inquiries relative to its position and perspective on AB 2872 (Calderon), a recently introduced California State Legislature bill which is intended to grant salary parity to the California Department of Insurance Investigator and Department of Justice Special Agent classifications.  Although CSLEA is always supportive of efforts to enhance the pay and benefits of Unit 7 classifications both during collective bargaining and well-timed while an MOU is in place, it does not condone efforts to tie compensation between classifications via a parity requirement.  As such, CSLEA will not be taking a position of support of this bill in its present form.   With that said, it will not be CSLEA’s lack of support that will prevent its passage.  First and foremost, increases in compensation rarely or singularly occur via legislation outside the collective bargaining process.  The California Association of Highway Patrolman’s (CAHP) salary formula, which is referenced in the bill, was enacted into law more than 40 years ago and requires that CAHP salary increases be based on the average of the five largest municipalities in the State of California.  Such a statute would not be enacted today and would now be viewed as an abrogation of the Governor’s and State Legislature’s responsibility to oversee the State budget.     As further background, approximately 15 years ago, a CSLEA affiliate was able to lobby for a budget augmentation it believed would award its members a 43% pay increase even at the expense of no other Unit 7 peace officer classifications receiving any increase.  The budget allocation was instead added to other funds which were dedicated to be utilized in negotiations with the various labor organizations including CSLEA.   What some State legislators did then is the same thing that the current State Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara is presently doing – giving State employees false expectations that a pay increase can be awarded legislatively outside of the collective bargaining process.  To do it at a time when the State is facing as large as a 73-billion-dollar budget deficit is even more disingenuous.  And it is far from heavy lifting for a powerful and former State Legislator and well-connected Insurance Commissioner to find a highly respected State legislator willing to author such a bill.  The author may be unaware of the totality of circumstances at play.   There is absolutely no likelihood that the Department of Finance, CalHR or the administration will permit this bill to be enacted into law.  And though the current vacancy rates in the Investigator class at CDI are troubling, they are not unique, and the Department of Finance will point to the fact that Unit 7 employees are not even a year into the current MOU which was recently negotiated that provides substantial pay increases to CDI peace officers.  Those who were at top step for at least 12 months as of last July, will receive 12% in general and special salary increases as well as a conversion of education pay to a percentage-based formula which is valued at 4-6% of salary.  Eligible employees are therefore, scheduled to earn 16-18% in pay and benefit increases over the life of the agreement, which is impressive given the projected current budget deficit. Despite this budget deficit, CSLEA would welcome meeting with CDI and CalHR to address vacancy issues to hopefully achieve mid-contact enhancements to CDI Investigator pay and benefits.   CSLEA has demonstrated that when the circumstances are right, it will not hesitate to bargain for a mid-MOU side letter.  It did so when the DOJ Special Agents and Special Agent Supervisors received a 12% increase during the last MOU.  Had a parity requirement been in place at that time, it is highly likely that the increase would not have occurred, or it would have been substantially reduced if the increase was statutorily required to be extended to a large number of employees at CDI.  This is why Ben Greenhagen, President of the Association of Special Agents, Department of Justice (ASA-DOJ) has indicated that though the ASA-DOJ supports the efforts of getting increased pay for CDI detectives, the affiliate does not support tying its pay increases to other Unit 7 classes.   CSLEA will continue to monitor the current budget process and any potential efforts to reduce compensation for Unit 7 employees. Should the outlook improve and there is a case to be made for a mid-contract adjustment for any Unit 7 classification experiencing significant recruitment and retention problems, CSLEA will not hesitate to reach out to CalHR to bargain over the issue.    Thank you for you continued support of CSLEA.