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HB 397 (BR 990) - M. Cherry, D. Graham, E. Ballard, L. Clark, H. Collins, R. Damron, J. Gray, W. Hall, C. Hoffman, D. Keene, F. Nesler, D. Pasley, R. Rand, A. Smith, J. Stacy, K. Stein, T. Thompson, M. Weaver, S. Westrom, R. Wilkey, B. Yonts
AN ACT relating to executive branch employees and declaring an emergency.
Amend KRS 18A.005 to define "qualifying" and making technical corrections; amend KRS 11A.010 to define "executive officer", change the definition of "officer" to include executive officers, and include nonelected Personnel Board members under the definition of "public servant"; amend KRS 18A.030 to require the secretary of the Personnel Cabinet to propose selection method changes to the board for approval or denial and set time frame for board to approve or reject the proposed change; amend KRS 18A.037 and 18A.040 to change commissioner to secretary; amend KRS 18A.045 to increase the number of Personnel Board members from seven to nine and require the two new board members be elected by vote of classified employees; amend KRS 18A.050 to require that in the election cycle beginning June, 2006, that four board members be elected by vote of classified employees and limit a classified employees to only being eligible to serve for three successive four-year terms; amend KRS 18A.0551 to increase the number of classified candidates which classified employees may vote for on the ballot and specify that the 4 candidates receiving the greatest number of votes shall be declared the successful candidates; amend KRS 18A.075 to require the annual report of the Personnel Board be sent to the co-chairs of the Interim Joint Committee on State Government prior to October 1 and specify what the report shall include; require the Personnel Board to consider all proposed selection method change requests from the secretary of the Personnel Cabinet and specify that no selection method change shall occur without final approval of the board; amend 18A.0751 to require the board to provide guidelines for dispute resolution for employees that attempt to resolve any work-related complaint or penalization; set out the two distinct methods as 1) the employee may seek resolution through an interagency mediation process, if not satisfied the employee may proceed to an employee peer review committee, if still not satisfied the employee may appeal the decision of the peer review committee within thirty (30) days to the board; or 2) the employee may file a grievance, and may appeal the appointing authority's decision concerning the grievance to the board; amend KRS 18A.095 to allow an appointing authority to suspend an employee, with pay, from the time that the employee has received an intent to dismiss letter and prior to the agency's final action, allow an employee to resolve any work-related complaint or penalization by choosing from two distinct methods: 1) the employee may seek resolution through an interagency mediation process, if not satisfied the employee may proceed to an employee peer review committee, if still not satisfied the employee may appeal the decision of the peer review committee within thirty (30) days to the board; or 2) the employee may file a grievance, and may appeal the appointing authority's decision concerning the grievance to the board; conforming amendments; amend KRS 18A.111 to require former unclassified employees to serve an initial probationary period of twelve (12) months if the employee is appointed to a position in the classified service, unless he or she has prior status within the system or had been separated from his or her unclassified position at least one hundred eighty (180) days; amend KRS 18A.140 decriminalize most activities required by KRS Chapter 18A, keep only failure to allow a state employee access to their records, using state materials by merit employees running for the Personnel Board, and merit employees performing prohibited political activities as misdemeanors; make it a Class D felony to: 1) appoint, promote, or dismiss a merit employee for political reasons, 2) use of official influence to do so, 3) require political payments from merit employees, or 4) to conspire to do any prohibited activities which are felonies; amend KRS 18A.195 to prohibit officers or executive officers from receiving any compensatory leave block payments except for the two hundred forty (240) hours allowable upon separation from service; amend KRS 61.103 to allow an employee to seek court action for injunctive relief or punitive damages, or both, and attorney's fees with ninety (90) days after the violation occurred the secretary of the Personnel Cabinet to conduct a feasibility study on performing background and reference checks on all executive branch applicants and report to the co-chairs of the Interim Joint Committee on State Government prior to November 1, 2006; EMERGENCY.
HB 397 - AMENDMENTS
HFA (1, D. Ford) - Amend KRS 18A.100 to change the Circuit Court to which an appeal from a final order of the Personnel Board may be made.
HFA (2, D. Ford) - Amend KRS 18A.095 to require that Personnel Board hearings be held in the county in which the employee resides.
HFA (3, M. Cherry) - Remove nonelected members of the Personnel Board from inclusion in the definition of a "public servant"; amend the definition of "executive officer" under the Executive Branch Ethics Code; prohibit Personnel Board members from excepting gifts, receiving a benefit under a contract or agreement, or failing to inform other board members of any direct or indirect conflict of interest in matters before the board; restore the requirement top follow the procedures in KRS 18A110(7)(j) before a classified employee may request mediation or file a grievance concerning the employee's evaluation.
HFA (4, J. Hoover) - Remove Section 15 of the bill to maintain the current penalty provisions for violations of KRS Chapter 18A provisions.
HFA (5, J. Barrows) - Amend Section 15 of the bill to increase the period of time which a public employees may file and bring an action against their former employer for wrongful dismissal from ninety days to one year of the occurrence of the alleged violation.
HFA (6, J. Hoover) - Require the secretary of the Personnel Cabinet to conduct a review of all merit hires and make a determination on whether political influence was a determining factor in the employee's hiring; require that if political influence was a determining factor in the employee's hiring, the employee shall be terminated.
HFA (7, J. Barrows) - Amend Section 15 of the bill to increase the period of time from 90 days to 1 year in which a public employee may file an action against his or her former employer for wrongful dismissal; provide clarification on relief to be sought by the employee.
HFA (8, B. DeWeese) - Amend Section 2 of the bill to define an "agency" as every state office, cabinet, department, board, commission, public corporation, or authority in the executive branch of state government except for those employees serving on advisory committees established for the purpose of providing advice and making recommendations to the agency and having no statutory decision-making authority; amend the definition of "executive officer" to provide that the person perform decision-making, policy-making, personnel, or discretionary duties in the executive branch.
HFA (9, J. Barrows) - Amend Section 15 of the bill to set a three-year statute of limitations for criminal prosecution for violations of the prohibited political activity provisions by executive branch employees.
HFA (10, J. Barrows) - Amend Section 15 of the bill to change the punishment for violations of the political activity provisions to be a misdemeanor instead of a Class D felony; specify that upon conviction the violator may be jailed for up to twenty-four months and may be assessed a fine of up to two thousand five hundred dollars; provide a statute of limitations of three years for violations of the political activity provisions for executive branch state employees.
Jan 18-introduced in House
Jan 19-to State Government (H); posted in committee
Jan 24-reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar
Jan 25-2nd reading, to Rules; posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Thursday, January 26, 2006
Jan 26-floor amendment (1) filed
Jan 31-floor amendments (2) and (3) filed
Feb 7-floor amendments (4) and (5) filed
Feb 8-floor amendment (6) filed
Feb 17-floor amendment (7) filed
Feb 21-floor amendment (8) filed
Feb 22-floor amendment (9) filed
Mar 13-floor amendment (10) filed
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