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| SPONSOR: | Townsend | DATE TYPED: | 03/09/01 | HB | 943/aHAFC | ||
| SHORT TITLE: | Appointment of Exempt Employees | SB | |||||
| ANALYST: | Wilson | ||||||
| Recurring
or Non-Rec |
Fund
Affected | ||||
| FY01 | FY02 | FY01 | FY02 | ||
| NFI | |||||
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Human Services Department (HSD)
State Personnel Office (SPO)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of HAFC Amendment
House Bill 943 as amended by House Appropriations and Finance Committee keeps the director of the child support enforcement division in the human services department as a classified employee. The amendment also declares an emergency.
Synopsis of Bill
HB 943 would establish a Director of Communications position in HSD that is exempt from the Personnel Act and convert the Director positions in the Medical Assistance Division (MAD) and the Child Support Enforcement Division (CSED) to exempt positions when they become vacant.
Significant Issues
HSD believes that establishing an exempt Director of Communications position should assist in the ongoing goal of providing a single and consistent source of public information that is reliably in sync with the executive, especially with respect to HSD's position on the various legal controversies that arise. Exempting the CSED and MAD Director positions from the Personnel Act would be consistent with the other Director positions and further the goal of consistency within the executive.
SPO notes that nearly all Division Directors in other agencies of size of HSD as well as all the other HSD Division Directors, are already exempt. The Personnel Act allows for such an exemption and this bill strikes a current exception in HSD enabling legislation to this general rule. The two existing classified incumbents are not affected and will continue to be covered by the Personnel Act until a vacancy occurs.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
There is no appropriation nor are there any fiscal implications other than the salary increase that the Public information Officer will receive when he is promoted to the Director of Communications. HSD has agreed to absorb the higher salary amount.
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
There are no additional FTEs added by HB 943.
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